Spurtle’s Issue 269 comes out in December and will be the last until February, straddling the New Year period like a huge but elegant new road bridge with only a few piddling surface issues which it’s hardly worth mentioning despite the fact that in time they may cause the entire edifice to collapse. So we won’t.
Page 1 is mostly about the dizzying spin that is Picardy Place, although we also find room for a desirable dragon and make confident predictions about what Leithers will be arguing about in 2018.
On page 2 we carry news of complaints, traders, a sat-upon avocado, appeals agogo, slow progress, Mendelssohn, and a political roller-coaster in City Chambers.
Next come a dog, a bird, and surprising gyratories in a New Town backwater, followed by news of absent compost, designs on a railway, privacy fears, a holy welcome extension, and something bracingly macabre to counterbalance all the sickening Twinklichkeit on offer in other publications.
On page 4 we wrap up with sad news of a lost friend and former contributor, Dalmeny Street illuminations, dog-poo, flagstones, vandalism and general bonhomie.
When you’ve finished reading it, Issue 269 rolls into a convenient ventilator pipe for your snowhole or battery-free megaphone with which to summon help. It will become available over the next few days in all the usual shops, eateries, drinkeries, libraries, lurkeries, speak-easys, haircutters and bicycle emporia.
But if you can’t wait that long, it will also appear as a full-colour pdf on our Homepage from midnight tonight.
Warning: the pdf edition is not suitable for snowholes.