Map Library

This is the Map Library building, part of the National Library of Scotland, all lit up at 7am for the cleaners to do their work. It is in the vicinity of my castle and so is a familiar sight on my goings to and forth.When it was first built I found the architecture too modern, but now I regard it with something akin to affection.

When I was growing up in the area the site it is built on was occupied by the factory which made Mitchelhill's Healthy Life Biscuits. As you passed, the windows at street level would be open, and the delicious smell of hot biscuits wafted out. If you stood and watched and salivated long enough, and were very very lucky, a girl worker in white overall and matching headscarf would hand out a broken biscuit to you. The factory eventually relocated to Peffermill Road and has been taken over by firstly Simmers oatcakes and now Nairn's oatcakes.

My mini rant for today involves the exorbitant parking charges for Zone7 in Edinburgh. My castle happens to lie in a residential road within this zone. My son-in-law parked yesterday in order to pick up my grandaughter from the castle and
the charge was 40p for 15 minutes. Outragious! Had he parked at the door, there was the chance of a scooter ridden parking attendant sneaking up quietly and booking him. It seems you can't win. In Woodbridge in Suffolk where we stayed, 40p allowed 4hours parking in the centre of the town. I wonder what the council spend this money on - not for repairing the potholes in our road for sure- maybe it's all going into the bottomless pit of cash for the trams which few people want.

I feel that my mood today matches the weather, chilly and dreich!! Sorry!