edinburgh

Edinburgh remains one of my favourite cities, although I've just arrived back in Brighton from a trip to Scotland which counts as a work trip rather than a holiday; nevertheless, I find the architecture and the colours of the city utterly fascinating; the dark hills rising at the edges of the city; the jutting, incongrous cliff face at the heart of the city which stands like an ancient plinth for the castle; the view down to Leith from the tip of Princes street. The Star Bar, on the way down the hill, which is my dummy, for it so resembles a Brighton pub that I feel momentarily comforted at being off on work on my own. Meanwhile the monochrome of the massive, endless Georgian terraces transports me into the pages of a Muriel Spark novel and is equally impressive in rain or sun. I spend most of the week, however, sat at a stand or reading books in the pod-like structure of the new building at the Craiglockart campus of Napier University, which is slow going but diverting (the process of running a stand, not the building - the building is fantastic). Being north of the border I convert myself into a Scotland supporter for the World Cup qualifiers, which given England's performance (of which I know nothing until I suddenly get wind of it from merry locals in a late-closing pub), is probably for the best.