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Spurtle had high hopes of The Alternative Edinburgh Walking Tour on Saturday.

With five minutes to go before the scheduled start, we’d asked the guide what it was about the tour which made it alternative.

‘Well,’ he replied, ‘it doesn’t really go anywhere. And we don’t set out to inform or entertain.’

Payment was to be by voluntary donation – audience members giving as much or as little as they wished.

As recently reported here, getting the right number of the right-sized communal bins in the right places is only half the battle when it comes to keeping New Town streets clean.

Next you have to fill them correctly, and find a way to get the Council to clear up the results of any spillage or misuse.

Meet James Craig Page: self-taught artist, pop-up speakeasy host and clairvoyant medium. 

Page is normally based in Dunbar, but during the Festival period you can find him in a cellar below Dofo’s on Blenheim Place.

Here he is exhibiting his paintings by day, alongside an occasional vintage clothes boutique; and by night welcoming musicians, poets, performers and other thirsty free spirits from the Church of Gloss until 5am.

The event venue is called Amma, after the deity of the Dogon tribe in Mali.

‘It is wonderful to think what a turn has been given to our whole Society by the fact that we live under the sign of Aquarius – that our climate is essentially wet.

‘A mere arbitrary distinction, like the walking-swords of yore, might have remained the symbol of foresight and respectability, had not the raw mists and dropping showers of our island pointed the inclination of Society to another exponent of those virtues.

If you were to accuse us of shameless voyeurism we would defend ourselves to the last ditch.

The truth is, we are slightly ashamed.

However, dammit, as everyone knows, half the drama, excitement and enjoyment in Edinburgh at this time of year plays out on the streets, where nothing beats watching the endlessly fascinating recombination of faces and places.

Spurtle has been out and about across Broughton today, and here is a small sample of what we saw.

If you were in north or central Edinburgh yesterday afternoon, you cannot have failed to notice a cataclysmic thunderclap shortly after 3.00pm. 

Many of you will have paused to watch the shockwaves rippling across your latte, or wondered whether the end of the world would release you early from some oafish performance in a yurt clammy with comedians’ sweat.

But of course, it wasn’t the end of the world – merely a thunderbolt hitting 21 Pilrig Street.

On 15 August, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral at the top of Broughton Street will celebrate its 200th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, it has commissioned a book – A History of the Cathedral by Dr Darren Tierney – to be published later this year.

This will tell the story of St Mary’s 'not simply as a building, but as a living community of bishops, priests, religious and laity.  It is hoped to have wide appeal given the Cathedral’s history and important position within Scottish Catholicism.'

Garage was definitely one of my highlights of last year’s Festivals, writes Ella Taylor-Smith. I plastered my Facebook with photies and went on about it to anyone who couldn’t get away from me. So, I was really looking forward to seeing the new exhibition this year.

Garage is someone’s New Town home, garden and (of course) garages, partially converted into a kind of gallery. The space is run by artists and they have extended the opportunity to a good spread of contemporaries, showing a variety of site-specific and slightly more traditional works.

On Friday we reported one local shop’s foray into political satire with its addition of a tongue-in-cheek remark to an otherwise fairly uncontroversial cushion.

The comment was not universally popular among pro-Union customers and passing monarchists (Breaking news, 1.8.14). 

A huge head of steam is building on the Lost Edinburgh Facebook page concerning a planning application for 1–6 Canonmills (Ref. 14.02786/FUL).