SHORT-TERM LETS – WHAT'S NEXT?
The date by which anyone running a short-term let (STL) in Scotland needs to have their paperwork in order is 1 October 2023.
ISSUE 332 – OUT TOMORROW
As you read this, advance copies of the September Spurtle are not spreading across the barony like confused tourists in unsuccessful search of a short-term let.
Instead, they remain twinkles in the eye of a printer, whose celebration of the recent English bank holiday has delayed the appearance of Issue 332 until the actual day of its official publication.
Expect to start seeing paper copies, moist with the sweat of anxious delivery pixies, from lunchtime tomorrow. In the meantime, there follows the customary unhelpful preview.
YORK LANE
Ups and downs. No. 25 in an occasional photo-series celebrating Spurtleshire street-name signs.
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More woofs not welcome
Dear Spurtle,
The peace and quiet of Broughton neighbourhoods seems to be increasingly disturbed by various dogs making their presence heard. Of course, the numbers have hugely increased in the past three years, and no doubt they get stressed. In the past this was more of an oddity, with dogs being less commonly kept in cities.
The intrusion is annoying for a large number of households, as the sound reverberates round the buildings and is truly disturbing. It seems to occur mainly early in the morning and in the evenings, just when we are all blessed by the silence from traffic.
Yapping/throaty barking has negative connotations, being unpredictable, quite intimidating to listen to, and not soothing compared with, say, the dawn chorus or cooing wood pigeons (which we are also fortunate to enjoy). And often it is not easy to find out the exact source of the noise.
It frequently occurs just when all is quiet: one dog starts, with others joining the conversation. Perhaps they bark when taken out twice daily for walkies, or while they race around local green spaces, or might it be when they are left alone?
Does anyone have a solution to this problem, which will inevitably worsen with the sheer number of dogs now in the community?
Browned-off in Broughton
PERSEIDS
Brandon Terrace.
No. 24 in an occasional series celebrating Spurtleshire street-name signs.
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COUNCIL ACCEPTS EAST LONDON STREET PETITION
A petition signed by over 160 East London Street and other residents was presented to the Transport & Environment Committee yesterday. The TEC accepted the petition and resolved to consider a report on the topic by Council officers at its scheduled meeting in October.
CHANCE ENCOUNTER
Having arrived on the street unfortunately wearing the same outfit, they decided to ignore each other.
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Poetic pest control
Dear Spurtle,
I saw this van parked by the Water of Leith last week.
It's nice to see the National Bard immortalised by a business venture, and one hopes it is more successful than his own attempts to make money.
Some might argue that this goes against the animal-loving spirit of the original poem, but, to be fair, Burns might have felt differently about mice if they were running around his kitchen.
David McDowell
