Whitehorse Close, The Canongate

The sun is to the tourists in Edinburgh what a candle is to moths, and today we had sun.
The visitors were moving in swarms in and around the centre following guides in kilts who talked in tongues.

They swarmed at street corners and blocked pavements forcing passersby to dodge traffic in an attempt to move forward. Apparently not every visitor to Britain is in London for the OLympics.

With his Lordship communing with the hills, I forsook my contentious role of chief dust remover in the Dower House and went walkabout in the sun, mingling with those self same tourists to see the Royal Mile through their eyes.

So intent did they seem to be to reach Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament, that they were missing all the hidden gems of green spaces and buildings down the many closes.

Whitehorse Close is one little jewel of a close at the foot of the Royal Mile which people were unaware existed as they passed the unobtrusive entry.

I don't know what the foreign visitors thought of the tramp with his collection of filthy rucksacks and food, using the bench outside the Canongate Kirk as a bed for a very public and early siesta. Not a good look I have to say.