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Local athlete Kimberley Reed has enjoyed a return to top form in the run-up to next weekend's Commonwealth Youth Games, writes father Scott.

This morning we featured messy streets, this afternoon it's messy churches ... Bellevue Crescent's Broughton St Mary's in particular.

Children of all ages – from cute tots in prams to shaggy beasts in P7 – are invited this Saturday (11am–2pm) to the Garden Room at the back for 3 hours of creative fun, games, story-telling and a kid-friendly meal. All for free.

'Messy Church' is a new Christian initiative to open up churches to their surrounding communities, and to explain a little about the faith at the heart of their work.

Two flaws have emerged in the use of pest-proof bags being trialled by the Council in parts of the city.

First, for whatever reasons, certain residents on Great King Street have taken to leaving their bags permanently attached to railings (particularly along the north-west section). Here they prominently detract from the appearance of the New Town streetscape which wheelie-bin opponents profess themselves so keen to preserve.

As Alexander Theroux once said, 'September: it was the most beautiful of words, evoking orange-flowers, swallows and regret'.

I don’t really know who he is either, but surely we can all relate to those poignant words. If not, one thing sure to bring to mind images of small birds and sadness is a read of this month's 'Oot'. That’s the goal, anyway. The predominant focus this month is on music, because there’s tons of the stuff wafting about.

In September's Issue 198 we had room enough for barely a microdot's worth of gallery news. Below are more extended highlights. Further previews and reviews will follow through the month.

At Axolotl on Dundas Street, David will show from 9–27 September. It's a mixed show of photography and an installation by 12 artists, including Susan Richards's heartfelt contemplation of her late father David.

Broughton residents are spoilt for choice in September, with a variety of good causes vying for attention. Energetic souls can attend all three.

The Edinburgh Forget Me Not Walk starts at 10am in Holyrood Park on 11 September, following the 3-mile Queen's Drive route to help Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research beat blood cancers.

You can sign up at Tel. 669 7862 or by visiting http://keyjaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk

Keen Claremont carnivore Matthew Crehan is celebrating today. The local man has won a Q-Guild promotional competition, entitling him to £1,000-worth of Crombie's products.

He spent 5 minutes filling in an entry form at his favourite Broughton Street butcher over a month ago, and earned a £30 parking ticket for his pains. There was, he concedes, a short interlude of choice language. Now, though, he could hardly be happier. 'This really takes the brisket,' he told Spurtle.

Issue 198 is almost ready, bringing you the usual heady mix of national and international news squeezed through an editorial sieve so fine that only the really Broughtony bits remain.

Next month, therefore, you will not be troubled by coverage of hurricanes, dictators, subcontinental corruption, the collapse of European economies or piracy.

In an idle moment this morning, Spurtle invited Twitter followers to suggest a portmanteau word for recent, unhappy goings-on in Edinburgh.

We set the ball rolling with 3 offerings of our own: tramasco (tram + fiasco), trambles (tram + shambles) and trout (tram + a curtailed route).

Little did we realise how many idle moments other Tweeps would have ...

When contractors working on private property at the south end of Bellevue Street removed part of a retaining wall, their actions had the unforeseen but entirely predictable consequence of allowing the pavement to slip east and downhill.

Entirely predictable, that is, to the legions of Broughton men who – as their 40th birthdays recede into the mist of forgetfulness – have acquired a compensatory expertise on all things relating to holes in the ground: foundations, tree roots, drainage, utility pipes, soil structure ... the list is endless.