Bartimaeus

The number of visitors at our door on Halloween was down on previous years, Nye felt. They also seemed a polite lot of kids that didn't take huge handfuls but selected only one or two sweets as a result. When they had stopped coming the sweets were far from gone. We have a large amount of varied sweets left over, but with three of us we are getting through them. I am avoiding the ones that turn your tongue purple, but luckily Nye loves blackcurrant and is happy to have them. I suspect I am the only one eating the chocolate eclairs and treacle toffees.

When I headed outside I could see remnants of the night before in the form of a carved pumpkin impaled on a railing and a child's colourful witch had lying flat and wet on the pavement. Heading to the Meadows I saw another hat. This might not have been a costume though black is a popular shade. Someone had thought to lift it up so it wasn't stood on and might dry, now it was a brighter day.

On Jawbone Walk, the makers were still having their workshops, as promised - some names had been signed up for particular slots - and they had better weather for it so it might be busier than when we had been there the day before.

I was loving the autumn colours on the Meadows. It is a beautiful walk in any season to be fair. All the same I was amazed at some real brave souls gathering on a rug for a picnic in November, but it was not a bad day for it.

The ground was still wet from overnight rain though, so I hope the picnickers had a waterproof backed blanket. Further up on Middle Meadow Walk someone must have been a bit far gone that they had lost not just a hat but a warm coat... Not quite so warm now it was soggy. Surely someone will notice that has gone soon.

Heading towards town I noticed some changes. Shops that had lasted a long time and had been there when I was a student were now gone. I saw a shop that I definitely hadn't ever seen before. Could it be that popular - it seemed so today and it isn't even peak tourist season.

 I went from George IV Bridge towards the Royal Mile. Even though I am not a tourist I still enjoy the views this city affords and find new things to see. The 3D streets, long history and high walls give some interesting views.

 The Royal Mile was pretty busy despite it being well past the high visitor season - not the Fringe, or summer holidays or Hogmanay or even Fresher's week, but there were guides in kilts, tour buses, and a busking bagpiper. St Giles had a long queue outside. I pressed on to view it from behind.

The original market cross was a sight of many a high profile execution but this wasn't its original construction, nor its original site. There has been a cross since early medieval times and the previous cross had some of its pieces purchased by Sir Walter Scott and incorporated into his own home. The cross was also a place for announcements and news. The current cross is Victorian and while it is ancient the High Street does keep changing.

I saw a statue that I hadn't paid much attention to before, but must have been there for a few years, so I must have passed it before: an Oor Wullie in tartan trews. I stopped this time to see the theme and saw it was dedicated to a single person who had lived to be 99 and died in 2019. He was a decorated war veteran, as the model suggested, but he continued to be a colourful local figure collecting regularly, mainly for children. He raised over a million pounds and mostly it was for The Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children, popularly known as the Sick Kids. In fact the official name of the charity  was The Sick Kids Friends Foundation. He lived to see this statue in his honour, part of the Oor Wullie Bucket trail in 2019, dying in November of that year. His own brother died during the war, aged only 18.

The High Street was one of his regular collecting grounds, as well as Princes Street but he wouldn't have managed to cut through the close in a wheelchair. The Old Edinburgh streets are punctuated with narrow closes, some are prettier than others. I hadn't noticed the more modern addition of a high level bridge between the buildings in this one.

I chose a wider route down to Princes Street, the sweeping curve of Cockburn Street. At the bottom on Waverley Bridge the garden stretched out towards the galleries on the Mound. The festive attractions were being built but weren't open yet.

Round the Scott monument poppies, wreaths and crosses were gathering ahead of Armistice Day. I have never gone up the tower and today was not the day as I felt like I might have a cold and was a little tired. 

Walking towards the Galleries was very attractive and I thought it was good to fit that in before the market goes up and it becomes a struggle through the crowds, spoiling the view. As I emerged up the steps I heard throbbing music. I wondered if a band was playing at the open air stage in the garden, but in fact it was a guitarist and drummer on the pavement, playing Sultans of Swing and very well too. Several groups of cadets in camouflage uniforms and leather-edged berets passed by holding collection buckets and cans, for the Earl Haig fund. The drummer had a certain similarity of dress but not buttoned up, a bit of a Che Guevara look about him, but with a fuller beard. None of the cadets looked like a beard was coming any time soon, they looked like kids who had never heard of the Sultans of Swing or Dire Straits as they passed by the band.

At the end of the song I tapped a donation and another woman approached but she wanted to join in, not just show her appreciation. I heard the drummer say he didn't know the song. This didn't deter her. She took the mike and the guitarist started to play. She sang with gusto and the drummer soon joined in. Despite her forgetting the words to one verse she stormed through the rocking tune. All in all an impressive busy performance, given they had never played together and it wasn't a song in the band's repertoire. You never know what you are going to see or hear, and not even the band with their CDs lined up expected to be playing an unrehearsed song with a beltingly enthusiastic Mexican woman in Edinburgh.