George Street was quiet yesterday afternoon. Eerily quiet, even for a Sunday.

There was only the occasional car. Otherwise the city-centre soundscape consisted mostly of crows rattling from rooftops, the occasional chimes of St Andrew’s and St George’s, and other people’s conversations clearly audible across four empty traffic lanes and a central reservation.

As you read this, the first printed copies of the March Spurtle have begun appearing across Broughton like spring birds peeping in the teeth of domestic moggies.

Page 1 flutters fitfully with news of a controversial addition to the city’s streetscape, masked dogs, and a cracking structure in need of some tender loving mastic.

TRAGIC DEATH IN AN EDINBURGH HOTEL.

BARMAID SHOT DEAD.

A melancholy addition was made last night to the victims of reckless fooling with firearms. Between seven and eight o’clock in the evening a seafaring man, named Richard Francis Johnstone, paid a visit to the bar of the Continental Hotel, Meuse Lane, Edinburgh.

The Council is reviewing parking provision across the city, particularly in terms of how non-residents’ parking affects local people.

Phase 2 of this process includes a detailed look at the Bonnington area, and will probably interest Spurtle readers living in Warriston Road, Powderhall, Broughton Road, and Redbraes.

You can access the consultation online HERE.

Suggestions are sought for historic buildings and neighbourhoods needing regeneration in the World Heritage Site and adjacent Conservation Areas (in blue below).

Selected properties will benefit under Edinburgh World Heritage’s three-year Conservation Funding Programme (2022–25), which is backed by Historic Environment Scotland.

COUNCILLORS REJECT GREENSIDE PROPOSAL

Police Scotland today issued a press release which we reproduce below in full.

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Road Policing Officers at Edinburgh are appealing for information following a road crash involving two vehicles on Bonnington Road, Edinburgh on Tuesday, 23 February, 2021.

EDINBURGH DRINKING CLUBS.

POLICE START NEW CAMPAIGN.

A new phase in the drinking club question as regards Edinburgh has been entered upon.[1] As has been stated, the decisions on the subject in the High Court of Justiciary led to a great revival of those institutions in the city, but the assumption held by those who are running them that the decisions guard them effectively against any further attack is apparently not shared by the police, who, with almost startling suddenness, have aga