Woman on the Edinburgh omnibus

It's odd being here alone. The flat seems tidier and maybe even cleaner but a bit sterile. Even although I don't see much of #3 son when he's here, at least he's here, a presence.

Mamatea got shifted from a.m. to p.m. so it was off at midday on a #12 bus to far away Seafield to speak to Dougie about floorcoverings. I couldn't believe how busy the town was. I'd started off on a #41 and to be honest I could have walked quicker to Princes Street as we got gridlocked on George IV Bridge. Saw a couple of mounted female police and they were going faster than the bus. The horses looked beautiful though. From George IV Bridge the Royal Mile was a seething mass of people and luckily the sun was back today after the week-end's horrendous weather. The blip is from the top floor of the #12, the foot of the Mound with the Fringe half price hut.

Worked with the Mama, packing boxes and doing some internet research (I'm a Jill of all trades) and then off to Vin Caffe to meet up with L before we had a great 3 hours at 'Food on the Forth' on the top floor of Harvey Nix. There was tastings of cheese and chocolate and langoustines and oysters and sushi and Cloudy Bay and Caorunn Scottish gin and rapeseed oil and cake and Irish chilli sauce and florentines - oh and punch on the balcony. We tried them all. didn't win the raffle though. This is the view of St Andrew's Square and the Castle from the rooftop balcony. Just missed managing to catch the end of tattoo fireworks - another night.

Now I'm home - the students through the wall are having a party and I'm watching the London riots on the News Channel. How did this happen? Why? It looks awful - mob rule.