talloplanic views

By Arell

Cockles and Musselburghs alive, alive-o

It was too nice a day to sit inside thinking endlessly about where I might go, so I resolved to cycle to Musselburgh with two and a half destinations in mind.  I was on the lookout for a red telephone box I'd found on the map but after riding up and down the place I couldn't see it anywhere.

I went to Lewisvale Park for a bit, and said hello again to the Lion Foundry bandstand in passing, and then headed over to the mainer destination which was a poke around the abandoned Edenhall Hospital that I knew of, but not much else.

It would have been quite the place back in the day, with a lot of green space and mature trees.  Now it's pretty overgrown, mostly all still there with one small section burned out, but the main building is very much still here.  It was originally a grand villa called Pinkieburn, Pinkie being this whole part of the town.  Around 1915 the house and its land was converted to a hospital for injured sailors.  It was a physio and speech therapy institution its whole life, until it closed in the 2010s.  You have to record these places because it'll probably be knocked down and turned into unaffordable housing before you know it.

Back in town I watched the local cricket team playing for a bit, ate my peanut butter and banana sandwiches (yum!), then re-checked my map and found the telephone box which is now a sort of memorial to a couple who frequented it, and it has adverts for mental health help.

I was going to poke around Millerhill marshalling yard afterwards but it seems now to be off-limits with HERAS fencing everywhere.  I'm glad I had the chance to record it as best I could before.  So I rode home, had a nice chat with my neighbour, and then went to see Mum and Dad for the evening.

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