An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
A decision on whether to open schools tomorrow will be made this evening around tea time. Most evening classes on school property appear to be cancelled.
Broughton Primary School
Will stay open today until 3:15pm, but if parents wish to pick up their children early then they can do so.
Broughton Spurtle Annual General Meeting
A decision on whether to push on with tomorrow's AGM will be taken at 12 noon tomorrow.
Drummond Community High School
Charles Dundas has effectively kaiboshed conspiracy theorists who claim there are no grit bins in Edinburgh.
The City Centre councillor this morning emailed Spurtle a list of 65 bin locations in his ward (see xls file below).
We are now working to secure similar lists from councillors in Leith Walk, Leith and Inverleith.
In Issue 189 we reported the aborted theft of lead from the roof of St Mary's Parish Church on Bellevue Crescent.
Local resident Peter Verity has since contacted the Spurtle with photographic evidence, snapped on 22 November.
Mr Verity, who has looked out onto St Mary's for roughly 30 years, reports feeling a certain involvement in the building's continued well-being.
Unreliable Geographies by Aeneas McHaar
No. 14: Part 2 — Pilrig, Johannesburg, South Africa
26º 12’ S, 28º 2’ E
In Issue 189 we looked into the murky past of Broughton's mounted caribou, but Spurtle's researches uncovered far more interesting and peculiar material than we had room for in the printed edition.
Here, then, are miscellaneous links and gleanings which didn't make it into the final article.
Certain administrative and technical adjustments are about to be made to this website which may result in a short interruption to our normal service starting tomorrow.
If this should occur, don't worry – the online Spurtle will return shortly.
In the meantime, you can also find us in the usual printed form; or truncated in Twitter: @thespurtle; on the phone Tel. 558 8574; and we're contactable by email – spurtle@hotmail.co.uk.
It may seem a long way off, but now's the time to start preparing for National Wear Red Day on 25 February.
As part of National Heart Month, the day is a fund-raising event for the British Heart Foundation. Staggeringly simple, all you have to do is wear red.
Free collection kits can be ordered from bhf.org.uk/red or Tel. 0845 241 0976.
All quiet on the Broughton Front, although three local applications have just been granted. The first three links below are to Spurtle's most recent coverage.
Owing to the combination of inclement weather conditions (howling blizzards) and unfavourable local circumstances (howling wolves chasing Spurtle paperboys up and down Broughton Street), there is every chance that some delays may occur in this morning's distribution of the December issue.
We apologise for any inconvenience and respectfully point out that it's a miracle there are any copies out there at all.
Further online stories will continue to be posted to this site during the next few hours and days.
The 'latest' minutes of the NTBCC's October meeting, and an agenda for its forthcoming 6 December meeting, are now available as pdfs in Extras.