An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
Blustery winds buffetted Edinburgh this afternoon, forcing the Botanics to temporarily close the glasshouses for fear of broken or loosened panes cutting short visitors’ enjoyment.
Meanwhile, out in the gardens themselves, staff struggled to instal artworks ahead of a new exhibition opening to the public next Saturday.
The pieces prompted a series of more or less vivid comparisons among those within Spurtle's earshot, most of which are unrepeatable.
‘NELSON STREET FROM DRUMMOND PLACE’ BY LUCY JONES
There are some things that belong to Edinburgh, and in particular to the New Town. Local artist Lucy Jones is one of them.
I first saw her work in February, where she was included in a mixed exhibition at the Union Gallery. Her skilful and intricate collages immediately stood out, and over the next couple of months there will be two more opportunities to see her work.
Three Scottish literati helped publicise the arrival of new sculpture-benches on George Street yesterday, smiling for the media and drawing bemused stares from passing tourists.
Author Ken MacLeod, librarian and editor Lizzie MacGregor, and former Edinburgh Makar Ron Butlin posed outside the Assembly Rooms where two of the benches – featuring UNESCO City of Literature Trust’s top-40 Edinburgh titles – will be installed.
It is now over five years since Antony Gormley’s 6 Times was revealed to an excited Edinburgh.
The cast-iron figures stretching from Belford Road to the sea via the Water of Leith were an intriguing contemplation of person and place, statement and entropy.
They would, said Gormley, probably last a thousand years.
Kingsford Developments Ltd (KD) seeks planning permission and listed building consent to extend its plan for the former school at 154 McDonald Road (Refs 15/03181/FUL and 15/03183/LBC).
KD wants to build a new ‘summer house’ and electricity substation in the playground area fronting Broughton Road.
Photos posted online of the latest desecration of St Andrew Square have met with a huge response.
Yesterday, we asked readers if there was anything they'd like to say to Essential Edinburgh about the changes, and we later invited Council leader Councillor Andrew Burns to gauge the reaction.
As its name suggests, Summer Cocktail comprises an invigorating blend of styles and strengths which leave one feeling slightly less in touch with the day-to-day world on the way out than one did on the way in.
This reviewer's favourites included Lucy Jones's 'Blue Bear Café' (right): a familiar Canonmills scene here fragmented, refracted and reassembled as collage, monoprint and wax.
For all its apparent disjointedness, there is a solidity about its blues and blacks and central door recess which is particularly satisfying.
Edinburgh Greens yesterday selected their candidate to stand in the Ward 12 (Leith Walk) by-election on 10 September.
She is Susan Rae, who lives in the area and has experience of local government.
The Greens are keen to maintain their former six-strong presence on the Council, and believe that the single transferable vote system used in the forthcoming contest makes this a real possibility.
After her nomination, Rae commented:
Months ago, Mrs Left-Handed Tea Drinker sent me on a mission.
She entrusted me with the task of buying our Little Left-Handed Tea Drinker Nephew a birthday present. I had strict instructions to get a specific item: some generic children’s action toy that was apparently his favourite and from which I was not to deviate.
After a quick Internet search, the only place I could find that sold it was the dreaded John Lewis.
The closure of Broughton Street between York Place and Albany Street is scheduled to continue until midnight on 17 July.
Work began on 4 July as contractors for Scottish Power opened what resembled a series of random trenches in search of ancient civilisations. Broughton Street Lane and York Lane are also both closed at their eastern ends.
Rumours among shopkeepers on the street include one story that all the sewers are being replaced. This is incorrect.