Edinburgh

 

Roam and Stroll make these videos and they are well worth watching 

Recently I came across these videos of bus rides through Edinburgh.  These are interesting to me and useful for those visiting the great historic city.  Though much of the scenery is of those parts no visitor will ever meet.

Since I moved away a few things have changed though the overall look remains the same.  That is while the main streets and ancient buildings have not moved many new buildings, vast estates, some good some bad, and huge industrial areas have arisen.  As the bus moves around slowly we can take in the sights, at least those in front of us, and get a glimpse of the surroundings.  

I found them rather exciting these bus journeys, this is because each one, bar those in the south side which I rarely ventured near, bring back memories and as we tend to do, I remember only the good things, forgetting for the moment the bad ones. 

This journey on the number 19 bus, which still covers some of the route it used to cover, begins at home, that is Granton Square.  Naturally we see nothing of the square as we drive out of it!

Granton is what the family considered our home.

This is because when dad was 5 years old his mum moved the family down here to a tenement not far from the square.  She had dumped granddad, he had lost his 3rd job in 7 years through the drink, and she had thrown him out.   They had both been widowed and he was about 50 something when they met and three children were produced  in a flat just of Dalry Road.  A better flat than the one in Granton maybe but we take what we can afford.  The tenement flat contained two rooms, a bedroom and a large family room as it would be called today. In between the two was a toilet, no bath, and apart from a coal fire in both rooms, and at the front window a cooker on one side, a sink on the other, there was nothing else to be seen.  A typical layout for the time, and better than a great many elsewhere.   

John, my dad's brother, lived in that flat until he died in 1964.  It is still standing though somewhat modernised today.

The memories this bus offered me begins as we leave the square.  On the left we see the small gothic inspired school building that dad attended.  We cannot see from the bus, but there are two doors, one for GIRLS and one for BOYS, a feature from the days when we were educated properly.  So many advances in education today but we miss out allowing girls and boys to learn among their own sex, at least two days a week ought to be given for this, as too often it appears to me education is leaning towards females and 'working class' boys suffer somewhat.

Dad was a milkman in those days, and remained one until 1954 at least when we had moved from Granton to a Miller built flat some distance away.  At that time he found work closer to home in the wire works at Granton.  This house move did not stop us being sent back to Granton to attend school, though we were placed into a 1932 modern, light filled primary, a marvel for the time, rather than dad's old one. 

Just up the road there is a turning to the right, this was the road leading to the long gone 'United Wire Works.'  Dad worked there until he died in 1969, having been moved into the Lab after an injury at the weaving put a bit of wire into his knee resulting in several days in the Western General Hospital.  He was never happy about this, considering himself a 'working man,' and the Lab a place for 'better people than himself.'  He got on well there and took to doing night shift mostly for the extra money.

Passing further up the road we notice the whitewashed one level building on the corner, the Anchor Bar.'  This, with Granton and a housing estate of 15,000 working people, was the only public house around.  It was a bit rough.  A second was built in the early 50's, but this too was insufficient for the population.  Of course most took the bus up town on Friday's and Saturday's, and most avoided the Anchor.  It looks closed, and while the cost of living and Covid have affected such places it may well be that an incident did not help bring customers to the hostelry.  

A few years ago a man involved in drug selling, and we are talking big gangsters here, was approached from behind by a man with a gun. He shot the gangster dead, having come through from Glasgow to do the deed.  Several Glasgow men have done similar in the past.  He was quickly identified and now is serving time in a prison somewhere far from the Anchor.

What a daft way of life.

The bus then goes all round the houses, doing what a proper 'service' transport ought to do, serve the people's needs.  Thatcher, remember her, deregulated the buses in an effort to make money and removed the service element to such an extent that throughout the UK people were trapped in their homes or forced to obtain a car to get around.  Since then things have improved but not everywhere.  Basic transport needs being met are an economic aid in a country, not a burden.  Edinburgh appears to have continued to supply good bus services, though always someone will complain.  

I enjoyed this part of the route as I have never been here before!  This was considered rough when I grew up, so we rarely went near it!  It looks OK to me now, but I wonder if having sold most of the council houses this has had an effect here?  I noticed several churches, possibly all in use, and that shows how rough it once was!

Past Crewe Toll where Ferranti once had a long red brick building, now replaced by fancy modern building belonging to BAE Systems and others, who took over large parts of the company when it collapsed in 1993.  

Further up the road we pass the mighty building that replace another red brick establishment, the Western General Hospital.  Now this vast enterprise features some of Scotland's best doctors, and resident doctors here are paid better, without strikes, than in England.

On up Orchard Brae, brae meaning hill in Scots, we reach Queensferry Road.  This road takes you to the Queens Ferry, across the Firth of Forth.  The ferries, of various types down the years carried many across the Firth until189 when the Forth Bridge opened up for traffic.  The most famous railway bridge in the world.  

Of course we are headed in the other direction!

We cross a bridge also, the Dean Bridge, with the Water of Leith running far below it.  This cannot be seen from our camera but on the bridge are metal spikes, put there to stop people jumping over to their deaths.  A favourite spot for this on many occasions, and it is a long way down.

This leads to the West End where we can be blinded by the sun, a novelty in Edinburgh, and almost miss the castle high above on the rock.  St John's Episcopal Church has stood on the corner since 1818.  Episcopal means it is an Anglican Church in Scotland, but they do not wish to call themselves 'The Church of England,' here as people react!  Behind that we just about glimpse the Parish Church of St Cuthbert, a Church of Scotland building.  There was a church here they say in the 7th century, when Bede was writing in Northumbria, and Irish monks, called Scots, were establishing churches everywhere.  It was recorded in 1128 when David I gave it to Holyrood Abbey.  The present building arose in 1894.  I was in there once, around 1968 for an evening service.  The sides men wore tails, and it appeared just to posh for me.  Who knows what it is like now?

We move from the West End to the East End, with the gardens on our right, the castle high above, and a variety of shops I canny afford on the left.  Originally these were all houses for the wealthy escaping Edinburgh's old town, now they are shops, clubs, hotels, and all overpriced.  The art galleries to the right and with the North British Hotel (now called something else) ahead telling us it is 20 minutes to 9 in the morning, hence the empty streets, and lying to us as the clock is always three minutes fast.  This is because below the hotel lies Waverley Station and with a flight of very wind swept steps to hurtle down you do not wish to be late for that train.    

The view is magnificent mind! 

As we come to a close we stare ahead to the Nelson Monument.  This upturned telescope was built in his memory and difficult to see has a ball on a pole at the top of it.  Originally this was so that sailors at Leith docks could get out their telescopes, look up to the ball on the pole, which would fall down exactly a 0ne pm each day.  Marvellous idea as all sailors required an exact time to enable their navigation workings.  Naturally with Edinburgh being covered by the haar (the cloud that descends over the city) most days, it was not always successful.  Hence the introduction of the One O 'Clock Gun!  Today, if you are passing, at that hour the gun will be fired, ready or not, and sailors in the port of Leith would hear, if not see the gun being fired.  Only on Sunday does it not go off.

Journey is over, time to change buses, or go into that gleaming new shopping centre for things you do not need.  Or find a café and stuff breakfast down you while watching other rush to work.