Stirling re-inventing itself

Its some time since I visited the centre of Stirling so it was good to see the way the town is re-inventing itself. Some of the closed shops are now cafes or art installations (see extra). Instead of a tired town centre full of chainstores, charity shops and boarded up windows what is emerging is a café culture supported by local artists, artisans and boutique shops who are finding new ways to showcase their work and connect with the public.
 
As a former newspaper reporter I still use spiral reporter notebooks but recently I have been unable to buy them. Finally I tracked down half a dozen in a corner of a newsagent in Stirling today. 
 
Why the shortage?
A young assistant explained. “Remember that ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal? It came from China. That’s why we’ve been experiencing shortages.” 
Well, it made a change from Brexit and Covid.