Oh! no, I didn't

Categories: journal

Date: 11 January 2011 13:09:45

An invitation to the pantomime - but for just one adult and two children - so, after dropping the lucky ones at the theatre, I decided to fill in the time with a walk. It wasn't the best time of day - the sun had just about set, and darkness was gathering. But the location was a discovery. I'd already encountered the Edinburgh end of the Union Canal - now adorned with some attractive new buildings - and wondered if I could walk along the canal (not on the canal! I don't think that the rather slushy ice would have taken my weight), but alongside - perhaps it would be called a towpath.

There was something quite mysterious - just as, more recently, railway lines find their way to the city centre, avoiding all the complications of the road system - so this canal, presumably from an earlier era - provided a privileged route - and I found myself leaving the urban heartland behind.

I walked for about an hour - my intention had been just to walk out and back, but, as it was now dark, and there had been few other users of the path (I got a bit of a fright when a light came towards me, about 6 foot from the ground - but it proved to be a cyclist with a headlamp - literally, a 'head lamp', fixed to his helmet) - so I left the canal behind, and regained the streets - fortunately finding myself at a bus stop, with not too long to wait for the next citybound bus.

It was too soon for me to present myself at the theatre (I reckoned), so I allowed the bus to take me to the centre of Edinburgh, affording me another walk - arriving back at the theatre in good time to collect the family. So it worked out OK, though I did find the walk somewhat unsettling - passing houses where people were settling in for the night, while I still occupied the cold night air - I think that it would be nice, one day, to do the trip in daylight ...