Day 'oot

It was very nice to be invited to join the Commemoration Day celebrations at the University of Glasgow. It's the last time for Anton Muscatelli as Principal, and that's why he invited me and the Treasurer of the RSE (see the photo of the three of us) along to enjoy the day. There was a genuine sense of regret and emotion around the University at the impending retiral of the Principal. Interesting....

Anyway, I don't need much of an excuse to frock up so I took my gown and hood along (but not my hat and my sword as they belong to another set of regalia) and joined the very end of the academic procession as a sort of cuckoo. At the very front of the procession was the Chancellor (in the centre). As I said to the Principal, every ceremony is undoubtedly adorned by having an Edinburgh Law School graduate at its very heart.

The day started in a rather fraught manner, as it took me a bit longer to get out of the house in the morning than I had wanted, so I caught a slightly later Number 10 than intended. And it was late. And it was delayed at the London Road junction with Leith Walk because, yet again, a coach was parked outside the Courtyard Hotel, restricting the carriageway and causing a problem for buses. At 7.45am! This needs to be brought under control by the Cooncil.... As a result, I missed the 8am train by 30 seconds, which meant that at the other end I had to get a taxi and arrived just as people were getting sorted for the procession into the chapel service.

One thing that struck me was, of course, that Glasgow has an explicitly religious part to its foundation which Edinburgh, as (certainly the UK's and possibly the world's first) civic university (and slightly younger than Glasgow) lacks. And the roll call of the benefactors, which the Principal has to read out in the chapel, is pretty damn long!

Again, unlike Edinburgh, Glasgow groups its honorary graduates together, instead of doing them one by one in the separate ceremonies. That makes for a lovely single occasion for the honorees themselves and a great opportunity to make attractive content for their social media (just watched a compilation video on Facebook....). Some interesting honorary graduates too, so I enjoyed listening to (and reading along in the nice booklet) the orations.

Afterwards there was a big lunch in Hunter Halls, which Glasgow university also uses to invite along people from specific alumni groups - this time 1975. A thought, perhaps. I was seated next to the Principal of Glasgow City College, also an FRSE. I had a very interesting conversation with him.

At the conclusion of the day's events, I got an Uber back to the city centre (I know, I could have used the subway but I was laden down) and waited for my train to Inverness. Well, actually a train to Aberdeen, changing at Stirling onto the LNER train that I like to use when I go north. The LNER train was about 10 minutes late into Inverness, but that didn't preclude us making a quick trip to Aldi for some supplies of the wines and beers that we like getting there. We were still back in the house at 9.30pm, and we sat up for a while chilling out as it got gradually darker.