View from the jobby

Perhaps because I can no longer see it on a daily basis, I don't feel on a daily basis what a weird addition to the Edinburgh skyline the golden jobby is. But I was certainly curious to see what the view from the top deck was like, having seen various photographs posted on blip.

I popped up there with CW, after we'd been for noodles at Pho, followed by a view of the excellent film The Outrun at The Everyman cinema. My first time at The Everyman. Very comfortable. And you forget you are on top of a shopping centre. Unfortunately, we couldn't be joined by RB13, who was indisposed. She was missed. We both loved the film: a tour de force from Saoirse Ronan.

CW and I were really surprised to discover that you can just wander into the lobby of the W hotel and head up to the viewing terrace on the roof. There was no chance of visiting the bars in hotel, with or without views, as they were fully booked, but that was fine. It was 10pm and we were just having a look out of curiosity at the end of an excellent evening out. I must go up there in the light and take photographs.

Working my way backwards through the day, overall it was an interesting and fairly relaxed day. When I headed up to the St James Centre on the bus, I was surprised to find three police cars blocking the end of Leith Street outside John Lewis, with no sign of any police officers. Buses on Leith Street were having to do a U turn, which looked very odd, and head back up the hill. Inevitably, traffic was starting to back up down Leith Walk. I subsequently discovered via twitter that a fight between rival groups of football hooligans broke out in front of John Lewis, and presumably the police officers had given chase when the hooligans ran away. I think they were all eventually corralled in St Andrew's Square and the visitors escorted over to the train station, and the worst offenders arrested and charged.

In fact, I had heard some signs of the football match at Easter Road during the afternoon, notably the Hibs equalising goal. The cheer reached me, even with the door to the balcony closed. No cheers for the winning goal of the visiting side, though.

An afternoon relaxing in my chair in turn succeeded a cycle down to the market via the river, where I inspected further progress on the mural and admired the autumn colours, purchased baked goods, and then cycled via the paths and the north face of the Old Town up to Old College, where I participated in the University's open day, which made the city centre so busy today.