Oh yes Steve, Glasgow could be (and still is!) a bit hairy, especially at night. But it was a sort of good-natured hairiness, if you see what I mean. There's a lot of Irish blood there (I'm half Irish myself) and it seems to make people friendly, funny and good-humoured, if a bit volatile!

1975 was the year of the Great Glasgow Bin Strike. For many many weeks the rubbish piled up. The rats were phenomenal and the stench appalling. The Army was eventually called in. The men were equipped with huge cudgels with which to bash the rats, and wore leather shin-protectors against bites. The middens were where homeless drunks often slept, and what with them and the rats, the poor Army blokes had a rum old time of it.

Did you get bitten half to death by midges when up in the Highlands?