Lightning Strikes Twice

I walked into the centre of Glasgow yesterday, following my normal route, which took me past the site of the terrible bin lorry crash that claimed the lives of six people in and around George Square.

Along with lots of other people the thought that jumped into my head was "I could just as easily have been one of the victims", mown down by an enormous, out-of-control, 26 ton truck while doing some Christmas shopping or going about my everyday business; end of story.

The news got even worse with the report that three members of the same family were killed at the scene: Jack Sweeney (68), his wife Lorraine Sweeney (69) and their 18-year-old granddaughter Erin McQuade. 

The impact on the Sweeney family felt all the more poignant because my mother's family name on her mother's side was MacSweeney or MacSuibhne and it's true what they say - that people who share the same family name are often related, even in the distant past.

So I had that strange feeling of 'you never know the minute' of someone walking over  your own grave and to think the latest tragedy to befall Glasgow comes just over a year after a police helicopter fell out of the sky killing everyone on board, along with seven unsuspecting customers enjoying a quiet drink in The Clutha Bar. 

Round the Corner (30 November 2013)

The pub, the Clutha Vaults, onto which a police helicopter fell out of the sky last night - is just round the corner from where I live in Glasgow.

In fact, the Clutha is something of a Glasgow institution being one of the few traditional pubs left in the city these days - where free live music is played regularly, often of the folk and blues variety. 

I wasn't in the bar last night, thank goodness, but I was on the night Scotland's smoking ban was introduced - which I remember well because I was enjoying a last cigar to welcome the arrival of smoke free pubs in Glasgow.

Whereas my drinking companion, my old Nupe and Unison colleague, Bob Thomson, was complaining about the harm being down to the human rights of smokers, as he saw things at the time - which he voiced to a journalist from the Sunday Herald who was in the pub  seeking the views of customers on this 'controversial' new policy.

Nowadays, of course, a smoking ban is an accepted part of the furniture in pubs and restaurants worldwide, not just in Glasgow - and I suspect few people, if any, would want to turn the clock back.

In fact it even led to the Clutha installing a beer garden, with nice tables, benches and umbrellas (for the Glasgow weather) - in a previously dilapidated space out the back, so in many ways the smoking ban was a 'win win's situation for everyone.  

Nonetheless, it's almost unimaginable that you can be out for a quiet drink one night, only for a helicopter to fall out of the sky - and on to a building where people are out enjoying themselves.

Just goes to confirm that old saying that as far as life's concerned - you never can tell for sure what's just round the corner.   

Sudden Death (3 December 2013)

I've been reflecting on the tragic events at the Clutha Vaults over these past few days - a helicopter crashing to the ground and killing everyone on board was bad enough, but two tons of metal falling right on top of a busy pub in the centre of Glasgow still seems unbelievable.  

Yet there have been some things to admire even amongst all the sadness, the great shock and sudden loss of life.

One of the first people on the scene was Jim Murphy a Labour MP who was passing in his car at the time, but who stopped to help rescue the people inside - interviewed shortly thereafter he spoke quite unlike a politician and with a simple humanity about what he had witnessed.

The next day Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond arrived at the site of the accident and spoke for the nation when he called it a 'black day' for Glasgow and Scotland while paying a sombre tribute to the courage of ordinary Glaswegians who came to the aid of their fellow citizens.  

The next day the name of one of the victims was announced, Gary Arthur, whose daughter Chloe paid her father a wonderful tribute - "RIP dad. you'll always mean the world to me, I promise to do you proud, I love you with all my heart. Thanks to everyone who has tweeted me, text me etc, means so much, I have the most amazing friends ever."

Chloe plays in Glasgow Celtic's women's football team and her father, a Rangers fan, was reportedly delighted to go along to Chloe's games to show his support and pride in his daughter playing for Celtic - and only people from Glasgow will understand what s big deal that is in a city which still has problems, to this day, with religious sectarianism.    

Later that same day a young Sikh was interviewed having just come from a service in a nearby church/cathedral where he had lit a candle in memory of the victims - visibly emotional and upset the young man wanted to show his solidarity with all the hurt that the tragedy had inflicted on people he did not even know.

My younger brother Kevin was killed last year, unexpectedly in a motorbike accident in Bolivia, his life snuffed out in a second by a careless driver and a giant mining truck, so far away - and without any chance to say goodbye or tell Kevin how much he meant to so many people. 

Sudden death is a shocking event, nothing prepares you for it and the pain is very raw and hard to bear - so many unanswered questions, what ifs and maybes - though the kind words and deeds of others helps get you through a nightmarish experience and, eventually, back on your feet.