Rolf at the Usher Hall

A cancelled lunch date meant an extra hour in bed. I watched a rubbish programme on my iPad. I mean a programme about rubbish. It was really interesting. There had been one before this one, which I must watch, but this one started after the war, when nobody threw anything away, just coal dust from the fires - hence dustbin - but now we throw away everything.

Met up with JR down at the Caley bar. We'd spotted it last week as having comfy seats, very quiet muzak and not crowded with people yelling at each other to be heard. It was nice. Nibbles with the wine, always appreciated. Very inappropriate, though muted, muzak. I could almost ignore it. But not quite...

The second glass of wine meant that I missed the azure sky. It was dark when we came out. But not cold, not raining, with lovely wet glistening roads and pavements. I had brought all my bits today, nothing missing, and so while JR went off checking out the nearby craft market, I fiddled about taking LEs of the traffic whizzing by. This is great fun.

I wandered up Lothian Road, and could see that my bus was not coming in the near future (now there's a surprise) so I wandered on up to the Usher Hall. It looked lovely. I was fiddling about, trying to get it all in, moving this way and that. Eventually I had to tell a smoker who was minding his own business, and had just popped out from the nearby pub, that he was standing in exactly the spot I wanted.

He was happy to move. He told me I should wait till the lights were on and the crowds were there - it was a Runrig concert tonight. And he was going!!

I'm SO jealous, as I'd tried to get tickets for this. He'd come from Germany. I asked if Runrig were big in Germany. No, he'd lived in Edinburgh years ago, and so he knew them. He'd brought a couple of German friends over with him for a few days. They were sleeping in their nearby B&B, readying themselves for the long night of revelry ahead.

We had a good chat. He was keen on photography too. I suggested I included him in the shot, and he was quite obliging. I asked him to walk, and then stop at a certain spot. That didn't work, so I asked him just to stand in front of the building. He did, but his face was blurred, because of the 20 second exposure. I then asked him to stand still very very still. For 20 seconds. He did. What a nice man. I think I filled in 15 minutes or so for him, as he was on his own. I will send him this photo.

His name is Rolf. He looks a bit stern in this photo, but he wasn't. He was just trying not to move, in case I made him do it again, LOL.