While I agree with the sentiments of Cumbernauld in the 21st Century
I can't help but think back to 1963 when as a spotty 4 year old I was moved from a Springburn tenement to an area of Cumbernauld called Carbrain.

The whole town was basically still under construction but, away from the building sites there were fields! Real ones! Grasses which were taller than you, pond's with Frog's, Toad's, Newt's and Deer which came to drink in them. Badgers, Foxes, Hares, Weasels, Stoat's, you name it, Cumbernauld had it. Crab Apple Orchards, Bramble Bushes, wild Rhubarb, Blackberries, Raspberries, Gooseberries, a veritable treasure trove of free and natural treats were all within walking distance.

At the bottom of the field was the railway line and a bridge which one used to stand on with the steam from the train's funnels puffing over and around you, and, to reach this bridge, in fact to reach anywhere one need never cross a road. Underpasses and bridges were everywhere and road accidents involving pedestrians were almost unheard of.

There were no gang fights, no (well at least to my knowledge) peadophiles, no hazzards for the kid's playing and as far as I know, nothing to worry one's parents except for how much mud and shit the children arrived home covered in.

As I moved out at the age of 17, the town was starting to unravel with none of the above pleasures from my past still in existence. My occasional visits to see my family (most of whom still live there)are pleasant, only insofar as family re-unions are.

What the real pity about the town is that it grew as we do. In it's youth it was a vibrant fantastic playground, as a teenager it became jaded by it's surroundings and fifty years on it has become grey and cynical.... a bit like myself I suppose.

I now live in Jakarta, along with 12-15 million other humans (depending upon which census one believes) and despite it's vitality, climate, exoticness and being so far from the reality which I grew up in, I still long for a place which remind's me of the Halcyon days of Cumbernauld in it's infancy!

Yes, Cumbernauld now may appear shit, but, it's like looking at an older person, one only see's the "here and now" never what they looked like in their prime.

Edit: I forgot this. news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/7584321.stm

Fourth Place.....
( fagilliD Fuck I'm good!, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 0:33, Reply)