This is not the photo I wish I'd taken

I took this snap this morning on the way to a meeting at the Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow (aka the sick kids' hospital). The picture itself doesn't sum up what I wanted it to convey, but that's because I was trying to photograph a thought, and thoughts can't really be captured and uploaded. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Glasgow, minus the love bit. It's not wholly rational, and a lot of the animosity is directed at the climate rather than the place per se, but still.

As I walked over this bridge I had one of those instant thoughts that stay with you; I looked over at this beautiful scene and thought to myself "this could be Stockbridge!". As if Stockbridge (where I stay in Edinburgh) somehow exists at the pinnacle of all that should be aspired to, against which all other places should be judged. I think it was odd that my thought wasn't "this looks like Stockbridge", which it does (down by the water of Leith), but rather I thought "this could be Stockbridge". Says so much about me and my weird attitude to Glasgow than about anything else. And that I probably think too much about what I think about.

Anyway, this observation is not what the entry title refers to. As I approached the main entrance to the Sick Kids I was struck by the fact there were so many signs up stating that smoking was not allowed anywhere in the hospital or the grounds. Then I passed by someone in an NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde fleece, lighting up. As well as the standard no smoking signs there are larger signs featuring a child with cancer saying something like "I don't want your smoke, you don't want my tumour". Two parents were stood in front of one, lighting up.

This is the scene I wanted to photograph: the contrast between the hospital's attempts to be smoke free and the staff and public resistance to the messages. I didn't think it wise to take such a snap. Apart from fear of being lamped, I was interested in capturing the contrast but not in judging these parents, or Glasgow, something which is all too easy to do and all too common in public health debates. Let's face it, you rarely see photos of advertising execs out celebrating winning a contract to promote Marlboro Lights which invite you to condemn their behaviour.

Having said that, if I was NHS GG&C, I would have little sympathy for a hospital employee smoking in front of a no smoking sign in an NHS uniform.