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Who can forget the carefree days of their youth, middle age or dotage when no wander through the summer countryside was complete without splitting open a Policeman’s helmet?

Or, to put it another way, splitting open the pod of a Himalayan balsam plant.

That delicious elastic tension, that exciting application of pressure, the sudden satisfying pop and expulsion of seed were surely Nature’s way of gently suggesting Humankind should invent bubble-wrap.

Not any more, though.

Tesco on Broughton Road has been refused consent to extend its hours for deliveries to 7.00am–9.00pm on Monday–Saturday and 9.00am–6.00pm on Sunday (Ref. 14/01866/FUL; Breaking news, 21.5.14: Issues 230­–1). 

Edinburgh today was baking.

Temperatures on Princes Street – where sun, pavements and south-facing shopfronts combine to intensify the heat – easily exceeded the mid-20º C highs forecast earlier in the day.

This man and dog made what shade they could whilst the rest of the world passed overhead, intent on shopping. 

For those who could manage it, some of the best places to be were in the tree-covered reaches of the Water of Leith.

Some people had to work, of course ...

One of the best things about living in Broughton is the sense of community, and although you live in a big city you really feel as if you belong to an entirely separate area. It’s almost a village atmosphere; even your next-door neighbours are friendly. 

But what do you do when you have a problem with one of those neighbours? Do you confront them? Do you ignore the problem, hoping that it will go away? Or do you act to fix the problem without them knowing about it? These are the questions that I face and I put them to you for your help.

The Union Gallery celebrates its anniversary this month with a group exhibition featuring work by some of the artists who have shown here over the previous five years.

No particular theme prevails, although there’s a general lightness of touch which matches the season and the sunshine-flooded premises.

What follows is a selection of personal favourites, from which others are omitted mostly for reasons of space or some difficulty in photographing them adequately. More images will follow later in the month.

Spurtle's David Sterratt has been asking why Edinburgh's new trams keep getting stuck on Princes Street. Those in the know were only too glad to explain.

Although I wasn’t convinced in 2007 that Edinburgh should have trams (for the record, I waged a minor campaign to look at the argument for trolleybuses), now that they're here, I have to confess that the ride is lovely.

Neighbours are practically farting sparks at the latest developments on East Scotland Street Lane.

For the benefit of readers with too much time on their hands over the summer, we present a 26-part word quiz, whose overall theme is suggested by the picture right.

Each answer has a numbered visual and verbal clue. All but one of the answers comprise one or two words (the exception has three) and have a similarity to each other, but there is no particular order. Solve one, and the rest will follow more easily.

Pictured here is the cipher panel on the wall of No. 29 Spey Terrace.

All sources agree that it comprises the monogram of the Edinburgh Artisan Building Company, which built the tenement here in 1867 in common cause (to provide better working-class housing) with the Pilrig Model Buildings completed over the road a few years earlier.

Shrubhill House on Leith Walk will be demolished over a period of around eight weeks, announced STV yesterday.

It is to be replaced by September next year with five commercial units and accommodation for 260 students.

Spurtle decided to have a last look at the building before bits of it begin to disappear.