Oot the Windae David Reilly

David was born in 1948 in the Gorbals and shortly afterwards moved to the Calton where his parents came from. It was 1953 and he had just turned 5, when the family moved to a "new house" with a bath in Gretna Street, which was located in the scheme just opposite Celtic Park at London Road. He has four brothers and they lived in a two bed roomed top floor flat at number eighteen. At the age of 15, not long after he started work, they moved to number thirty-one, a three bed roomed top floor flat. He lived there until he married Annette in 1972. They have two daughters Leigh-Anne and Joanne and now live in rural Leicestershire. . . David has always been keen on writing, particularly writing in verse and started to write about his childhood experiences in a series of self contained verse. He also thought it would be nice to have some pictures of the period to compliment the verse and before he'd known it.......... Oot the Windae... was beginning to take shape. All in all, it took about a year to write and when it was just about finished he sent a synopsis to three Scottish publishers who he thought might have been interested in printing. The first publisher to look at his work told him straight away that he wanted to publish. It took another six months for the book to be completed owing to copyright problems he had with some of the pictures.
So this is his first venture into the realm of the scribbler---lets climb Aboard his Tramcar of Rhyme
		Allow me take you into my past back to my childhood that happened so fast and to help us on this journey in time we'll climb aboard my tramcar of rhyme we will take it down to memory lane turn left at Glasgow when I was a wean so cast away doubts and open your mind and savour the pleasure I'm sure you'll find

Remember ?

Hingin oot the windae and watch the world go by
up a close in Glesga three storeys high
Ma and Da and all the weans,
oot the windae until it rains
get yourself comfy for the show is free
a couple of biscuits and a wee cup of tea
a coffee for Dad laced with scotch
your very original neighbourhood watch !

and the ragman?

...took out a woodbine the last of his fags
then he bellowed toys for rags
last blast on the bugle and then he'd hush
lit up and waited for the expected rush

the kids in the street would all go mad looking for rags from their mum and dad
in all the cupboards throughout the rooms
a handful of rags for a couple of balloons

Pied piper of Glesga

With great anticipation they stood in line
eyes fixed on the ragman all the time
no pounds or ounces of imperial measure
just a handful of rags for unlimited treasure
though I could only stand and stare
we never seemed to have rags to spare
now looking back and assessing the facts
all of our rags were on our backs

	*what about the scramble?*
	Ha'pennies an pennies an thrupenny bits trying to catch some in your grubby mitts silver thrupennies disguised as tanners and all the kids forgetting their manners pushing and shoving on the ground chasing the coins that were rolling around down in the gutter for the last few pence and at the time it seemed perfect sense

The book, "Oot The Windae", written by David Reilly, about memories of a childhood in the East End of Glasgow, contains some very funny stories of his observations and experiences.

It also has some vivid photographic treasures of Glasgow characters, events and landmarks which evoke an accurate sense of the real atmosphere of Glasgow in a bygone era. The photographs include:-

St Enoch Square	Tobago Street Police Station
Dennistoun Palais	Shettleston Odeon	Parkhead Cross

The book has been cleverly featured on David's website www.ootthewindae.net
in the form of a trip on a tramcar taking you on a nostalgic journey through the streets of Glasgow.
.

Welcome tae GLESGA PALS David...Feb.2003

Hand bound hardback edition of OTW

This is a quality hand bound hardback edition of Oot the Windae which contains most of your old favourite stories and many more, plus dozens of "new" photographs of the period to accompany the stories.

This is a limited edition book and is only available through his website on a first come first served basis and will
cost £19.99 + P&P. (July 2009)

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more excerpts

                 Order the book
               ( tell him you saw it oan GlescaPals )

           hardback dust cover

July 2009, GlescaPal Dazzle, (Avril Dalziel Saunders) author of 'Chasin' that Carrot'
I felt extremely privileged recently when Glaswegian poet David Reilly contacted me and asked if I would review his new hardback book due out later this year. I was more than happy to oblige.

Those of you who know of David Reilly’s work will remember ‘Oot The Windae’, in which we travelled on his tramcar of rhyme through his recollections of being brought up in Glasgow in the 1950’s. He took us through his life, a life that lots of Glaswegians can relate to and he expertly relayed in verse stories about the ragman, the coalman, the steamie, the flitting, the polis, the middens and much more.

His new book is also titled ‘Oot the Windae’ but it’s a hard-back edition. You can read all his wonderful 1950’s poems as well as new ones about his memories of the 1960’s. He tells us the story of the ‘Upside Down Year’ and reminds us about the provy man’, swimming in the canal, gathering empty bottles for cash, New Year’s Eve and steak pie at midnight, The Barras, the second-hand bike, the bully etc. It is unbelievable how much he has managed to cram into this book about life in Glasgow in the 50’s and 60’s

I feel very honoured that David Reilly asked me to review his new release, which I can only describe as ‘sheer genius’. He has an extremely rare and wonderful talent in being able to get his message across in verse, reminding us of by-gone days mixed with happiness and sadness. I found his new book every bit as enjoyable as his last one, I was engrossed and just couldn’t put it down, his writing is so vivid and lifelike, it really was a journey back in time. You will laugh and cry as you reminisce your way through this excellent read of emotional turmoil and ecstatic joy. David has captured perfectly, his life and the lives of many Glaswegians during this era and what’s more, it’s all very skilfully written in rhyme. You can see details on www.ootthewindae.net

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SEE DAVID's other books www.johnnynod.com