‘SHAKE THINGS UP A BIT, WHAT?’

The mysterious depths of 38 Queen Street are explained in plans associated with a proposal to convert part of the ground floor at H&T Pawnbrokers into a two-bedroom flat (21/02806/LBC).

Readers will remember the tragic case of Mhari O’Neill, the 15-year-old Edinburgh woman whose body was discovered on Calton Hill on 8 December 2018.

Today at the High Court in Edinburgh, 20-year-old Ewan Fulton pled guilty to her culpable homicide.

A Police Scotland press release this afternoon gave details. We reprint them unedited below.

A CONTUMACIOUS PRISONER.

A woman named Elizabeth Igo was brought to the bar of Edinburgh Police Court to-day, charged with being drunk and disorderly in West Register Street last night. She pleaded guilty, and 57 previous convictions were libelled against her.

Sheriff Guy said: I wish you could suggest some punishment that would make you better. The prisoner asked for another chance, and the Sheriff pointed out that she had got 57 chances already. He imposed a sentence of twenty-one days’ imprisonment.

Living in a World Heritage Site, we tend – rightly – to focus on the preservation and restoration of its finest features.

But sometimes, the weathering and distress of our environs, including its more prosaic elements, has a poignant charm all of its own.

This Corporation lamppost on Calton Road is a case in point.

1904

______________

A LIFETIME WITH ONE FIRM.

The above is a portrait of Mr George Sime, who passed away Wednesday last at the ripe age of 83.

He has had the long connection of 67 years with the firm James Gray & Son, ironmongers, &c., George Street, going first as a boy to James Gray, locksmith, York Lane (the original founder of the business).

Standard Life Aberdeen’s ‘Giving Back to Green Spaces’ project has chosen Hopetoun Crescent Garden as one of four pilot schemes to increase local bio-diversity, regenerate park areas, and increase community engagement.

Friends of Hopetoun Crescent Garden (FHCG) will receive a grant plus support from a business mentor and potentially some ‘volunteers-day’ assistance.

The Friends will work with Edinburgh City Council, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and other organisations such as the Woodland Trust to maximise this opportunity.

THEFT FROM A POLTON GARDENER.—Before Bailie Gibson, in Edinburgh City Police Court yesterday, Robert Copeland (33), residing at 22 Scotland Street Lane, was charged with having, on Friday, 2d October, in Waterloo Place, stolen a silver watch from James Alexander, gardener, Polton Vale, Polton.

On Monday, Spurtle reported the surprising things to be found behind bushes in King George V Park.

The wall paintings there featuring fabulous creatures were new to us, and we asked readers if anyone knew who was the artist responsible.

Within hours, reader Laura Vivanco got in touch to tell us her father, Miguel (still resident in the neighbourhood), began work on the mural in 1976.

The northern boundary of King George V Park comprises the rear wall of a long shed opening onto the former Royal Bank of Scotland carpark.

It’s hidden behind a screen of trees and shrubbery, but a foray into the interior reveals a remarkably ambitious and peculiar mural.

Reading from left to right, it begins with mostly aquatic creatures, including a frilled-neck lizard, a huge frog, octopus, sea snake, turtle, seal (possibly) and hippopotamus (maybe).