Susan Morrison: We’re walking in an Edinburgh wonderland – American style

An invigorating city walk was just the thing during the FringeAn invigorating city walk was just the thing during the Fringe
An invigorating city walk was just the thing during the Fringe
Ah well, that’s the Fringe well over and it's back to auld claes and porridge. The cats have welcomed me back home. By “welcome” I mean “completely ignore”.

Its nice to be indoors for a while. Remember, I was the one who thought it would be fun to do a walking tour.

I do recall that in March I thought to myself, oh, look at the horrible weather outside, won’t it be lovely in the Fringe in the summer in the sunshine.

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There are times when I wonder if I have actually forgotten that I am Scottish. Why on earth did I expect sun in summer? Where do I think I live? Spain?

Scotland’s weather is practically menopausal, given to short mad hot flushes one minute and flash floods the next. Trust me, at my age I know what I’m talking about.

On the last day, a howler of a gale came screaming up from the Forth and you could actually see a black curtain of rain scurrying out of Fife in our direction.

Surely I thought, no-one is going to want to come strolling about the New Town with me, even if the history is fast, furious and funny? I had started to daydream of a cosy corner, coffee and cake somewhere.

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I had failed to factor the enthusiasm of young Americans. Three of them, and just full to the brim of what we used to call ‘Yankee Can Do’.

This was the attitude that beat the Nazis, put America on the moon and now leads them to grit those shining teeth and face down a Scottish summer to do a history walk.

No, they did not want to take shelter. Their eyes beamed forward over York Place. They gazed forward with that unbounded optimism you see in the faces of 1960s astronauts.

Walk they wanted, and walk they got, and they were an utter joy. They didn’t let the weather get them down.

Mind you, they thought winter in summer was a novelty, bless ‘em. It was a weirdly uplifting way to end the Fringe, so thank you to my very own young Americans.

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