Traditional Bob pic

Yes, it is approaching That Time of Year, so here's the traditional photograph of Erithracus rubecula.

I do not approve of Christmas Cheer (as an atheist and a Grumpy Fat Fifer) but I do love a robin!

Sorry if I seem a little out of sorts; I went to the main Edinburgh shopping streets today ("Went up town" as it is termed) and bought some things (not for Xmas, but for a birthday present for my love). Walked back to Leith along the Water, and also decided to look into the Stockbridge Sunday Market. Jeez-o! Some of the stuff on sale was good, although the food-stalls tended towards the kind of farm butchers where they give you the name, pedigree, a photograph and the birth certificate of the sheep whose chops you are about to purchase and nom into, but the clientèle were even posher than at the Edinburgh Farmers' Market.

Of the punters, I'd estimate that 73% had an ill-trained dog, 85% had ill-trained children (most with[as Billy Connolly noted] second names for first names, eg Campbell, Cameron, Murray, Murdoch etc, or, if female, Jocasta or Mhairi) 92% of the women wore quilted body-warmers and fur cossack hats, the men; tweed caps, cord breeks, brogues and cravats. I expected to get huckled as NQOT. Not by the stall-holders, mind.

Made it safely home, anyway...