Noise? What noise?

We have been worried that the nightly fireworks from the Tattoo have been frightening Archie in his bed every evening. We need not have worried. Today he faced something much more loud and frightening and he wasn’t bovvered.

He and I went for a walk down to the Meadows this morning. From afar, I heard the unmistakable sounds of the drums and flutes of the Orange Order bands. Hundreds of ‘em. It’s not really part of the culture over in the east, more of a West Coast thing, but once a year they come east and parade round Edinburgh, with tourists and locals wondering what it’s all about.

Anyway, I thought this would be a good test for Archie (and me!) to go and stand near them. If he can stand all that drummin' and flutein' (and it was LOUD) then he can stand a few fireworks a couple of miles away.

And he did! I wouldn’t say he enjoyed it, but he put up with it. As did I. Well done, Arch!

This afternoon we took advantage of Pizza Express’s generous offer of a birthday Prosecco again, it being JR’s birthday very soon. The charming waiter said straight away, ‘Is that a bit loud, madam?’ referring to the screeching muzak just above my head. Mind you, there was a table of about ten adults and various children who were screeching just as loud, but he couldn’t turn them down. Don’t know which was worse…

The waiter claimed that some people do fake email addresses and fake birthdays and go around having lots of bottles of prosecco in different Pizza Expresses. The thought never crossed my mind…

In this shot Archie’s wishing they’d all go away humming along to ‘Wild Colonial Boy’.