Old Assembly Close

Routine is the name of the game, so despite another grim, cold, dank day, I donned my Baltic Beast gear and went forth, ostensibly to find some ground cinnamon, but mainly to get out of the house and fulfil my daily exercise regime.

I have ranted long and loud in my blips about the yearly influx of tourists which overloads the centre of Edinburgh and turns it into a theme park that we residents have to endure without a break for 12 months. Not any longer; the plus side of Covid is we have our city back, to the point where not only did I have George IV Bridge all to myself this morning, but I was the only person on the whole length of Rose Street. There was nobody on the High Street either which allowed me to linger down some of the old closes. The signage on Old Assembly Close caught my eye- Smith Fletcher, &Co , Wire Work Manufacturers

It seems that the south side of Edinburgh has an acute shortage of ground cinnamon. Four shops on my shopping spree this morning had empty spaces on their shelves next to cinnamon sticks, but my persistence paid off with the last shop on my perambulation- the Coop. Time and time again this smallish store in Tollcross comes up with the goods when other stores fail me. I wonder what people are baking that preferentially choose ground cinnamon as the preferred spice.

There was a jogging past of David and Luca at lunch time and a fleeting stand off on the patio, just long enough to hand over some reading material and for David to start shivering uncontrollably. However short a meeting, it was better than nothing.