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LOCAL STRONGMAN RECALLED

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Friends of Warriston Cemetery have recently uncovered the headstone of Owen Duffy, a merchant and ‘champion athlete’ who lived from 1848–96.  Duffy has been on Spurtle’s radar for some time.

Duffy was born in Ireland, but at the time of the 1891 census he sold china from his business at 45 Carlyle Place. His home was just down the road at No. 1, where he lived with his wife Isabella and four Edinburgh-born children.

FoWC

WHAT THE DEVIL?

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For the benefit of those too busy, stressed, or myopic to read to the end of informal street-postings, Spurtle offers an occasional free transcription service so that readers can study such little urban mysteries in the comfort of their own bubbles.

Today we examine a handwritten message found at various spots across north Edinburgh, most at pedestrian crossings and some – we’re informed – along the route of the No. 8 bus.

It reads:

SATAN – Hebrew ‘To lie in wait’.

CCTV APPEAL AFTER GREENSIDE PLACE ASSAULT

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Police Scotland issued a press release this afternoon which we reproduce below unedited and in full.

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Police in Edinburgh have released images of a woman they believe may have information that will assist an investigation into an incident which occurred on Greenside Place, Edinburgh, on Saturday, 7 December, 2019. During the incident, a man was assaulted.

The woman in the images is described as white, around 5 ft 8 ins, slim build with black shoulder length hair. She is wearing a black jacked, checked scarf and blue denim jeans.

NO MORE DIRTY LOOKS FOR JOHN LEWIS

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EXCLUSIVE

Some readers may have endured this phenomenon at an event of their own. Others may have witnessed it with delicious schadenfreude at the event of another. Others still may actually have embodied this phenomenon in their own person.

We refer to the disreputable wedding guest who unwittingly ruins the happy couple’s photographic record of the day by appearing in every picture with a wonky grin, food in their hair, and shirt front covered in soup stains or worse.

EDINBURGH'S PROBLEM

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TRAFFIC DANGERS.

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THE MAN IN THE STREET

   The importance of educating the pedestrian, as well as the drivers of vehicles, was stressed by Chief-Constable Roderick Ross in an address on “Traffic Problems in the City,” which he delivered to the Edinburgh Architectural Association in the Council Rooms of the Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, last night. Mr F. C. Mears presided.

ASSAULT ON LEITH WALK

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POLICE SEEK WITNESSES

Police in Edinburgh today released a press release. We reproduce it unedited and in full below.

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Police in Edinburgh are appealing for information after a 35-year-old man was seriously assaulted in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, 27 August, 2020.

ISSUE 299 – OUT TOMORROW!

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As you read this, printed copies of the September Spurtle are already returning to Broughton streets like students tiptoeing up common stairs and greeting their friends in a masked whisper.

Hands over your ears … Issue 299’s Page 1 roars into action with three planning stories and the small matter of a small helipad in the second New Town. You will be left puffin.

On Page 2 we examine an odd-shaped solution, multi-tasking, road chaos, Christmas conundrums, and the niceties of up-close-and-personal social distancing. There’s plenty to get steamed up about.