Rouken Glen

Jamie and I went for a lovely walk in Rouken Glen Park today. James and David had gone to climb Tinto Hill, but Jamie is still shaking off a chest infection and I had some errands that I wanted to do in town, so we went for a stroll in the park instead. It was an absolutely beautiful day with a bold blue autumn sky and ice underfoot in the shade. We walked from the garden centre up to the boating pond and back. We both have so many memories of being at Rouken Glen together and I was telling Jamie about sitting with him on a picnic rug at the top of the grassy slope overlooking the pond, just him and me when he was about 15 months old. I have such a clear memory of that day, he was wearing little denim dungarees and a checked shirt. On another occasion he went boating with his Grandpa Russell there and begged him not to eat the ducks for his tea (my Dad shouldn't really have told a three year old that he was going to do that!). My Dad further alarmed him by saying that he was going to jump into the waterfall at the far end of the pond! 
This mischievous streak was no doubt inherited from my Dad's own Dad, Jamie's great-grandfather William Russell, whose idea of fun was to throw toffees to our dogs and then laugh uproariously as they tried to remove them from their teeth with their hind paws!
We have also visited the park with my Mum, and with Grandma and Grandpa, and of course many times with his wee brothers. So today it was nice to walk with my twenty-three year old son along the paths where he used to "skoosh" through the autumn leaves wearing his welly boots, and past the play park where he used to perform daring feats by climbing right to the top of the climbing frame. It was good to see lots of young families out enjoying this very pleasant south side park.