the ubiquitous blog

With Old Year’s Night almost upon us once again, I have to decide where to be at the bells. Living in Edinburgh this used to be easy, the town used to gather on the High Street, spilling out onto Princes Street. However nowadays things are not so easy, the Edinburgh Hogmanay I used to know is dead.

When I first moved to Edinburgh, returning to the land of my birth after a long sojourn in the south, I experienced the real Edinburgh Hogmanay. I had been told that the High Street was the place to be at the bells. Heading out on Old Year’s Night, I went to pub I regularly frequented, which closed at 11:00 pm. In those days, most of the pubs closed early for Hogmanay, but not because they had to, as most were licensed to stay open till midnight or beyond. No, they closed so that their staff could join in the celebrations in the centre of town.

Arriving on High Street, the place was very busy, at its height in the mid 1990s there were 300,000 people (Edinburgh has a standing population of about 500,000) out on the street for the Bells. The thing that truly impressed me was the friendliness of the crowd. On Ne’er Day (New Years Day) in the news reports you would hear about how there had been a couple of thousand people gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square and that there had been a few hundred arrests by the police (mostly for theft but several for violence). Whereas in Edinburgh it was unusual for there to be more than 10 arrests, all for drunkenness.

At midnight traditionally bells were rung, but this has long been replaced by fireworks and the Edinburgh fireworks are big (if the killjoys from the Council haven’t cancelled them because there is a wee bit of wind blowing). The centre of the fireworks displays is the Castle, in some years there have also been major displays on the other Edinburgh hills (there are seven in all) as well. From the ramparts of the Castle and surrounding area four tons (or more, this year it is to be 7 tons) of fireworks are set off in the space of 5 minutes, but the sound of the fireworks is almost drowned out by the roar of the crowd. Then the greeting would start, a central part of Hogmanay is to welcome friends and strangers, with warm hospitality and of course a kiss to wish everyone a “Guid New Year!” or as Burns put it

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.”

There is a version of the final line which runs “We’ll tak a kiss o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.” and so it was in the days before the fence. For several hours people would work their way up one side of the High St and down the other, greeting all they met. This went on until the council street sweeping teams moved in at 3 am to start the clean up, by sunrise the streets were so clean you wouldn’t know there had been such great revelries the night before.

One year a friend of one of my flatmates decided to mark all those who where kissed by one of the party by giving them a wee spray of vanilla essence. Before setting out from the flat we were all anointed with vanilla essence, the effects of this were interesting. One lassie I met gave me a quick kiss, only it wasn’t so quick, when she finished she smiled and said “you taste of ice cream” and then came back for seconds…

Of course it isn’t only on the High Street that the celebrations are carried on, down on Princes Street various bands play. One year a famous Edinburgh Ceilidh band, The Tartan Amoebas, were playing on the roof of the Waverley Centre, up on North Bridge there were people dancing impromptu ceilidh dances. No caller was needed, these were all locals who knew the dances. For me it was always centred on the High Street, it was only later on (after 1 am) that I would go down the Mound to Princes Street to find other friends there.

In that time it was the town coming together to clear out the vestiges of the old year, to have a clean break and welcome in a young, New Year on a happy note. Even at my first Edinburgh Hogmanay, when I had only been living in the town for three months, I met at least ten people who I could put names to, but it was the other 20 odd people, who greeted me by name and I hadn’t a clue who they were, that surprised me. There were many many more who openly offered me the hand of friendship or as Burns put it

“And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie’s a hand o’ thine,
And we’ll tak a right gude willie waught
For auld lang syne!“

Only some were not so keen on the bit about “we’ll tak a right gude willie waught“.

But all this was before the fence. It was decided that the celebrations were getting too big and so it was decided to fence off the city centre. The people of the town were fenced out their own party, yes, the council let you apply for a pass to get in, but less than 50% went to people living in the town. The effect of this has been to totally change the nature of the “famous Edinburgh Hogmanay”. Last time I was inwith the fence for the Bells, I met one person I knew and if I extended my hand with cry of “Happy New Year”, people looked at me as if I was mad and drew away as I was not part of their group. So I say the Edinburgh Hogmanay is dead, killed by the desire to provide something for the tourists. Yes the tourists come in their thousands and brave the weather to see in the new year in Edinburgh, not knowing that they have killed the very thing they have come to see, such is the nature of tourism I suppose.

Wherever you are at the Bells, here is wishing you HAPPY NEW YEAR!! One final piece of advice if you do see a man in kilt, do go up to him and offer your hand and ” tak a kiss o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.”, but don’t ask what is worn under the kilt, you might find out more than you bargained for.

I have been cycle commuting for 12 years now and as it is coming up to that time of year when people make resolutions to change their lives, I thought this is a good subject for a blog post. I have been cycling for more years than I care to remember, before going to Uni I had never really lived in a town and had only occasional used a bike to get to and from work. The big change for me came when I first when to Edinburgh University in 1994 as a mature student and I sold my car to free up some funds. In the first week I had a meeting with my director of studies, a great character called Charlie Hinks, and I was bemoaning the problem of getting to morning lectures in George Square (I was living in a student flat at KB). Charlie put down his pipe and said “you had better get yourself a bike then”.

This has proved to be very good advice.

So I took my self of Dave’s Bike Shop in Argyle Place (now a coffee shop) and bought a second hand Dawes Shadow. This was a great bike lasted me for years, it was fantastic to discover the freedom of the city, and just how I could get quickly and easily from place to place. It is important with a bike in daily use to keep it well maintained. Not being much of a cycle mechanic, I used to take it back to Dave’s Bike Shop for regular servicing, until I fell out with Dave and went up the road to the then newly opened Bicycle Works, an outfit which over ten years later I can still thoroughly recommend, these guys really know about bikes!

After graduation I still found a bike was a great way to get about town and that employers could be positive about cycle commuters. For instance at FC HQ had a large cycle cage at the back of the building, so there were no worries about cycle security. Also there is a very convenient cycle path passing behind the building, so no need to cycle down Corstorphine Road in the rush hour. When I started working out at the Bush Estate (just to the south of Edinburgh, home to a range of research institutes, high tech companies and formerly Dolly the sheep), the cycling did drop off. This was mainly due to the poor level of cycle provision by Mid Lothian Council (one of the most backward local authorities in Scotland). As soon as you cross the Edinburgh bypass going south, the road design becomes hostile to the cyclist.

Moving to Aberdeen for three years I found the traffic there was also difficult, as there was a serious lack of cycle lanes. By the time I left things were really beginning to improve. One the plus side, the traffic in Aberdeen is mostly gridlocked and cycling past stationary cars is relatively safe. While in Aberdeen, my old Dawes Shadow died (the head tube snapped), but on a lucky trip to Alpine Bikes I picked up a Norco Volante at a very good price. Sadly they no longer stock Norco bikes, as Norco do make great bikes.

I was still glad to move back to Edinburgh where cycle commuting is great. I now dread the thought of having to get a car if I get a job in a place where I can’t cycle to. Cycle commuting provides a good daily workout, clears the mind and is so much more relaxing that sitting in a traffic jam. Well those are my reasons, to see some other people’s reasons see here [or rather don't, dead link removed].

So if you are thinking of making a change of life style for the better, try cycling, you won’t regret it.