I recently paid a visit to my grandmother in Glasgow, Scotland. She is 94 1/2 years old and is still a delight to be with. Since she is living in a retirement home now and doesn’t get out much these days, I rented a car and we went for a drive together down the coast to Troon:
On our way back to Glasgow I pulled over the car in Ardrossan and grabbed a handful of sand from the beach there:
When I showed my dad this photo, he pointed out that the pink sand grains resembled the red sandstones found in houses and buildings all across Glasgow, the city where he grew up. When I looked into it further, it seems that many of the sandstone bricks used in facades across the city indeed came from Ayrshire, where this beach was located. This is backed up by a geological map of the Firth of Clyde, which shows our little beach comfortably inside the red sandstone zone. A delightful convergence of sediment and architecture!
That’s one of my favourite things about this field- there always seems to be new and interesting connections back to other things that I love!
Coastally Curious 