From the Editor

During our daily walks around the city I have been noticing more detail around me. Without all the traffic noise there's time and space to see and hear more.

Apart from the number of cars and other vehicles on the city centre streets - which seems to increase daily - there is more dog poo on the pavement, some of it already in black poo bags - one of which was flung on the pavement right next to a communal bin. Really? Why?

I have not seen our usual street cleaner out with his brush, but I did spot a high-speed gutter washing vehicle whizzing along George Street one evening. For inexplicable reasons he missed out whole bits of the street where there are no cars parked. Now would be an ideal time to clean our streets properly when there are few cars and less people. I am asking the council why not, but at least they are collecting the empties again. I have also noticed that there are many houses lying vacant. If the occupants have gone to their second homes, then perhaps they are terrified to come back before lockdown ends! Plans for that may take longer than we think. The proliferation of rainbows in windows serves to inspire all of us into a wave of emotion and support for the NHS. But that also has to include the other blue light services. Let's remember police and fire service who are all on the front-line too. What do you think the members of RNLI Queensferry thought, or perhaps even said, to the four people they had to rescue from Cramond Island? The incident has led to the island now being closed to everyone.

Is everyone being nicer out there? There are many people who are working their socks off volunteering to help others. Many businesses, with only skeleton staff, are delivering essentials. Those are the nice people, and I have met some of them. But I have also encountered enough people who don’t observe social distancing to make me very wary of going supermarket shopping now.

The One O’Clock Gun sounds louder than ever (at least we can count on that during these uncertain times) but sadly HM the Queen declared it would be inappropriate to have a 21 gun salute anywhere in the country, including Edinburgh Castle, to mark her 94th birthday. It would have been very loud - a bit like the Festival Fireworks in spring. While the festivals have all been cancelled, I wonder if it is still possible that we could have the August fireworks anyway? It would be a visual feast for us all.

Do stay home and stay safe.