Festival-ready

Today we had daytime fireworks to accompany the castle's one o'clock gun - marking a fortnight till the Festival kicks off - and, all of a sudden, there are flocks of rickshaws in the Grassmarket - I'm not sure whether they hibernate here or transmigrate from wintering in warmer climes but they thrive here during the Festival.

The Grassmarket is one of the oldest parts of Edinburgh, below the castle, and some of the pub names reflect that - the 'Last Drop' is a reference to its former role as the site for public hangings, while 'Maggie Dickson' was one of the scaffold's (in)famous customers.