past the design stage

Although it's obviously utterly hideous I'm surprised this lampshade survived the several daily harvesting-sessions to which the bins round the back of the charity shops on Nicolson Street are usually subjected by passing jakeys. A few simple amendments and it could be converted to a nice Itsy-lampshade to amuse visitors. Fortunately there are several procedures in place which kick in to prevent the ooh-that-could-be-useful impulse developing into actually picking anything up, including one which bears in mind the lack of space for storage of such 'useful' things, another assessing the practicality which would have pointed out that we currently have no compatible light fittings and another which might consider that although it escaped capture by the jakeys it may well have been handled by them at some point.

In case anyone was expecting anything else today: the benefit of rational behaviour systems with respect to traditions is that the usefulness, aesthetic value and future potential practicability of the incipient custom can be objectively assessed and such practices curtailed or rejected if they fail to provide any noticeable benefit or enrichment. Traditions which exist just to exist lead to silliness. Luckily, it's now well past midnight of the 25th and I have no pictures of anything anywhere near (at least, nothing closer than twenty metres from the west extremity of) Gilmour Street. Especially not of the pavement. There wasn't anything interesting on the ground there, anyway. And a van would have been in the way.