Greener grass...

The Book Festival is over for another year and as with every year this view makes me quite cross. Whilst I appreciate that Charlotte Square is a prime venue for the bookynerds to come and put up their tents I don't like the mess they leave behind. Given that the Council see fit to close off most of George Street to host the Spiegletent I'm pretty sure that there is another, more suitable space that would negate the need to replace the whole of the grass in Charlotte Square. Of course, with all the savings they've made with the trams I'm guessing they have money to stick through a lawn mower!

It's the same with the seasonal it's September, there's no need to mention it just yet! fair that goes on in Princes Street Gardens in December. We live in a beautiful city yet every year we needlessly destroy a little part of it. At what cost? At who's cost?

Not only does the Book Festival close off what is normally a beautiful space for the best part of the summer, but it must cost someone a fortune to replace the grass every time. Surely to have this little square of beauty open for the public throughout August would be less costly to whoever it is that pays for the turf to be replaced (presumably us!) and the Book Festival could be placed somewhere less destructive? When you're inside a tent, surely the location is irrelevant?

Hey ho... what do I know?!

The grass is always greener on the other side, until you jump the fence and see the weeds up close."
Albert Grashuis

Only when you sit on the fence, you see that it's a scabby shade on both sides.