A woman holding a cup of coffee and a cigarette walks through Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square. A reversed sign in the archway tells me I’m in Merchant City. Thanks to a light drizzle, the pavement is wet and reflective. Although it’s mid-July, everyone wears a jacket because there’s a chill in the air. Welcome to Scotland!
I’m grateful I live in a city where it is possible for people to be unafraid to live as they are. It isn’t perfect, of course. Wherever they are, people will always struggle to negotiate with grace the challenges of difference. But here, at least, I witness more moments of grace than not. That leaves me free to notice little details I might otherwise miss: a yellow pepper in the basket, a plastic Dumbo the Elephant fixed to the handlebar.
