The Lido

There was a night long ago an obsession took me into the car and out to a dark lay-by and from there leaving the car abandoned I set off down a black path full of panic. It was scary. Even for someone without panic. A long empty narrow path in the pitch of night where any deviant, or deviants, could have been lurking unseen and as I had told no one of my destination I was very much alone. I then arrived at the end of the park where in the distance lay Bothwell Bridge lit up in the night as it is throughout the Winter. I took out my camera knowing nothing of photography and expecting a perfect photo. For that the panic would be worth it. What I took was, to put it politely, pathetic. I had no idea that with no light I would need a long exposure and a tripod of some sort. Instead I took a short exposure hand held and on full zoom. It was only when I got home I looked with disappointment at the result. Not the beautiful night scenes I had viewed on flicker but basically a black image with some coloured blurs. In between that was pure terror. I was well out of my comfort zone far from the car on a dark lonely path and still a drive at the end of it. Scary stuff. No fight just plenty of flight. Incredibly, in my anxiety addled mind, that was nearly 5 years ago.

Since then Google have been hard at work providing their free maps and street view which for me are a god send. I spend lots of wasted hours pouring over these and it was from these I finally spotted a parking space near the bridge. This gave my wife and I the opportunity to go down there. The area below the bridge is known as the Lido. Its small and yet its a place where in years past people used to go down to swim in the Clyde that runs under the bridge. Its only recently that I found out that the area used to be much bigger but that was before the arrival of the Expressway which cut right through it.

So today my wife and I went down there via the parking area I found. It turns out this is a small area for the council workers but there are were not signs up saying we could not park there so we did. In truth there was not much to see but it was still nice to go down and get a feel for the place. And although I still don't have that shot I want at night I do at least have the next best thing so can stop filling up my SD card with dodgy far off in-car shots from afar as we whizz by on he expressway.