Paris can keep the Eiffel Tower, Leith has the Yellow Towers - Susan Morrison
They've been looming over us for a while now, those great big yellow towers. For a while they took over Leith conversation, shoving aside the usual topics of trams, traffic and the terror of mad wee bams on electric scooters.
We slowly got used to the towers. More than that, I think most of us quite like them. Well, it's nice to see Leith in action as a sea port. Oh, I know there are comings and goings all the time, but this is something we can actually watch. It's a sight to behold if you’re lucky enough to catch one of the huge ships heading for the wind farm site loaded up with foundation jackets and pillars.
They might be massive, but they aren’t threatening. There’s something majestic about them. Artist Daisy Mason likened them to the Eiffel Tower. She’s right, although, at the risk of insulting our French cousins, I think our towers are better because they’ll be useful.
And let's be honest, the Eiffel Tower is, well, a bit drab, really. Ours, on the other hand, are a brilliant splash of colour. No-one can feel threatened by that cheery yellow. On the days when the sun really does shine on Leith they positively glow.
Young Daisy loves the Towers so much that she had a tattoo of one inked onto her arm. The name of the artist who created the image is ‘Homer Loves Marge’, a name that nods to The Simpsons, television's most famous bright yellow cartoon family. Nice one.
I do realise that in dissing one of the great landmarks of Paris, I have probably offended most of France, something no-one should lightly, but I think we are safe from outraged farmers rattling tractors up the Champs-Élysées demanding apologies from Leith. Looks like they’ve got more to worry about right now.
Anyway, the French will have the last laugh, or at least, a Gallic shrug. They’ve got the Eiffel Tower forever, but we’ll lose our towers to the sea soon.
On the plus side, we’ll get green energy and simultaneously avoid tourists swarming all over them. Another two reasons why our towers are better, frankly.