Greyfriars ... building site

If I were still in Edinburgh, wearing spiky hair and a pencil skirt and working in Bauermeister Booksellers on George IV bridge and being 21 again, this might have been a blip of Greyfriars Bobby, the wee statue of a dog that has somehow acquired world wide fame. We sold the book to each visiting American every day of the summer. One person even asked me if I had a copy of "the book about the brave dog that led its master into battle". Er, no.

Fast forward to 2014, I'm 50 and wearing my hair long, and scruffy trackie trousers,covered in chalk, as I've just been climbing. I'm looking out of the window of the Warehouse in Gloucester, over a building site. The old Gloucester College building has been pulled down (college has relocated to the docks) and a new housing development entitled "Greyfriars view" is being built by Linden Homes. It is evening, and only the seagulls are on site.

Greyfriars priory in Gloucester is partly ruined, and I think the buildings in the background are the rear elevation of the City Library and Museum. I spent a lot of time in the Library, two years ago when I had two jobs in the city, with a long break in between shifts. Time, I now realise, I could have spent climbing, or at least in the Warehouse cafe, which is a cheerful place with sofas.

In other news, I ordered a large cake for my picnic, and Steve has taken care of the booze ( apparently everyone apart from me will be driving to the venue, so ?????)