Street · Glasgow
Right Now, Ferdinand Quinlan Is Looking at Leeks, Not the Sky
On a Glasgow allotment in low November sun, a man who spent thirty-four years above the clouds has found something worth checking from the ground.
By Desmond Achterberg · Monday, 2 November 2026 · 1 min read
Ferdinand Quinlan stands between two rows of leeks at 3.40 on Monday afternoon. The sun is low and orange behind the tenements. A jet crosses on its way into the airport. He does not look up.
He flew out of Glasgow for thirty-four years. He knows that sound. He knows roughly how high it is.
He crouches and presses a thumb into the soil beside the third leek. Twenty-eight centimetres of white shank. He nods.
The tartan trolley is parked by the shed, empty. A neighbour passes with a wheelbarrow and says nothing. Quinlan says nothing back. They have an understanding.