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The Fringe has finished. The Festival is coming to a close. Some will celebrate, some will commiserate, so to ease the transition from madness to tranquillity, here are some Broughton-related end of summer semi-digested musings to help you get through it.
They will remind you that as the summer is passing and our world starts to returns to normal, we are allowed to be grumpy once again, well almost.
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As you read this, September’s print edition of the Spurtle is thundering off the press, being folded in half in a flash, and then cascading into cardboard boxes ready for uplift and distribution to all points Broughton over the next few days.
Nobody is indispensible, observes Jennifer Lewin, who sent us this photo today of a rear exit on Broughton Street Lane.
I think the door should be encouraged to relax, and to feel good about setting aside a sensible amount of me-time.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Or worse, a little unhinged.
In Spurtle’s wanderings about Broughton over recent weeks, we have noticed an overwhelming number of window and lamppost stickers urging us to vote Yes in next month’s Independence Referendum.
Even a semi-derelict junction box on East Claremont Street has not escaped an amusing expression of pro-independence advice.
Only five-and-a-half days remain in which to send in your answers to Spurtle’s super-duper summer brainteaser.
Follow this link to find out what all the fuss is about.
Join the problem-solving craze that's been sweeping the barony.
The whole of Broughton could be covered by a 20mph zone under plans mooted by City of Edinburgh Council.
Bellevue already has such a speed limit, but the new proposals could extend westwards right across the New Town and eastwards to Pilrig Street and beyond. Major thoroughfares like Leith Walk, Queen Street, Broughton Street, Broughton and Bonnington Roads would also be included.
A map showing how the speed limits might be applied across the city is available here.
German artist Isa Genzken first came to prominence in the 1970s. This exhibition, Botanical Garden at Inverleith House, focuses on Genzken’s work of the last ten years. There is a mixture of sculptures created with found objects, dressed-up mannequins and collages with mirrors, photographs and paint splatters.
One Spurtle reviewer and around 10 other punters embarked on the Alternative Edinburgh Walking Tour yesterday afternoon under the brisk and self-assured guidance of Chutney Productions’ Andrew Blair.
The following extract is from ‘Old Mortality’, Chapter 3 in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Memories and Portraits: a collection of essays first published together in 1887.
In it Stevenson recalls time spent during his student days in the 1870s in Old Calton Burying Ground.
This, we like.
Obviously, it isn’t the finest piece of draftsmanship ever. But it has a squashed childlike friendliness to it.
The cat seems to belong to the neighbourhood (Dublin Street Lane South).
He makes us smile. He cheers us up.
And this – below – we admire for its attractive Tyrolean unexpectedness.
It is an artfully arranged pile of logs and kindling in a Drummond Place cellar arch.