what might have been...

bit of a cheat today. had some time to spare and decided to experiment a bit with camera settings. I wanted to try some moody mono shots and thought about Double Row at New Lanark. It is unbelievable that a World Heritage Site still has unrestored houses, but the saga of Double Row goes back more than 25 years. I actually moved to New Lanark in 1987 to restore one of these houses - the rear of 'my' house is at top right - but because of funding difficulties over many years, not to mention political interference from Margaret Thatcher's government in 1988, the money to restore was never found.

then a few years ago - I had given up waiting by this time, life took different turns - it was found that the whole row was starting to slip into the Clyde! So funding then had to be found to repair the retainng wall, and it took around three years to find almost £1m and complete the work. bottom left shows the wall repaired with large concrete blocks, luckily the vegetation is quickly taking hold and they will soon be covered. The money now has to be found to restore the houses. Even though they will be owner occupied, there is still a funding gap.

I have no doubt that eventually - the estimate is now another 3-5 years - the village restoration will be complete. but it does rather rankle that - wonderful as it is - £74m was spent on the new Transport Museum in Glasgow - much more than has been spent on the entire restoration of New Lanark over the past 40 years.

the final image is one view I would have had from my house, if things had been different.

I don't think the photos turned out moody enough, but I learned a bit more about my camera, and indulged in a little nostalgia!