The High Life

Preparations for 5 weeks of pre Christmas commercialism are well underway in the centre of Edinburgh.
The Christmas tree on the Mound, a gift from the people of Norway, was being adorned with lights this morning while the Christmas Market outside the Art Galleries was being assembled nail by nail and hammer upon hammer blow.

The Ferris wheel, sent over from Amsterdam and ready to go, dominates the gardens and poor old Sir Walter Scott, who stands as ever in stony grandeur, is diminished under its shadow.
With covered capsules this year, a certain amount of excitement will be missing; no gusting Edinburgh wind to add an extra dimension to the vertigo experienced when rotated high above the traffic of Princes Street.

The Christmas lights will be switched on by Sir Chris Hoy on Sunday, and Edinburgh's coffers will begin to swell with the spending of tourists and the less cynical of the notoriously tight fisted burghers of Edinburgh.

Who knows, His Lordship and I might indulge as well. It is quite a few years since we sat up top on the Ferris wheel, laughing the way one does when a strong west wind is is blowing and there is nothing but a metal bar between you and a 100 feet of space above Tarmac and traffic.
It will be more muted this year with enclosed pods.