When the holepunch is stuck, and everyone has to have a go at fixing it 👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums "The Mechanics Monument", unveiled in 1901, sculpted by Douglas Tilden, at Market, Bush, and Battery Streets in San Francisco 😁 Thanks @monstrousjaffa.bsky.social and @agreeableuser.bsky.social for sharing!

The memorial to the Child Miner slaves of Newton Parish at Danderhall Oh Faither dear it grieves me sair
The tears fa's frae ma ee
That I should slave an be sae puir
I feel I want to dee I'm arled tae ma maister's pit
Why did you this tae me 
Sixteen long hours a day at it
Deep down below the sea

1 and 1A Edinburgh, Scotland May 2025 #IronworkThursday #AdoorableThursday #UrbanGaze #Landscape #Photography #Travel #Outdoor #TravelPhotography #OutdoorPhotography #LandscapePhotography #PhotographersOfBlueSky #EastCoastKin

Miaow 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

Spotted in Abbotsford last week. Sir Walter Scott had what looks very like a Loki helmet!

It’s a good day for reflections on the Water of Leith.

Leaves starting to turn for for Autumn at the Royal Infirmary. I think Autumn probably is my favourite time of year.

Really? Have you thought this through?

Walking through Wilson’s Court from Canongate to Holyrood Road I counted five of these rat traps. 🐀 The urban myth is that you’re never more than six feet away from a rat although this calculation has it at 164 feet. It might be less in the Old Town though. 🤔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazin...

#9 in an occasional series of Great Buttocks of Edinburgh Statues & Sculptures. Going To The Beach.

A gannet and a great skua (bonxie) at the Noss cliffs in Shetland. #superseabirdsunday

This should be encouraged, not banned.

Pub sign in Tillicoultry. This is only a few miles from the Ind Coope brewery in Alloa which was the original home of Skol. The site is now an Asda. Is draught Skol lager still available? This sign has been there for years but I didn’t go in to find out.

A bit of a ghost sign emerging in Howe Street this morning. #ghostsign #NewTown #Edinburgh

Saughton Park bandstand. #Edinburgh

ESPC mid-century living museum of the day (🏠for full listing - espc.com/property/1a-...)

I’ve just been at the Birds &Bees pub in Stirling. I went there a few times as a young lad and I’m glad to see they’ve kept up the tradition of having these wooden sheep in the bar.

In Perth last week, I went to the museum @perthmuseum.bsky.social to say hello to my favourite smiley Pictish stone. It features four faces and was found near Abernethy. #ReliefWednesday

Water rail on the Water of Leith.

I can feel the seasons changing. This is a gorgeous city.

I spent 3 days wandering around Edinburgh and I love it more than ever. 1. Beautiful old and even older buildings everywhere you look 2. The posh houses of Stockbridge and their brilliant underpath/road cellars 3. The labourers' tenements of Dean Village and the Mews houses of Circus Lane (1/2)

Make a band even more alcoholic: Beer-Bop Deluxe

To kill some time in the Old Town last week before going to Mother India Cafe I went into the Tron Kirk. I’ve lived in and around Edinburgh since 1979 but have never been in until last week. It has lovely stained glass windows.

#SirenSaturday Another converted Police Box. This retains it's Siren mounting plate. Police Box 15 'B', The Mound, Edinburgh. This was given Carrier planning number 254/6 in the early 1960's. #EdinburghPoliceBox

In Melrose for a couple of days with the current Mrs Pete for our wedding anniversary (39 years and counting ❤️). A couple of pints of Tempest Pale Armadillo is a very nice start to proceedings. Luckily, unlike in 1986, I don’t have to stand up and make a speech after dinner tonight.

Beautiful RSE for the Curious programme. Followed by beautiful Jingling Geordie for the stout and crisps programme.

This is Hair & Beauty at 22 Lady Lawson Street but to us oldies it was the site of a branch of Avalanche Records where along with the usual selection of records you could buy dodgy bootleg cassettes of recent gigs.

A mosaic floor in the Royal Society of Edinburgh on George Street.

Waverley Bridge, Edinburgh. (1860s) Pic: James Valentine

This derelict shop on Dundas Street is (was?) owned by the owner of the (in)famous Aghtamar Lake Van Monastery in Exile restaurant that was next to the railway bridge at Abbeyhill. My wife is from Abbeyhill but we never sampled its supposedly unique experience. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scot...

Slightly diminish a book. Lord of the Bings (West Lothian edition)

Not that I’m blowing my own trumpet (well actually yes I am) but that was a damn good Fried Cod on a Prawn and Pea Risotto that I cooked.

Partially covered ghost sign at 28 Raeburn Place where The Little Parlour has replaced O.A. Goll Gents Hairdresser and “Ice Cream” has replaced “Hairdresser”.

Another hideously expensive but delicious pain au chocolat from Patina Bakery in Edinburgh Park. 😋

On Albion Street earlier. They’re upfront about the cost but I’m not sure they’ve thought it through in our inflationary economy. 🤔

@wolct.bsky.social Some large plastic pipes in the Water of Leith at Redbraes Weir.

Rainy day on Leith Walk #Edinburgh

Never change, Scotland

Ghost sign spotted on Gilmore Place ✨ #Edinburgh

My grandparents lived in Blackhall. My mum (8 years old) and her wee sister (5) had to go to Flora Stevenson’s school in Comely Bank to be evacuated to Clackmannanshire. Grandma & Grandpa followed. They lived in a flat in Alva till 1947 and never moved back to Edinburgh.

Apparently it’s Ginger Cat Appreciation Day. When I was a kid we had 2 gingers. Demonstrating a severe lack of imagination the first was called Ginger and he was a feline terrorist. First pic is him seeing off a neighbours dog. Second pic is Nicky (we got him just before Xmas) who was a big softy.

#8 in an occasional series of Great Buttocks of Edinburgh Statues & Sculptures, the before and after edition. Firstly, the buttocks on the Ross Fountain in 2017 and secondly the same backside after the refurbishment.

Spotted a ghost sign on Trafalgar Street, Edinburgh

If you don’t live in the west of Edinburgh it’s worth making the trip just for a wander round the Saughton Rose Gardens.

Down in Leith (again!) this afternoon. Photos are a mural on Maritime Lane and the Guru Nanak Gurdwara.

I did the Murrayfield tour this morning. This is what the pitch currently looks like from a corporate box I’ll never see the inside of again. Apparently it’ll be ready in just five weeks. Also, me in the tunnel leading out to the pitch (even less chance I’ll be there again).

Art Deco and Sketchy Beats on Great Junction Street. A possible rap duo or band name?

Russell's furniture of Edinburgh (a real shop in Grassmarket, Edinburgh) in Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Fox, 1959- intercut with backlot) Accidental hauntology - a big budget Hollywood film accidentally capturing a Edinburgh furniture store in aspic.

A butterfly, a bee and a sundial in the walled garden at Kellie Castle near Pittenweem today. I’m no lepidopterist, does anyone know what butterfly that is?

I’ve been re-reading some Iain (M) Banks recently. I love that my paperback copy of The Wasp Factory includes many bad reviews from reviewers horrified by it on its initial release.