Saturday, November 9, 2024

Spur of the moment

 

Another mild and dry day prompts a  spur of the moment decision to go to Edinburgh for lunch. The trains - there and back - run to the second.  Having a good and reliable public transport system makes spur of the moment decisions like this much easier.

The Poppy sellers at the station looking underwhelmed. There was a time not so long ago when everyone wore a Poppy in their lapel . Now barely 1 in 3 seem to. Having said that how many people have buttonholes these days ? In small towns the 1 in 3 ratio becomes 1 in 2.


Edinburgh busy. The Socialist Workers Party are out in force demanding Keir Starmer bring an end to the conflict in Gaza. They seem to have a rather touching belief that what Britain says still carries some weight.


On Leith walk Italian, Spanish , Indian and Persian restaurants all peacefully coexist.


Doves or pigeons ? Edinburgh is big on pavement art. Further down the road we stop to admire two life sized giraffes.


Christmas stockings for sale. A, J and M have already sold out.  Archies, Jimmys and Morags are in for a good festive season ?


The Christmas bauble display in John Lewis eerily quiet. A lady shop assistant informs us we can 'curate our own' selection. We thank her but leave without buying anything. 


Crackers seem to be selling slowly. Perhaps there will be a mid-month pick up in demand ?

14 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

Nobby is pleased to see that there are plenty of 'N's still available on the Christmas stocking rack, but hopes Santa procures him one before all those Noah's hit the shops. (Noah was 2nd most popular name for boy babies in Scotland in 2023 according to the Internet.)
Cheers, Gail.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Pigeons. Sculpted by Shona Kinloch. They went into storage for nearly two decades during all the shenanigans related to the tram... only resettled on the street last year. As for xxy stockings, Freddy, Quentin, and possibly anyone after T may have to look elsewhere! YAM xx

Coppa's girl said...

Oh dear, if there are no A's, does this mean there will be no present for you under the Christmas Tree, Angus?
Love the pigeons, they look very well fed!

Lisa in France said...

There's something somehow not very festive about those John Lewis displays - some combination of the stone floor and the lighting maybe? We had a lot of sidewalk art in our old neighborhood in Tokyo. It was mostly dreadful and made me a skeptic about the concept as a while, but I do like the pigeons.

jabblog said...

How has John Lewis managed to make its Christmas displays look so tawdry and sad?

Diaday said...

Instead of "Make Way for Ducklings" in Boston Common," Edinburgh has its "Make Way for Pigeons.

rottrover said...

Speaking of 'curating your own', have you begun your yearly search for the Nativity scene?

Angus said...

It has been put somewhere it can't be hard to find. Give it another two or three weeks and I shall head off to find it.

Gemma's person said...

In another few weeks you won't be able to see the baubles/crackers for all of the shoppers in the way.

Anonymous said...

There was a short documentary on TVJapan a couple of years ago about people renting shelves in bookstores.Itwas so delightful I watched it twice. The enthusiasm of the renter for certain books they loved and the same when a buyer found a book by a writer/genre they liked was delightful.
The John Lewis display,by contrast seems to be flat and not tempting.

Jake of Florida said...

Heather Cox Richardson is a brilliant analyst of what's really happening around us. She pops into my email.every day and helps sort through the chaos. Thanks for including her.

Stephanie said...

I agree. HCR is peerless. I receive her emails, too.

The Life of Riley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Enough people don’t read HCR or anyone like her or we wouldn’t be in this nightmare. I had a conversation today with an acquaintance. I mentioned project 2025. She said I’ve heard about that. What is it? God help us. NR