Up town!

Today I felt shamed by those who have come from further afield and visited my city. I have hardly been into town during the festival this year and as it will soon be finished I thought I had better fix that. I had some excuse having been in the States which led to jet lag and then hurting my back, but really they were not good enough.
I particularly wanted to visit the EFI (Edinburgh Futures Institute) a newly opened University redevelopment of the ERI (Edinburgh Royal Infirmary). The book festival is being held there this year and the new venue has been hailed as a great success. Colin dropped me in Queen Street as he was heading down to Musselburgh again.
I walked to St John's on the corner of Princes Street where I collected some books for our congregation. I then went into the Craft Fair where although I didn't purchase anything, I admired much. I spotted these lovely dahlias in the extra, (as did blipper Flumgummery) which reminded me of those blipped recently by blipper thebear. They had a little notice beside them which said "Please don't pick the flowers, we live here too". It had obviously worked.
My back was starting to twinge as I left so I decided to pick up a 47 bus to Lauriston Place, it would have taken me about 20 minutes to walk but I wanted to rest my back. The bus took 25 minutes to travel the route. The traffic on Lothian Road was ridiculously congested.
I decided to go through the main doors of the building, pictured in my blip. The motto of the Infirmary is still in place and much smartened up.
This all put me in mind of some of my bits and bobs and nothing at all to do with book festivals! The picture of the pelican feeding her young was the symbol of the hospital and can be seen on the adjacent nurses badge which also has the motto PATET OMNIBUS which means 'open to all' which it is - but in a very different way today!
The other badge is from the Glasgow Royal Infirmary the motto there is AUSPICE CAELO meaning 'by the favour of heaven' with the hospital's symbol of the serpent and a thistle. The third badge is for a Scottish Fever Nurse. These badges are all enamel and silver and date from the 30s and 40s. Each has the name of the nurse to whom it was awarded and her registration number engraved on the back. They were presented to each nurse on completion of training and worn on their uniforms.
I wandered the inside corridors which have the original flagstones on the floors in places and thought about the history of the building and the lives and crises and dramas it has seen. It's been beautifully refitted and as well as rooms, it's full of nooks and crannies with people sitting reading, studying or relaxing. The staircases were magnificent.
As the sun was shining I headed into the courtyard at the back which opens into Quartermile. It was filled with more people relaxing, children having fun and the main book festival shop as well as the Spiegeltent and other food outlets. I'm looking forward to going back again and spending more time there.