Colourful RSA

Unfortunately the haar is visiting the Festival today, settling over the city like a wet shawl and making the walk into town a damp one.

I wondered why I was free to stand in the middle of Hanover Street and blip the columns of the Royal Scottish Academy cloaked in primary colours for the exhibition of paintings by Peter Doig, until the answer was revealed later as we waited at a deserted bus stop: there was a fire somewhere down Dundas Street and traffic was being diverted to Frederick Street.

And so we walked home, our M&S £10 dinner for two in its bag being manoeuvred adroitly by His Lordship, posing as a hunter gatherer of old without a bow and arrow in sight, past the swarms of tourists in their mismatch of rainwear and umbrellas.

With a gentle east wind it looks like the haar is here for the day. It's a case of 'seeing through a glass darkly' for the rest of the afternoon.