Magnolia

We had vague thoughts of going out to East Lothian today, but I decided over breakfast that the bigger priority was to sort out the balcony and wash the windows, which were so filthy you could barely see through them. Much of this is thanks to the building site across the way, which was showing off in the context of Edinburgh's much photographed sunset this evening (see extra).

It was very satisfying to cut back all the dead stuff on the balcony and to discover that there has probably been less death than I feared. The chrysanthemum plants have survived. All of my sister and W's plants seem ok. The mini fuchsia is actually flowering and the magnolia looks as if it will flower in due course. A few pots or part pots have been freed up (the bidens finally expired after two years), so I will probably procure a bit of short term insta colour over the next few days to see us through until our croci and daffodils flower. The latter occurrence may not be for some time....

However, near the aconites I blipped yesterday, I also saw my first patch of croci along the Water of Leith. Good to see. Our walk took us right down to the front, and then back up Constitution Street, which has two way traffic on its bottom half. I read somewhere today that we should expect test trams to be running in March and two way traffic on Leith Walk within a few days. As ever, my scepticism is to the fore.

Back to the Greek Revolution tonight. I'm almost halfway through the book, but it is a monster!