The place husnae changed. Ramshackle start-up businesses wae shutters doon dominate the town centre. There’s nae shops worth actually goin tae, just off-licences, pubs, takeaways n tannin salons. These wid change hands or, at least, tradin names every few month. The other units ir filled wae junk n charity shops plus the odd wee wan fur granny fashion n other budget shite like pound shops n that. The Job Centre on the corner shares punters wae the pubs n the rest. A big Farmfoods stands in the middle ae it n it’s really the only shop that’s busy. The high street n the main street used tae huv loads ae shops. Yi used tae huv an Intersport n JD years back. There wis decent shops n families used tae walk aboot doon here. Aw that’s left is a new underclass. Poles n other Eastern Europeans n the mad dossers who just walk about the main street. Home fur them must be bad if they chose, oot ae the full ae Europe, tae come n build a future here. Slightly better than the former USSR, our tourist poster should read. Eld folks do wit they’ve always done, still traipsin roon dismayed as they speak aboot the good eld days when it wisnae like this.

The worse the place got, the more shops moved away tae big purpose-built shoppin centres like the Fort at Easterhoose. Even fuckin Cumbernauld hud the Antonine Centre, a far cry fae the Indoor Market, which is just an Aladdin’s cave ae pure junk n passin shite. They built a new retail park in the nineties n it wis hailed as the saviour ae our town. It wis gonnae be like the Faraday Park in Coatbridge – that even hus a Marks & Spencer food hall, the hallmark ae a town dain no too bad. Their retail park hus become home tae aw the decent shops – JD, Next n Pets at Home n aw that. Their actual town centre, Main Street, is the same as ours – lifeless, but dominated by a chapel n Asda’s instead. Our new retail park hud a McDonalds, Halfords n Argos, but over the years nuhin else stayed n an eld Focus DIY store wis replaced wae bargin shops that came n stalled n hud a closing down sale n left. Tesco moved in instead. It wisnae the saviour ae the town – it ensured that future businesses knew they couldnae make it, n everybody followed suit n packed up n left the centre tae die a death. The full place hud become a ghost toon apart fae the eld pubs. They wid survive.

When yir in a modern n vibrant city, this place feels like Bosnia by comparison. Some backwards backwater, in dire need ae resuscitation n life support. Life here is the way it always hus been n nuhin seems tae huv changed, maybe bar me. These places huv a way ae undoin transformations, ae dousin dreams n encouragin that acceptance ae this reality. That new you, too readily forgotten and efforts cast aside in the shadow ae the past n the greyness ae the broken town around yi. A feel like an ootsider as A drive intae our scheme, para n watchin over ma shoulder awready.