Used to live in Glasgow and it is my favourite city. I left for a job elsewhere. The weather and the dark winters are the real issue. Association with violence

Used to live in Glasgow and it is my favourite city. I left for a job elsewhere. The weather and the dark winters are the real issue. Association with violence is outdated - it’s much safer than London, for example. Association with drinking alcohol entirely accurate. If you like that, Glasgow is a great place to party. It also contributes to a very communal feel around the pubs there. And it brings the downsides you’d expect - increased levels of alcoholism and domestic violence. The Protestant catholic thing is a regular source of annoyance when the orange marches are on, but you can otherwise ignore it. Some momentum against the marching is developing now, hopefully the council will act. Now the positives: long beautiful summer evenings, relatively warm winters, incredible arts and music scenes, best pubs and bars in the UK, beautiful parks, stunning architecture (really, really stunning), beautiful tenements you can afford to live in on an average wage like you’re in some kind of Parisian movie, great museums, Loch Lomond about 30 min drive away and lots of other beautiful countryside nearby, great staging post for the highlands. Incredible urban landscape to explore. Two great universities. Very vegan friendly - a bunch of the major venues for music and general hipster things are vegan. But the biggest plus is the people - the most kind, warm, friendly people you’ll meet in the UK. People shouting out of their windows to invite me in for a drink. Starting conversations with me as I walk down the street. Drinking whisky with strangers you’ve just met at the bar. Community organisations (like the Children’s Wood mentioned in the article) spring up everywhere. This innate sense of fairness. It’s so hard to describe, but go visit and you might be lucky enough to understand why “people make glasgow” is both a council marketing slogan and also perfectly true.