100 years ago a plebiscite was held in Leith to decide on an amalgamation with Edinburgh. Despite the good burghers of Leith voting six to one against the proposal, parliament passed the Edinburgh Boundaries Extension & Tramways Act in 1920 and the deed was done.
To Leithers it still rankles like a vague memory of a football failure, but to commemorate the centenary an online exhibition called 100 Days of Leith was created. I came across this somewhat late but worked my way through it day by day and thoroughly recommend it. There is a great deal of interest in its 100 pages about Leith, both past and present including a picture of the town seen from where the Water of Leith enters the harbour. I often walk alongside the river down to there so I took my own picture one evening from the same vantage point.
The Covid restrictions still limit social activites so the various in person engagements I've enjoyed over the past weeks; barbecue, afternoon teas, restaurant visits, social drinks and more recently an overnight stay have all involved only the permitted number of people from the permitted number of households. Cultural entertainment has been exclusively online but that is about to change I'm glad to say with the advent of Edinburgh's festivals. Reduced in size and scope and as hybrid as the last year's education they nonetheless offer the first opportunity in a long time to go out to a show. My first will be Soweto Kinch at the Roxy on Saturday.
Online I've seen a number of plays whose names I will record. It seems the least a good diarist should do and will help me find out what they were about since even now my memory of them is dim. The Merthyr Stigmatist, LIT and Possible I saw. Parlour Song I tried to see but the website concerned was uncooperative.
The memory is still bright of the talk given online by Mollie Hughes who was opening the Petticoats and Pinnacles exhibition at the National Library of Scotland. The exhibition is about Scotland's pioneering women mountaineers and Mollie is a modern version, albeit not Scottish although Edinburgh based. She had climbed Everest twice by the age of 26 and followed that up a couple of years later by skiing solo from the coast of Antartica to the South Pole. If someone can play rugby for Scotland after three years residence then the sooner Mollie does that the sooner we can add her to the list of Scottish mountaineering heroes.
I also enjoyed very much the six part biography of another hero on iPlayer. A literary hero this time though a tough guy to boot. The story of Hemingway; his wives, his travels, his writings, his mental health was fascinating. It must be over 50 years since I read any of his work but the series will drive me back to it I think.
Wimbledon was back after a year's absence and there was much lively, skilful and exciting tennis to watch. Andy Murray provided something of a helter-skelter ride for his fans but it was good to see him in action again. A number of British players gave a good account of themselves with three of them getting as far as the mixed doubles final. Undoubtedly the star of the tournament for British tennis fans was Emma Raducanu. Born in Toronto to a Rumanian father and a Chinese mother she's been fully Britishised by the Borough of Bromley since she was two. She's a pretty girl whose delightful smile belies her fierce intensity on the court. That intensity carried her through three rounds and had it not been for the breathing difficulties that forced her to withdraw in the fourth she might well have gone further. In a couple of years time I hope to see her and Coco Gauff fighting it out for Grand Slam honours.
On the men's side Djokovic took the singles title by beating Berrettini. It was a good match and while Berrettini was fantastic I don't see Djokovic surrendering his place at the top of men's tennis just yet.
I spent my first night away from home since before the pandemic in Fife then the next day travelled via the Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies to spend my second in Keswick. I'd gone to Anstruther to meet up with Fiona and Ben who were spending a few days in Scotland.
The East Neuk was as beautiful as ever as was Keswick. I'd seen the Falkirk Wheel before but this was my first time up close to the Kelpies. Unbelievably lovely.
