Martha and Gilbert

Finding myself on my own this morning, I was happily waylaid on my way to food shopping in town by daughter#1 who invited me to join her in a café near the Omni centre, Leith Walk. Many times have I walked past ‘Martha and Gilbert’ the giraffes’ sculpture, but never had the chance to blip them.

They were created by Midlothian born artist Helen Denerley, and unveiled by the Omni Centre 27th July 2005. The two giraffes, nicknamed Martha and Gilbert, were constructed from scrap metal including parts from cars and motorbikes. The inscription surrounding the sculpture is from a poem by Roy Campbell, written in 1946, and reads “'Giraffes! a People Who live between earth and skies Each in his own religious steeple Keeping a lighthouse with his eyes.”
So now you know!

In a first, with two hands full of shopping bags and on foot, I beat the number 23 bus home as the traffic was backed up all up the Mound, from the High Street to Princes Street. A beleaguered motorist had broken down on the inside lane on one of the steeper sections. The driver was fortunately a male, a female, I’m sure would have been far more distraught at the disruption to traffic. (I suppose that statement is sexist, I can only go on how I would feel in the same circumstances).