Yesterday, I visited Sighthill Park and it felt like an endless journey while sitting in one spot.
Not because something huge happened.
Not because life suddenly changed.
But because for a few hours, I sat in the middle of nature, people, noise, sunlight, birds, trains, conversations, and human behaviour, and I simply observed life happening around me.
I planned an ice cream date for myself.
Three flavours.
One park.
One chair.
One long evening with nature and my thoughts.
So I headed to Sighthill Park in Glasgow for what I thought would just be a peaceful outdoor personal picnic and alone time. But somehow the day became much more than that.
Arriving at Sighthill Park
The weather was beautiful.
Not too hot.
Not too cold.
The kind of weather that makes Scotland feel softer.
The sun kept disappearing and returning again throughout the evening, changing the entire mood of the park every few minutes. One moment I had my sweater on because the breeze became cool, and the next moment the sunlight returned with warmth pressing gently against my skin until I had to take it off again.
I did not arrive early.
I entered into the evening hours instead.
And honestly, I think evening is one of the best times to experience this park in summer.
People become slower.
The light changes.
The sounds change.
Everything begins to soften.
I walked around Sighthill Park for a while, taking photos before finally finding a comfortable spot to sit and relax.
At some point I let my hair out completely free and just sat there breathing in the day.
The Beauty of Sighthill Park
There is something very calming about Sighthill Park.
The greenery feels almost unreal.
Scottish grass is honestly so green that sometimes it looks painted by hand. Like somebody carefully coloured every inch of it.
The trees moved constantly with the wind, waving their leaves as though they were alive and speaking to each other.
The grass danced.
The birds circled the sky.
The sun stretched itself across the field.
And beside the park, trains kept passing.
That became one of my favourite parts of the evening.
The sound of trains moving beside nature creates such a strange but comforting feeling. Every time one passed, it interrupted the silence for only a few seconds before the park returned to calmness again.
By the third train, I had started looking forward to hearing the next one.
Watching People Exist
One thing parks teach you is that human beings are endlessly interesting.
You sit still long enough and eventually life walks right past you.
Teenagers gathered around the playground laughing loudly, screaming each other’s names, joking, pushing each other around, running, and trying to enjoy the warm weather before night came.
Some people rode bikes through the pathways.
An elderly woman walked slowly in front of me taking one careful step at a time.
A lady walked past listening to music through her headphones, completely inside her own world.
Three teenage girls walked together enjoying the weather, smiling and talking.
A woman dressed fully in black walked behind me while pressing her phone.
A couple passed in front of me — the girl wearing a butter yellow cardigan and grey pants while the boy beside her wore all black and smoked while they quietly discussed something and smiled together. They looked peaceful.
Three older men later sat not too far away from me. They looked like they were in their late 40s or early 50s. They had food with them and honestly it looked like their own version of a picnic.
They sat together quietly.
A kettle sat beside them.
One of them later walked around picking trash from the area.
That moment stayed with me.
Because parks only remain beautiful when people decide to care for them.
My Thoughts While Sitting There
While sitting in that park I found myself thinking deeply.
I stared across the field wondering:
Who first imagined this place?
Who drew the original plan?
Whose dream was this?
Did somebody once sit at a table designing pathways, ponds, benches, playgrounds, and trees hoping one day strangers would come there searching for peace?
And then another thought came into my mind:
How many people die without seeing their dreams come true?
The park made me think about life in a strange way.
Nature slows your thoughts down enough for questions to finally surface.
A Call With My Sister
While I sat there, I was also on call with my sister (sometimes) while she prepared to travel and buy a few items before going home.
And while talking to her, I realised something important again:
I genuinely enjoy my own company.
And I do not think that is a bad thing.
People sometimes act as though enjoying solitude means loneliness, but they are not the same thing.
You can enjoy people and still deeply enjoy yourself too.
Birds Everywhere
The birds at Sighthill Park were extremely active.
I saw seagulls everywhere around the ponds.
