Warming up for a return to post- Covid social life - Karen Koren

Isn’t that just typical - the pub gardens open and the weather turns bitterly cold.

Chiminea outlets will do good business in the cold

It was glorious over the weekend and I sat and enjoy the sunshine in my garden.

Then on Monday the pub gardens open to much excitement. I know there are a lot of people who don’t mind sitting out in the cold with a glass of their favourite tipple but not me. I even bought a chiminea to be able to sit outside comfortably in my own garden. Every outdoor venue needs a good heater and comfortable seating. The Garden at Teviot Row House is one of these, they have little huts with a tv screen and heater in each one and the possibility of up to 6 people in each. By the picnic tables is a heater and it is one of the most comfortable outdoor gardens I know.

The Garden is where the Gilded Balloon is during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August, well has been for the past 20 years since moving there in 2001 from the Cowgate. We were forced to move our full operation up to Teviot Row House in 2003 after the big fire in the Cowgate destroyed the building in December 2002. It was a sad time and I didn’t think we would go through anything as difficult again until CoVid came along. It is the relentlessness of it all, it seems to keep on going and there being no end. We are determined not to miss another Fringe after having to cancel the 2020 celebrations.

Cosy up next to a chiminea and enjoy a drink in the Torfin's secret garden. Book a slot at this pub in St Johns Road, Corstorphine, at www.thetorfin.com

The local authorities are saying that hospitality is one metre social distancing and that any theatrical event has to be 2 meter social distanced. It seems very unfair when one would think that hospitality would be more risky than sitting quietly in a theatre as part of an audience.

England is on the way to opening fully by June, this should be the case in Scotland too. I do hope that the Scottish Government can open Scotland up fully to enable live theatre and comedy to go ahead again. It has been absent for too long and we need it for our mental health as well as a social drink with friends and family.