Oot the Windae David Reilly

Oot The Windae can be bought from most good bookshops in the UK (Ref: isbn 1-898169-24-1)
David will make a donation to this website for every book sold through Glesga Pals.
So remember and tell him you saw his advert here!

Glesga Pals offer- Get a signed copy of the book sent to your home simply by paying by the Paypal
link below then add the message "Glesga Pal please send signed copy"

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 was launched from Glasgow City Chambers by the Lord Provost of Glasgow
in Sept. 2000.......one of the proudest moments of David's life,
particularly for his mother who retired from the chambers as a cleaner some years earlier.
He is now working on a follow up and hopes to finish it later this year. Glasgow City Chambers 17th September 2000
Lord Provost of Glasgow Alex Mosson with David at the launch of his book
both hingin' oot the windae

'Oot the windae' has nearly 100 pages I have given you some extracts...
to get your own copy........

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

Extract from message board, Feb.2003, Betty Murphy, New Zealand. (email: tba )
Hi there webmaster, just thought I would let you know , while home on holiday in Glasgow, I bought the book "oot the windae" and what a great book it is, I also know Davids brother Mick who lives here in New Zealand
[ 29 yrs] I didn't know his brother had written this book, but the wedding photo of David produced a face that was familiar, but much younger I did get it right tho'