Paisley Buddies

I find this to be a cheesy wee phrase.

I was born in Paisley and I grew up here.  I couldn't wait to get away so at 17 I moved to Dundee where I started my Psychology degree, and where, it feels like I started my life.

My family are still in Paisley (and Beith) so this is what brings me back.

While I have always hated the town, it was with a hatred that most teenagers have in their home town.  When I go home to see family we are rarely in the town centre but on Saturday we did spend quite a while wandering around.

I now look back on the town I grew up in with a reasonable amount of nostalgia.  While I tended to just move through to Glasgow and not hang about the town as a teenager I do recognise how much more vibrant it was when I was growing up.  Now, on a Saturday, the town centre is devoid of life.  It was quiet and all the shops that used to be there are now replaced with poundshops and other places that aren't quite sure what they are trying to be.  It was depressing.

What was much less depressing was the time spent with Aidan and Niamh.  They never fail to make me happy - love spending time with them both - watching them as they develop and grow.

In this picture Niamh is on the look out - wanting very much to climb the colourful lion - we seem to have this lion theme in Paisley which has been embedded thanks to Buddy the Lion on show in the local museum and in the extra.  I remember this guy from my childhood when the museum seemed to be a huge place.

In the evening we went for dinner with my parents, Aunt and Uncle and the neighbours that grew up in the house next to me in the last celebration of my birthday.

Lovely night and the spring forward was not too much of a shock to the system.  Homeward bound now, as I type this.