Edinburgh - dirtiest city in UK?

Edinburgh must be one of the dirtiest cities in the UK. I always feel shame once I come back from holidaying in cities where you can eat your dinner off the pavement (not that I do that), Walking or cycling through the Meadows to see overflowing bins and litter and broken bottles everywhere is a depressing and shameful sight. The council are mainly responsible for this - they could get the 12,000 traffic wardens they currently employ (this might be a slight exaggeration) and get them doing something useful, rather than purely vindictive. But the main problem lies with us, the general public. I'd give my full backing to the council to clamp down hard on the little toe-rags who throw litter all over the place - give them a £20 on-the-spot fine (it's usually spotty teenagers) - or else make them do some sort of community service - cleaning the Meadows for example. Another thing that would help is for the council to provide more bins - and to actually empty then once in a while.

Sunday morning

Had I not had my alarm go off at 6.45am this morning (my 2 year old daughter), I might have fancied a lie-in. Now, I'm not actually big on lie-ins but had I been lucky enough to choose to have one, the 4 pneumatic drills outside my flat window at 9am probably wouldn't have helped. To get 4 or 5 council workers (especially those who work on the roads) working is unusual in itself - the irony of it being a Sunday morning was not lost on me...but then I cynically realised that they were probably on double time - on a Monday (or any other weekday) no doubt they'd have been having a tee break for the first couple of hours before even thinking about actually doing any work...the roads in this city are a joke - I cycle to work - a journey of only about 20 mins - but reckon that the roads to Basra are probably in better condition than those in Edinburgh -pot-holes the size of small children are common - but bizarrely, they have chosen to dig up my street - which is in pretty good condition. The logic of the council never fails to amaze.

Edinburgh council are a joke

This morning - they are digging up my street AGAIN. I cannot believe the incompetence of this council - we must have the worst roads in the UK. My street didn't have a pavement for 4 months while they "re-surfaced" it (not that we can tell the difference) - and now they have in their wisdom started to dig up the road. Is there any "joined-up thinking" in that place (or thinking at all for that matter). I think that as they lost the vote for the car charging - they are determined to piss everyone off who lives in Edinburgh. MORONS!

Flickr

Any of you guys and girls out there discovered the joys of Flickr? If you are a budding photographer (and even if you're not) - it's a highly addictive and very time-consuming way to share your photos with friends and family all over the country/world.....check out photos by a chap going by the name of Lord Voldemort....David Bailey he isn't!

Balamory the show rides into town

Balamory have just been touring Edinburgh - much to the delight of hundreds and thousands of kids (my own included) - and getting the chance to see Miss Hooley, Spencer, Josie Jump et al proved both memorable and something that they'll remember for all of 25 minutes.... My daughter absolutely loved it - but was sadly traumatised when they all sang goodbye...which caused tears and tantrums for the next half hour or so (no she's not a teenager - although she does sometimes behave like one). I had (wisely) decided that only one parent was required for this excursion - preferring instead to go to Thomas the Tank Engine (or some other some-such event) that might be up in this part of the world in the not too-distant future. Instead I had the opportunity for an hour or so of quiet reflection with all that is right and wrong with the world walking up the crags overlooking Edinburgh - and pretending to be a tourist, snapping away with my camera. Call me a miserable git, but is £17.50 is not an extortionate price for a ticket to see a children's show? This is not just the price for an adult - but for a child too!! I had expected the show to cost about £8 for kids and £15 for adults - which would have seemed a fair price...not only that, but both the original Miss Hooley and Josie Jump (the 2 stars of the programme IMHO) were not even in it!! - a couple of look-alikes were dragged in to replace them - this is kind of like taking out Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher from Star Wars and replacing them with complete unknowns......fortunately, for my 2.5 year old couldn't discern the difference - although there were quiet mutterings among some of the parents - in hushed tones so as not to spoil the party. Anyway, mustn't grumble - it was a great show (so my wife tells me) - and we managed to get out of the place without having bought any of the extortionately priced "goodies" that they were flogging to folk as they were leaving - giving parents that wonderful feeling of guilt and meanness that they won't (or can't) buy their wee Jonny a 22nd dolly of Archie the Inventor....oh the joys....

and we're off....

Well, I've managed to go wireless - which wasn't as straightforward as it should have been. It involved considerable angst - a few choice swear words and the eventual white flag to phone a friend - who actually knows one end of a computer from another. One simple thing took him all of 30 seconds - when I'd spent almost 2 hrs on the problem.... Anyway, I'm up and running now (well crawling) - and the world is my oyster...I've even attracted a couple of comments by 2 poor souls who took pity on me. Well, I'm not proud and will take all the sympathy I can get...

My first comment!

My 1st comment!! Yippee!! I'm so excited....what could this first post be about? Someone welcoming me to the world of blogging? Someone maybe giving me some tips as to how to get this blog on the radar?....No - it was from "Tim" in the New York area asking if I was lonely, looking for "love" and wanting to know if I was interested in sex, porn, gadgets etc.....well thanks Tim - but I think I'll politely decline...there really are some sad, desperate people out there... Anyway, what else has happened today? Well, I actually discovered a blog of someone who I found to be reasonably interesting - and will follow that blog for a while (and even made my first comment on their blog - which is a first for me). I was quite excited doing it - how sad am I?! Get a grip! I'm turning into a geek...and can see that this new-found habit could become obsessively addictive - as if Flickr wasn't keeping me busy enough! Anyway, I'm gonna have a trawl through Scottish Blogs - and who knows, might even be brave enough to join them...well - I guess that's the only way someone is ever likely to read this thing.... Golly! I'm a techno-nerd....