In case you’re wondering, they did have clothes to change into. I did tell them they would be overdressed in Liverpool, especially once the Liver Birds had got hold of their flimsy outfits.

A rare sight to see the artistry of the stone mason. In Currie, the Blinkbonny Bridge is being repaired with a complete new arch and eastern wall. The project has taken several months to complete, mostly because of the weather. Some images of the process are shown.

Walking through the Meadows in central Edinburgh I found that the council had a brainstorm. Why not get businesses to pay money to have their details printed onto the golf tees? Cracking idea, except you only get to see the tees when you play AND when there’s no snow!

By the way, the dog paw is my answer to the ‘geological hammer’ – that way I don’t need to carry it.

Why waste billions of £s laying miles of tram lines when all you need is a few metres! This is Edinburgh Council’s secret solution to the problem of completing the tram system – just lay enough for one car. Even better, lay two sets of lines and then you can slide the Tram Car back & forth in different directions.

This example is in the popular high street of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

This is the latest aerial design specifically for Scottish digital reception, featuring the ‘ice muffler’ which enhances the digital signal.

With this aerial there is no need for a freeview box, just point it to your nearest transmitter. Presently only available in white. Not suitable for summer reception.

Only Joking! This is the aerial on the house next door, and thankfully Gordon only needs it if the cable connection goes down. It would be interesting to see if he can get a reception – do radio waves pass through ice several centimeters thick? This was taken on Wednesday of this week and even after a slight thaw yesterday, it’s still encasing the metalwork.

Sandra had all three ‘vestitos’ on, plus a fleece and wind jacket and still couldn’t believe this was our summer. Well it wasn’t typical was it?

Well down the path and over to the Dunsapie Loch things got much better and we could even manage to get out of the car and see sunset over the city. There was a queue for the perfect photospot as all the budding snappers wanted to get the city at sunset. It was just too cold for Sandra – she retired to the car.

This image was taken on good old fashioned film, 35mm Ilford and developed and printed by my own skilled hands. It was taken in 1982 using a Pentax MX with just a straightforward 50mm lens, and no filters or other nonsense. All I’ve done to the print is use a very extinct paper called Agfa Record Rapid – a fibre paper which took ages to develop and even longer to wash and dry.

Back in the Eighties there were more street artists on the Mound, the High Street etc – anywhere you were able to draw a crowd to watch you perform. Eddie Izzard was still a nae’bdy then and could be found in all weird places doing his thing.

Those that could would have hundreds of tourists and even locals like myself watching their every move; that is, until the hat was passed around for ‘donations’ as this is how these guys made a living.

I always felt sorry for the ‘chalk artists’ as not only did people walk over their work once it was gone, but they were always fighting against the Scottish elements, peeing dogs and pigeon poop.

Some were canny enough to cover their work with plastic sheets, which allowed them to continue the work the later or the next day. That is, if the council street cleaners hadn’t done the dirty deed and removed all evidence of their handiwork.

On the Royal Mile, aka the High Street in Edinburgh there are many, many closes (small alleys) which cut through the main apartment buildings, in both sides of the streets. Above each Close is a name plaque and sometimes a little bit of history. But one Close has the most decorative stonework plus a scroll dedicated to the person portrayed.
The building suddenly collapsed in a vertical fashion and when rescuers started to remove the rubble they heard the voice from within shout – ‘heave awa lads, I’m no deed yet’. And he survived.