Annual devastation

Took this on the way to work and have applied the filter as I like the intensity of the yellow daffodils against the bare earth.

Every winter now, the Council hands over East Princes St gardens and the foot of the Mound to Peter Irvine's Christmas and New Year commercial extravaganza.

Like the University, I suspect, they see the city's 'estate' as core business and require it to earn far more than it's keep in order to boost our coffers.

The consequence is the loss of the green space of the gardens from mid-November to March as it is replaced by the fairground, the Highland and German markets, the ice rink ...........then mud. Elsewhere it means shops the length of the Royal Mile go to the highest bidder, inevitably a seller of yet more tat, reducing it to a place no sensible tourist (core business!) would ever want to return to.