The Pilrig Muddle

There are no stars so lovely as Edinburgh street-lamps.
- Robert Louis Stevenson.

These are, technically speaking, Edinburgh street lamps. But the shot was taken from our garden gate, which is in Leith.

In 1899, Edinburgh installed a cable tram system down as far as the boundary at Pilrig but Leith Town Council refused to allow it to be extended to the Foot of Leith Walk. This meant that anyone who wanted to travel past Pilrig had to change trams there. This became known as the Pilrig Muddle.

Nowadays we have a new tram muddle, which is known by both Edinburgers and Leithers by far worse names.