I think that there is a Paulo Nutini song to the effect that he has some new shoes on and he feels revitalised by the new shoes. I don't know the lyrics of the song by heart at all, but they are to the effect that life has been tough and drudgerous for him in recent times, and a new pair of shoes make him feel better. These new shoes make him feel as if life is looking up for him.
Well I didn't feel like that at all, as I put my old shoes on earlier this evening. I put my favourite shoes on this evening and headed on foot to a destination place in central Edinburgh. These shoes are shabby, unkempt falling apart. But dead comfortable. As I skipped along the pavement, below the tenemant in which I live. The shoes felt great. Life felt good. I have some newer models which are very similar, but I've only had them for a couple of months, so they are not properly run in as yet.
I'd had a funny day. I work from home, so I can sometimes go a full day without talking to anyone, if I am on a task which does not require interaction with others (Maybe that is why I blog). There were some minor bureacratic annoyances this morning (I'm going to a conference and then a quasi marketing trip later in the week, so I had to book a few hotels etc.). That took longer than it should have, but then I was off with some other stuff. Sometimes when I work from home, I feel that progress is slow and painstaking. This afternoon I didn't.
It had been raining on and off all afternoon. I finished what I was doing at about 1900. And it looked gorgeous outside. I couldn't resist a walk through the gorgeous streets and parks of Edinburgh, where I live to this destination, which is a cafe that I know. The cafe is called Negociants, and it's a bit of an institution. The url is http://www.negociants.co.uk/home.htm if you're interested. It's not a great website, but it's a fabulous place.
I only go there occasionally now. But I used to do so more. It used to be quite unique in that there was a cafe upstairs and a nightclub (in the evening) downstairs. And punters could happily flit from upstairs to downstairs, at will. Unfortunately, it's not like that any more. The upstairs and downstairs remain, but there is a monetary charge to go from one to another.
I think that sometimes in life, you just get a lift. People use the cliche "Stopping to smell the roses"; and although it's a cliche, I know what they mean. The rain this afternoon gave the early evening a fresh feel. The buds and leaves on the tree give a bright, green shine. I was walking (almost skipping) down the road to Negociants, talking to a good friend on my mobile 'phone.
When I was a schoolboy, we lived about a mile from where I am normally based now. And quickly my route joined the route that I had been my cycle route to school all those years ago. You can follow my route if you're really bored.
http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=Woodburn+Terrace%2C+Edinburgh&countryCode=GB#map=55.92969,-3.195051632&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:55.92708:-3.20398:17Woodburn%20Terrace,%20EdinburghWoodburn%20Terrace,%20City%20of%20Edinburgh,%20Edinburgh,%20Midlothian,%20Scotland,%20EH10%204
I walked down the tree lined street of Woodburn Terrace, onto Canaan Lane with it's high forbidding walls protecting the Astley Ainsley from my glancing gaze. Great views of an electricity substation as you get to the end of Canaan Lane. Then you're onto wide open streets of Whitehouse Lane. Really large houses on the street, although I think that a lot of them are owned now by large organisations, like the church of Scotland.
Then, soon my route departed from the route that I took on my bike as a schoolboy. I walked past the back entrance to my school and on. This part of the world is very familiar to me. I went to school here for six years. Of all the locations in the world it must be more familiar to me than almost any external ladnscape.
A little further down the hill and you see a really fabulous vista (a great word until Microsoft wrecked it). As I turned around the corner onto the meadows path (url below again) which runs along - more-or-less - parallel to Warrender Park Terrace, you can see Arthur's Seat as you look east.
I think Edinburgh is "three dimensional" in a way that many cities are not. I love London, but everything is more level. You get more gradual inclines and much of the parkland could have been built on (if it hadn't been protected like the Royal Parks). Edinburgh is not like that. The original Edinburgh, the Royal mile was built on a Crag-and-Tail formation formed as the glacier was forced apart, by what is now the Castle Rock. You can't easily build yuppy flats up volcanic magma.
That makes Edinburgh an exciting place to travel around, whether you are on foot, bike, bus or even a pogo-stick. They say that Edinburgh is built on seven hills (Castle Rock, Calton Hill, Craiglockart Hill, Blackford Hill, Braid Hill, Corstorphine Hill and Arthurs seat(?)), and that does make it unusual in terms of the views that you get, as you go about your normal business.
Arthur's seat stood resplendant as I ambled through the meadows. Up middle meadow walk and quickly onto Lothian Street, where Negociants is. I sat outside in the mildly chilly evening sipping my beer and admired the view (including the McEwan hall where Edinburgh University students graduate), and watched the world go by.
I don't know what happened this evening. Maybe it's just my hormones. Maybe it's because I sometimes lack mental balance. But something gave me an enormous sense of wellbeing this evening, as the sun cast some of it's final rays over Edinburgh for today.
To paraphrase Paulo Nutini:
"Oooh I got some old shoes on and everything is smiling,
it's so inviting..............."
(Incidently, not sure if you like the photo. I wasn't sure about 'photos when I first came to blogging, but I'm thinking that a few might be cool. This was taken a little while ago in a cafe next to Negociants on Home Street, when I was out with some friends.)
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