Never mind painting yellow lines, fill in the potholes- Fiona Duff

So, the thing about life in the past six weeks or so is that there really isn’t much to do apart from walk.

Double yellow parking lines bypass a pothole

Virtually every day I arrange to meet someone outside – I have a dog so even if I haven’t got a friend to meet I’ll be out there in the ghastly weather tramping about. The only clothes I wear are for warmth – thermal vests, scarves, thick gloves and a pair of woolly tights under my trousers. I don’t want to put the heating on during the day so it works for inside my chilly home as well.

Anyway, with going out for a stomp is about the only thing to do in daylight hours (and frankly I don’t want to hear about you lot who are ‘crazy busy’ with work). I have recently met friends who over the years I have rarely seen walking further than from a taxi to the door of a restaurant. Miraculously somewhere below the pile of high heels and suede boots they have unearthed a pair of sensible boots for walking. It’s not like we can sit in a cafe, but we can buy a coffee through the window of a cafe and try and pretend everything is normal.

However, it seems that the council are doing what they can to stop us. Getting out of the house and meeting someone is so important to our mental health. Perhaps all we can talk about is when we might get a vaccine, who has had one and what we saw on Netflix but humans are social creatures. We need interaction, a chat and a laugh.

But what makes me mad as hell is all the new double yellow lines about the place. At Cammo Estate and Inverleith Park there are now these parking restrictions near to so many of the gates. What on earth is that about? Instead of daubing paint about the place why not fill in some pot holes and not make it less difficult for us to do the one thing we can?

And that, my dears, is the rant for the day.