The Canongate Mercat Cross

This is the old Canongate Mercat Cross standing in a corner of the graveyard of the Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile.
From 1128 until the 1850s the Canongate was a separate burgh to Edinburgh and this is the only reminder of those days.

His Lordship and I were on the trusty no 35 bus rattling our way down the cobbles to Leith, another once separate town which has been swallowed up by Edinburgh, to pay a visit to the Tiso emporium where we like to spend many a happy hour examining everything outdoorsy.

Today our list had on it Avon's 'Skin So Soft' which is our preferred deterrent against any Hebridean midges intent on doing battle with us next month.
I am lucky that midges don't like me much and if they do bite, they only leave innocuous red marks, whereas HL can be left with a face and arms covered in painful suppurating bites.

This lotion is also used by the army, a fact which must leave all those battle hardened soldiers with beautifully soft unblemished skin

Another dismal day on the east coast with the familiar haar hanging low over the city and the tourists wearing furry hoods and tightly tied scarves.