Lockdown has been easing and my face to face socialising has increased a bit. I spent an afternoon in a Portobello garden, an afternoon in a Musselburgh garden and an hour or two at a cafe table (outdoors) in George Street.
All very pleasant and no virus symptoms have appeared as yet. Musselburgh was particularly interesting because although the garden stretched the length of three or four blocks of flats, typical low level local authority tenements, it was sub-divided without any physical barriers into sections for each of the 20 odd properties. I grew up with such a back garden organisation but hadn't sat in one like it for a long time. It's a good way of encouraging togetherness while allowing individuality.
We retired indoors to eat and that must constitute my first indoor association sanctioned by the current government guidance. A second was to have followed this weekend in a restaurant but a combination of work, concern that we might be stretching the rules and a general unease saw the gig cancelled.
On-line gigs though have gone from strength to strength. With the weekly theatre crowd I've seen three shows: Miraculous from Borderline Theatre/Ayr Gaiety, a reasonably entertaining play about a one-time on the brink of success Ayrshire pop band; The Black Veil from The Theatre Royal Nottingham, a soi-disant thriller based on a Dickens story over which I prefer to draw a veil and The Tempest from The Globe.
Based on my one and only visit, when I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream, I think the Globe is wonderful but I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about seeing this production. However, the opening storm scene apart, I really enjoyed it. Excellent performances from 99% of the cast. Does it surprise you to learn that I wasn't entirely happy with the King of Naples?
Miranda was played by Jessie Buckley who by coincidence I had just seen in Chernobyl, the drama mini series about the 1986 nuclear accident. She was excellent in that too. I remember the concerns about radioactivity from the accident drifting our way and the restrictions on the sale of sheep, especially those raised in Wales but Scotland was affected too. Ten years after the accident Welsh sheep were still failing radioactivity tests so weren't allowed to enter the food chain.
The show was very interesting and very well done although this fascinating review in the New Yorker claims (no doubt correctly) that the reality of the political, industrial and judicial working of the Soviet Union were sacrificed for the sake of the drama.
I nipped out the other day to buy a replacement under kitchen cupboard neon tube in one of the many individual shops that we are lucky to have in Leith Walk. Individual and cash only - my first cash transaction since lockdown started. It was a sunny afternoon so I decided I'd have a bit of a stroll. I wandered along Balfour Street admiring its trees. I've often wondered why that's the only street off the Walk that is so blessed.
I found out, and indeed the walk turned out to be a voyage of discovery. The street leads to Pilrig park. Despite it being so near home I'd never been into the park which is why I was going that way. A board by the entrance to the park explains that the street used to be an avenue graced by trees that led to Pilrig House.
I assumed that Pilrig House was no more so was astonished when I continued into the park and there it was, not only in existence but clearly in use. 5 star self catering apartments I have since learnt.
A board by the house gives some historical information, when it was built etc., notes that Robert Louis Stevenson's grandfather was born there and that the Balfour family owned it for centuries (hence the street name).
I really was amazed, not only at the house but at the extent and tranquil gracefulness of the park. How have I managed not to visit it till now?
I wanted to know more so when I got home I pulled from the most hard to get to corner of my bookshelves my copy of Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh published in three volumes in 1880, my copy however being bound into six books.
I don't remember when I bought them, probably in the 60s. They are full of fascinating details and beautiful engravings but I haven't done more than rifle through them very occasionally and not at all since I moved to Leith Walk.
Disappointingly there is only the briefest mention of Pilrig House. I found a lot more on the internet, notably in Wikipedia. and in a family history of the Balfours.
But I browsed the neighbouring pages and found some fascinating stuff. I've patched together an extract about Leith Walk. I'm particularly pleased to see the reference to an underground railway since I've long maintained that we should have one in Edinburgh. I wonder too if we could encourage one of the poor souls who sit outside our shops to imitate Commodore O'Brien?
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