Hundreds of black birds covered parts of the park.
Birds flew overhead constantly, making sharp, quirky sounds across the evening sky.
There used to be two swans in the ponds during previous visits, but this time I did not see them.
Honestly, I think the seagulls chased them away.
Swans seem peaceful.
Seagulls seem like professional troublemakers.
And the benches proved the birds had fully claimed ownership of the park.
Many benches were covered in bird droppings.
At one point I even laughed to myself, thinking:
“These birds are probably taking revenge on humans. You people litter nature all year and now suddenly during summer you want to enjoy the park? No way.”
That was my inner thought speaking.
But while watching the birds, I also started thinking spiritually.
How do birds know when to migrate?
How are those instincts built into them?
Who taught them?
Nature always reminds me that creation is far too intentional to simply exist by accident.
The sky above me looked like painted cotton candy.
Blue.
White.
Soft.
Never competing with anything.
Just existing beautifully.
My Childhood Memory Returned
At some point I turned sideways on the chair trying to become more comfortable and started watching the road beside the park.
Then suddenly a childhood memory returned to me.
When my classmates and I walked home from primary school, we used to play a game while walking beside the road.
The first person to point at an approaching car owned the car.
“My car!”
“No, my car!”
“That one is mine!”
And somehow a walk that should have taken 10 minutes turned into almost an hour because we kept waiting for more cars to claim.
Funny how tiny memories stay hidden inside your mind for years waiting for one random moment to return.
Ice Cream and Radio Conversations
Then I paused to enjoy my second ice cream.
When I opened it, it was smashed.
So I flattened it out, crushed some Pringles onto it, and used the wooden stick from the ice cream to eat it anyway.
Honestly?
It tasted good.
Then I turned on my radio.
One discussion on the radio talked about prostate cancer and whether all men should eventually be screened or if testing should focus mainly on men with family genetic history.
And somehow that conversation mixed into the atmosphere of the park too.
That is the strange thing about public spaces.
Everyone arrives carrying their own life, worries, health concerns, relationships, memories, and stress into the same shared environment.
Teenagers, Chaos, and Concern
As evening continued, the atmosphere around the playground became more intense.
Some teenagers played in ways that honestly felt disturbing rather than playful.
I watched boys aggressively grabbing girls by the neck.
One girl looked visibly uncomfortable.
Another teenager seemed heavily drunk despite looking only around 12 or 13 years old.
At one point four teenagers approached me. One boy had blood all over his hand and was extremely intoxicated. Drunk, he asked me for a “fist bump,” but I refused and told him to please leave.
When he tried lingering around me, I told him I was a police officer and would call the police if he did not leave immediately.
A teenage girl of about 13 years quickly dragged him away.
But later I watched from a distance as this young girl struggled to manage him while he staggered around the park unable to stand properly. They later sat down on a bench close to me and she sat on his leg, trying to get him to calm down and he immediately started rubbing her vagina area. I was so disappointed.
And honestly, I felt deeply sad watching her.
Children are supposed to still be children.
Instead she looked emotionally exhausted trying to carry responsibilities far too heavy for her age.
Throughout the evening I kept asking myself:
When did childhood become so rushed?
I saw another boy and girl caressing and kissing in the park and I was worried for them; they are way too young to have this as their focus. They vaped and all had phones. Some looked intoxicated. I do not think there was any of them who were up to the age of 16 in that gathering.
The Park Began Feeling Different
The longer I sat there, the more the park transformed from peaceful scenery into a mirror reflecting society itself.
Some teenagers were kind.
Some looked completely lost.
Some looked vulnerable.
Some looked aggressive.
Some looked neglected.
I watched another young girl cry while a boy comforted her nearby.
Another teenager appeared injured.
One girl with a broken arm urinated on herself while walking towards me; she was embarrassed and told her friend she was leaving and left immediately.
And honestly, I became increasingly concerned for many of these children.
Their behaviour did not feel normal.
It felt like many of them were carrying burdens far beyond their age.