Home > Work > The Papers of Tony Veitch
1 " The simplicity of this case offends me. It's so neat, it's like a preconception. One thing you can be sure about any preconception. It's wrong. If there's a God and he tried to preconceive the world, he got it wrong. "
― William McIlvanney , The Papers of Tony Veitch
2 " Coulda made something o’ himself. But a luckless man. All his days a luckless man. The kinna man woulda got two complimentary tickets for the Titanic.” The unintentional humour of her remark was like her natural appetite for life reasserting itself. Harkness couldn’t stop smiling. It was as if Glasgow couldn’t shut the wryness of its mouth even at the edge of the grave. "
3 " From his vantage point in Ruchill Park, Laidlaw looked out over the city. He could see so much of it from here and still it baffled him. ‘What is this place?’ he thought.A small and great city, his mind answered. A city with its face against the wind. That made it grimace. But did it have to be so hard? Sometimes it felt so hard…It was a place so kind it would batter cruelty into the ground. And what circumstances kept giving it was cruelty. No wonder he loved it. It danced among its own debris. When Glasgow gave up, the world could call it a day. "
4 " The kinna man woulda got two complimentary tickets for the Titanic. "
5 " Gin and catatonic? "
6 " Laidlaw was reminded that he didn't want the heaven of the holy or the Utopia of the idealists. He wanted the scuffle of living now every day as well as he could manage without the exclusive air-conditioning of creeds and, after it, just the right to lie down with all those others who had settled for the same. It seemed to him the hardest thing to do. "
7 " the things he hated most was élitism. We share in everyone else or forego ourselves. ‘Hullo there, captain. "
8 " Macey watched her buttocks move in her fawn cords as if they were chewing a very sweet caramel. "
9 " His face was as welcoming as a turned back. "
10 " They saw five men with travelling bags making more noise than a revolution and being harmless. "
11 " He hit McMaster twice, with the left from fear, with the right from courtesy. "
12 " destination "
13 " They looked as if they were trying to threaten their own destination into appearing. "
14 " Laidlaw’s mind put on its working clothes. "
15 " The place had the gritty untidiness of belonging to no one, a litter bin for wasted time. "
16 " She looked like a woman you might jump a few lights to get home to. "
17 " See, you always buy with notes. Coins are beneath you. You become a whisky-millionaire. "