Lynn Ferguson on why Buchanan Bus Station is Scotland's best building

Best Beach
There’s only one – Kames Bay Millport. It’s the most beautiful stretch of sand and it is also the most perfect size for paddling or for a wee bit of sunbathing. Also, there’s the perfect ice-cream shop at the back of it. OK, there’s Zuma beach in Malibu where hundreds of things have been filmed, even the final scene in Planet of the Apes. But, you don’t have the magic wee ice-cream shop up at the back.

Best Building
Buchanan Street bus station on Killermont Street. It’s not the most architecturally interesting building, but it is one that is full of stories. When it comes to the big, posh buildings, you go in and there’s a wee bit of resentment because you know that the wee people built this for the posh people, and they probably had a really terrible time doing it, and the posh people never really appreciated it. Buildings have feelings about them and when it comes to Buchanan Street bus station, everyone is going on a journey – there’s a magic song about it.

Best Street
I’m not going very far – just along to Buchanan Street. Every time I walk down there, I see my mum – and my mum’s been dead for 15 years now. It’s a place that’s very representative of a time for me. 
I went to drama school when it was in the Athenaeum there. Times change and the buildings change but the street still runs in the same direction – it still keeps the same air.

Best Childhood Memory
Easy. When I was in about Primary 6, my dad came to pick me up from school. He said there was something at home for me, and when I got home my mum and dad had bought me the most beautiful guinea pig. I called her Olga because I loved the Olga da Polga books. She was the best guinea pig ever. And I remember how happy they were to have done that for me.

Best Walk or Cycle
Another easy one, walking down through Cumbernauld House Park. You know, when people talk about Cumbernauld, they like to talk about the ugly parts, but there are so many beautiful space around there. Especially the wooded areas around Cumbernauld Fields.

Best View
It’s a wee bit similar to my favourite childhood memory. On the way to and from school, I had to walk through a tunnel. Coming back through the tunnel, I could see the lights of our living room. In December it would be cold and dark and miserable – and the first thing I could see was the Christmas tree and the sparkly lights in the window. To me that’s just one of the greatest views I have ever seen.

Best Shop
Tam Shepherd's Trick Shop – I’m sure I’m not the first person to have chosen that. Hand buzzers, whoopee cushions, fake jobbies … what I realised was that people can go in there and buy fun. When you realise that people buy joke jobbies, you think “yes, I think I might have well found my tribe here”.
I used to also really love a book shop in Cumbernauld town centre called Scan. I can still actually smell it. I always love the realisation that you’re in the middle of so many books where 
people have written down information and stories for you.

Best Scottish Delicacy
I have a serious Irn-Bru problem. I do have to limit myself to one can a day or there could be trouble. I didn’t move to LA to get away from Irn-Bru, but it has been helpful. It's very difficult to find there and when you do find it, it’s really expensive so that has been incredibly helpful in cutting down my problem. Full sugar, sugar-free, any variation I’ll take it.  

Best place for alone time
I’m rarely alone, even when I’m in the bathroom at home. There’s always somebody outside the door shouting “Where’s this? Where’s that?” But as we speak I’m in the middle of the Edinburgh Fringe run and as we know Edinburgh in August is pretty full on. The best thing about my accommodation is that it looks over Salisbury Crags. So I can come back from the madness, just stare out the window, and think ‘that rock has seen so much over millennia and all of this is just temporary’.