| Comment | Others have mentioned the heroin. Burglary was a huge issue thanks to it, and people would constantly be trying to break in, I remember if you lived in a big shared flat you'd arrange with your flatmates to try and make sure there was always someone in. Chased off guys trying to break through window bars so many times.
The bit that no-one ever believes is that Byres Rd was a bit of a shithole til the early 90s, really run down and basically just a load of student bedsits. I think the opening of Penguin Coffee(?) was the turning point.
The bit I miss was how cheap and simple it was to live - I didn't grow up here, but arrived as a teenager with £200 in my pocket and I was sorted. You didn't have any of these letting agencies, references, deposits - you just went down to News and Views, phoned a few numbers, and as long as you had a few 20s in your pocket and weren't too concerned about bare wiring or carbon monoxide poisoning, you had a new home by that evening. I lived on Hillhead St for a while for £35 a week. The absolute worst case, if you turned up as a student at the start of the year and had absolutely nothing organised, is that you'd end up in Finnieston.
Obviously this is the west-end studenty view, but the Young Ones really wasn't far off. It was great. |
|---|