Edinburgh in August

Edinburgh’s heaving. Yes, it’s festival time again. The time when clever locals run for the hills. Or Spain. So when better to face the crowds than a sunny if breezy Saturday afternoon in August?

Well, our day started well – with a Radio 4 show being recorded at the Pleasance. Nice and light entertainment. Once the show was done, we had to cross the city to get to the place we’d decided to have lunch. Walking along bustling streets, people walked in the middle of the pavement, bumping into us. Some made way, just as we did, walking in line. Others – or rather, most – didn’t. Walking 3 or 4 abreast, chatting and completely ignorant of other pedestrians coming towards them, they obviously expected us to happily jump off the pavement onto the street. No, hon. The pavement doesn’t have a one-way system.

So out came the elbow! In extreme cases, I just stopped, making one of them swerve around me. Pokey poke went the elbow. Hellooo!!! Funnily enough I didn’t get any abuse. Just strange looks.

Eventually we got to the east end for a bite at a nice Italian restaurant. Well, not as nice as last time as they got my order wrong and the ‘fresh tortelloni’ ended up a bit gloopy. The sauce & salad were nice, though.

Afterwards we soaked up the dignified atmosphere at the Bookfest but couldn’t see anything we wanted to desperately see. Then we decided to pop into various shops on Princes Street, zig-zagging through the crowds. Well, at least that pavement was no different than at Christmas time but still – groups of people expect others to duck and dive. Well, my elbow was getting very busy.

Needless to say, I couldn’t find anything I wanted in any of the shops though I bought a couple of CDs I hadn’t gone out to buy. Oh well, nice treat!

The afternoon continued nicely in our favourite pub on the Royal Mile – which I hadn’t seen this busy in ages. Probably at least since last August. The crowds were pushing and shoving each other out of the way. Was fun to watch from the seats we found near the door, with plenty of space around us, giving us the perfect view of the mob. Ahh, not my elbows anymore…