Talk Of The Towns
The letters page of the Inverness Courier is full of complaints about the state of the town centre. Meanwhile residents in Lockerbie are up in arms because a politician dared to describe their town centre as
What we learn from this is that only local people seem to have the moral right to decry their own home town. Outsiders - even those who claim to be making a point in support of future renovation - risk the kind of backlash that Victor Frankenstein would provoke when villagers got wind that he was cobbling together another monster. Queue here for your pitch-forks and burning torches.
And there's another angle to this which, I suppose, is all about the eye of the beholder. I happen to think that Inverness is one of the best looking towns in Scotland and is certainly one of the best situated when you look at the local landscape.
But if I had to nominate one local landmark for another revamp it would be the Victorian Market. I wandered through that arcade today and, yes, I was impressed that it still conatined a genuine fishmonger with a window full of haddock, monkfish and lemon sole. Yet it does seem to be a wasted opportunity when you compare it with what's been done with the old Fruitmarket in Glasgow.
Not that I'd dare say any of this in public.
