Thanks to Helen we have a cunning plan. A table plan, that is, for the World Kitchen in Leith event at Out of the Blue next week. More to the point we also have a menu which makes us hungry just to think of it – and it’s a menu you won’t find in any other restaurant. But back for a moment to that table plan because we’re learning fast that there is much more to running a restaurant than writing the menu! (more…)
Add comment July 28th, 2010
Blue sky thinking: what Edinburgh needs.
On a grey Edinburgh summer’s day I jump off a bus painted with blue skies and fluffy white clouds and on to the tram in Princes Street. It isn’t going anywhere of course but it’s still a great ride if only to dispel myths and misconceptions rumbling around town. (more…)
Add comment July 21st, 2010
Poetry as graffiti, a brilliant combination by Banksy (picture by CodySimms)
I like to think this could be a sweetly subversive movement: poetry in motion, gently working its way into the nooks and crannies of city life; sometimes soothing, sometimes stirring. In London this summer at least some of the 3.5 million daily passengers on the Underground will find solace in six poems staring them in the face on the tube. And in Edinburgh? The Poetry Garden will bloom for a day in Castle Street on Friday 16th July. (more…)
4 comments July 11th, 2010
One piece by the bridge at Stockbridge
By the time we got there the red bikini was off. But the naked body in the water was discreetly half hidden by foliage. A couple pass by not quite sure what to make of it, “Look,” says the woman, “there’s someone in the water.” Which would Gormley prefer, I wonder, the innocent reaction of passers by or the red bikini cover up? (more…)
4 comments June 23rd, 2010
Another gorgeous day. I haven’t switched on the radio yet because I can’t quite bear to hear what less than gorgeous George is doing to the economic climate of the country. Is this going to be a fair budget. Or even a sane budget. Is it hell. (more…)
Add comment June 22nd, 2010
Public space for people
Sunday lunchtime. The sun is shining, the pan pipes are playing and the waiter is serving sea food and pink wine at the table next to us. If you shut your eyes you might be in a typical street cafe in a typical European town centre. And of course that’s where we are. Since Edinburgh is now asking residents for comments on how to improve their public space they might take a few tips on going European from their old rival Glasgow. (more…)
4 comments June 14th, 2010
What’s the news today? To find out, I have several choices. I can scan the latest electronic updates in my inbox; I can flit through Twitter or other social media gatherings in cyberspace; or I can take my newspaper and cup of coffee into the garden and sit in the sun while real birds twitter in the trees. (more…)
1 comment June 4th, 2010
Thanks to Ray Perman for this guest blog on a bold new proposal for our part of town. And thanks to Aunty P for the picture (taken a little further afield).
I like the work of Antony Gormley. I like particularly that his rusting, steel statues – modelled on his own body, although you would not immediately guess that to look at them – often provoke critical derision when they are first installed, but soon elicit popular support. The critics come round – mainly because their bread and butter depends on it. (more…)
2 comments May 28th, 2010
The success of our business depends on listening to people and responding to what they tell us. [Tesco Corporate Social Responsibility]
Here’s a shocking revelation in our local community newsletter. Shocking but probably not surprising. Tesco will not be paying a penny towards the construction of Edinburgh’s tram route although it is perfectly – and surely deliberately – placed to gain custom from three tram stops on Leith Walk. But that’s not the shocking bit. (more…)
1 comment May 13th, 2010
Not many people saw it, but last night was a good night for community action. While would-be leaders dominated the television screen, a political drama was quietly unfolding in a Leith community centre which confounds all those fears of immigrants. (more…)
Add comment April 30th, 2010