BIG change

The Very Sore Foot of yesterday - when he had to be taxied home - seems OK today. He and I went out for a walk this morning (5,979 steps). I was very aware of my low non-existent step count of yesterday, so I made a bit of an effort today.

We set off across the Meadows. The day was crisp and sunny, and got warmer and warmer - perfect gilet and tee shirt weather. I had a coffee at Kauai (haven’t been for ages) and decided to carry on and have a look at where the big fire was a few weeks ago. The poor OZ Bar, which is below where the main fire was, has been destroyed too. Or, at least, it’s shut - not sure how much damage was caused by a fire in the restaurant above, but probably a lot of water damage.

We carried on through the Grassmarket and had a seat with a view (Extra) before tackling the Vennel Steps. Archie’s so good - he’ll go up a few steps then stop and wait for me to plod up.

Back home via a chat with Dougal and his mum at the gate - for quite a while Archie and Dougal just sniffed at each other through the netting. No growling from Archie.

Then in the afternoon - the most exciting thing happened. We’ve long thought about it, but now it’s being done. We’re getting the lounge door changed to open the other way - ie towards the side wall, not into the room. The handyman was super. We’ve got a few more jobs lined up for him! 

A neighbour has just explained why the Victorians hung the doors like this - so that the maid, or servant*, didn’t see anything they shouldn’t see when entering a room. Hmmm… Plausible…
 
It’s finished and it makes SUCH a difference. Archie might be a bit confused at first, but we should have done it years ago.

*NOT that they’re posh flats nowadays, but they were at the time.