People sometimes accuse me of being negative about Glasgow when I talk about the state of the streets and the litter and the ruined buildings and all the rest of it. But you know what it’s like: when you love someone, or something, you can see the faults as well as the strengths because you’re close-up and that’s certainly true of Glasgow and me. So Glasgow: I know you, and I love you.

I first fell for the place – and dumped my first love, Aberdeen – when I moved to Glasgow in the 90s, and I got the best of it, I really did. Working in Park Circus. Living on St Vincent Crescent. The Barras. The Old Toll Bar. My best friend also said “hello” to me for the first time and even though I’m a bit sceptical about Glaswegians being friendlier or funnier than people from other cities, whatever the city had was working for me.

And I think, looking back, that it really was the buildings not the people that worked first, the stones not the skin. Aberdeen has always had the feel of a fishing town that got bigger, even after the oil and gas came; Glasgow on the other hand had the greatness that the Victorians built and I was a sucker for it. My favourite part, then and now, is the grid round St Vincent Street, where men with fine symmetrical minds and cash from the Empire built up and up. Just the other day, I stopped to stare again at one of my favourites, the North British And Mercantile........

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