I’m standing on a rooftop in the city centre, looking out towards the shimmering cobblestones of Wilson Street on a damp, blustery night, the kind of moody Glasgow setting in which Diner Tec saw noirish possibilities before I took over his beat in November 2019.

From this vantage point, I can see the bar where Mogwai played their first gig, the spot Alex Kapranos made music before Franz Ferdinand fame.

Nearby, I remember Gary Maclean searing scallops at Mharsanta, whisky cocktails being poured at The Absent Ear, Seumas MacInnes sharing recipes at Cafe Gandolfi, Blackfriars of Bell Street reopening with a new sense of purpose.

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Every part of this city tells its own story and I’ve been able to capture some of them on the pages of the Glasgow Times.

I’m up here because this splendid setting will be a glass-enclosed bar when the luxury House of Gods boutique hotel opens this summer.

A fresh start for a landmark red sandstone building that has been here for over a hundred years. Change is all around us.

As I write this, I’m told that a new cafe will open in The Whisky Bond at Speirs Locks, there are hotels and restaurants on the way for Candleriggs, The Briggait will host Glasgow’s first mescal and tequila festival next month.

The lights were on upstairs at Hutchesons’ Hall last night, which will return as a restaurant later this year. In other news, this will be my last column for the Glasgow Times as I prepare for a new chapter in my life.

One of the favourite conversations from my weekly Glasgowist column was with local hero Peter Capaldi, who described how he had recorded an album inspired by powerful, synthy memories of the city in the 1980s.

Peter said: “There’s always a wish among Glaswegian musicians to mythologise the place in music and I think I’m trying to do that as well.”

Dave Clarke, of Soma Records, told me about Daft Punk’s Glasgow origin story.

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He met the French DJ duo before they were robots, releasing their first vinyl record via the local label: “The pair of them were staying in our flat off Hyndland Road and I remember one night the Brand New Heavies were in one room trying to have an afterparty and the Daft Punk boys were in the other room just trying to chill out.

“I think they thought it was a bit wild for them but that wouldn’t be the first time that has happened in Glasgow.”

Sitting on the steps of the Kelvingrove Museum, facing the tall tenements of Argyle Street, PJ Moore, whose keyboards provided the soundscape for The Blue Nile, told me: “We saw a chance to send messages from Glasgow in music.”

Fran Healy, of Travis, recalled recording his first songs on King’s Park Road: “I would go out and make demos, and use the reverb in the close outside our flat.

"I would set my four-track up, with a microphone and put another microphone up on the next landing. I recorded More Than Us, As You Are and Good Feeling there.

"That’s where I lived with my mum when we got our publishing deal.”

Most weeks I would bring you updates from food and drink businesses and the people behind the places that enliven our neighbourhoods.

Shortly after I made my predictions for food trends in 2020, something happened that nobody predicted. Lockdown stopped the city in its tracks.

I was soon reviewing meal boxes from Ka Pao, Six by Nico and The Gannet, haphazardly assembled in my kitchen in Dennistoun. Familiar landmarks were shuttered on empty streets.

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It was a time of missed opportunities and it was easy to imagine that any forward momentum in the city had evaporated.

There’s an interchange that is the life force of Glasgow, the crossover between people who propel hospitality, music, art, fashion, television and theatre. When they get together, good things happen.

Despite being denied the chance to meet up at SWG3, Sub Club, Cafe Strange Brew, Kelvingrove Cafe or any number of places that only exist right here in Glasgow, that creative energy endured.

Thank you for reading my Glasgowist pages. Talking to people willing new ideas and businesses into existence as Glasgow revived after Covid with resilience and collaboration was a joyful experience. They are defining what our city is all about.

This newspaper will continue to champion their essential place in the community. I look forward to reading those stories.