The Barber's Chair That Took Me Home

I went to the barbershop for a haircut in Finnieston, Thought I’d get a quick tidy up not that there’s much left to work with, but still. I took a seat, the barber set to work on what remains of my hair. I closed my eyes, a few seconds later, I was somewhere else entirely.

I felt like a child again, sitting in that chair.

When I opened my eyes, nothing had changed. I was still in the barbershop, still getting my hair cut. But without my glasses, removed by the barber, my vision was a blur of shapes. I could just about make out the ghost of my own face in the mirror.

So I closed my eyes again.

And this time, I was eight or nine years old, sitting in a barber’s chair after school. My mum used to take me. We didn’t go far from St Patrick’s Primary, just a local shop that’s long gone. Most kids my age walked home alone back then, but my mum always walked with me.

This is forty years ago.

Three barber chairs on the right. benches on the left. We’d sit together on those benches, waiting our turn. Three barbers worked there, a woman, a man, and an older guy. Even at eight or nine, I had my preferences.

It was a good time, the 80s. My parents had it hard. They had moved to Glasgow. They must have been lonely so far from their own families, but they built one here anyway, two sisters, me, and my brother.

You might be wondering what any of this has to do with Ottoman Coffeehouse. Maybe you’re right. Maybe nothing.

I opened my eyes again. Back in the chair. The present. But I knew I felt that I could close my eyes once more and slip through time again. Back to that side parted haircut. Back to walking home holding my mum’s hand.

I miss her dearly. She really loved me. She deserved a better son.

The world has changed. Being called a Paki wasn’t the worst, Today’s barber isn’t Scottish, next month it might be, But if my parents hadn’t travelled for a better life, we wouldn’t be here. Ottoman Coffeehouse, our dream, wouldn’t be here.

Immigrants aren’t here to take anything. They add value. They build businesses. Without my parents, we wouldn’t be here.

We are the product of immigrants.

And that’s the whole story. #ottomancoffeehouse #immigrant #glasgow