Goodness, you're very uncommenty these days. (Thank you, Toffee Apple, by the way, for your nice comment.) I suppose that now life is opening up again, you have better things to do - and quite right too.
Today, tremendously excitingly... well, perhaps not that excitingly... we decided to climb Blackford Hill for a change. This was possible because we're now allowed to drive somewhere to walk. Not that it's very far away - about three miles, I suppose. It has a pond at the bottom - see above.
And foxgloves.
And campion and buttercups.
We haven't gone up via these steps - or if we have, not for a long time - so decided to do so today. They didn't look very steep. And they weren't. At first.
But then the ground became steeper and each step much higher, requiring huge heaves up. By the time we got near the top I felt slight vertigo as if, mid-push, I might topple back.
You don't think we're getting old, do you?
Anyway, it was good when we stopped climbing. A dog then came running - running! - up. But I'm sure he was much younger than us. He didn't actually use the steps, but the slopey, slippery bit at the sides.
You wouldn't think this was the middle of a town.
But it is. There's the Castle. The view would be much better on a clearer day.
This is Salisbury Crags,
and going right again, the rest of the hill that includes Arthur's Seat. Edinburgh is a hilly city. Both this one and the one we climbed today, Blackford, are extinct volcanoes.
We chose a shallower descent, round the other side of the hill.
I've washed all my friend's Zambian fabrics - goodness, it took a while for the dye to stop coming out of them. But I think they're ok now. Now I must try to think what to do with them. I'm looking forward to it - this will be different!
