Only pigeons

But my thoughts turned to vultures.

Forgive me if i seem a little sour, but i had just left a tiny cafe where i'd stopped for a coffee well into a long morning, when it suddenly filled to overflowing with what seemed to be a tour group
Mainly men, mainly aged 30-40, mainly dressed for city walking (trainers, windcheaters, day sacks). The guide, in suspiciously smart Apprentice-style outfit, started collecting coffee orders and requesting trays of doughnuts. Then she asked one of the group if they'd seen the new pend.

They were a group of South African inward investment analysts spending a day in Edinburgh, the highlight being a tour of the New Waverley development. The new pend she mentioned? That will be the one they are cutting under the facade that is all that remains of one of the Macrae tenements on the Canongate.

Trophy Assets for sale.

I left the cafe, and saw the pigeons perched in the dead tree. And thought of vultures in smart outfits.