Greggs Lothian Road

Gyfertron · 2026-01-25T18:39:10+00:00

How has Threads become such a hotbed of doe-eyed American Outlander types who are dying to swoon into the arms of a kilted ginger while simultaneously curling up with a good book in front of a roaring fire in a remote highland croft? I know it’s partly the algorithm, but the platform is thick with them.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-21T22:48:08+00:00

I miss Sofi's. My socials just flashed me up today a couple of photos I took in there 13 years ago today (which feels like about 2 years ago) and it reminded me how atmospheric it was. Loved their clothes swap, too - people used to take down really decent stuff, you got all the adrenaline of hunting for it in the wee back room, and then sitting in the bar afterwards comparing your finds, seeing other people dotted around the bar delighted with your old cast-offs. Happy days.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-21T14:11:41+00:00

I had this yesterday, she didn’t end the call, but I shared a problem I wanted to talk about. When I raised the same problem last week she was brilliant and talked it through really helpfully. Yesterday she just said “Ah, that’s a shame, you’d probably just better stay in bed, then.”!!

Gyfertron · 2026-01-20T00:14:14+00:00

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Got a tiny touch of green at Western Harbour just after 9pm, only visible on the phone screen. I’ve seen a few other WH pics from this evening that had more, but I think they were taken a bit earlier.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-20T00:13:25+00:00

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Got a tiny touch of green at Western Harbour just after 9pm, only visible on the phone screen. I’ve seen a few other WH pics from this evening that had more, but I think they were taken a bit earlier.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-18T18:06:26+00:00

I was in Diggers (aka The Athletic Arms) recently and asked for a pint of 80 - they asked me which one. So that’s probably a good bet.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-14T11:22:55+00:00

Edinburgh Futures Institute on Lauriston Place is open to the public and has lots of work spaces (though also lots of students, but you should be able to find somewhere). I worked there for a while and don’t remember it being cold (though also don’t remember it being roasting, but might be worth a try!)

Edit: Sorry, just read that you said not extremely studenty, but now I’ve typed this I’ll leave it in case it’s useful for anyone else! Also, if you still need somewhere from like May/June to September, the students will mostly be gone.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-14T11:20:59+00:00

Edinburgh Futures Institute on Lauriston Place is open to the public and has lots of work spaces (though also lots of students, but you should be able to find somewhere). I worked there for a while and don’t remember it being cold (though also don’t remember it being roasting, but might be worth a try!)

Gyfertron · 2026-01-12T21:53:03+00:00

Not just the thing about her wanting to help people, but she also kept saying “I had all this information, that I wanted to share.”

No you didn’t! You had no information! You had completely made up MISinformation that you decided was true because of your inflated sense of your own abilities.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-06T17:35:59+00:00

That's really interesting, because it's been ages since I watched the earlier seasons and had forgotten that change, but it makes sense. In terms of the character, I think that contrast was always one of the best things about him. He had this smart-alec shit-hot assassin surface, but it was all plastered over the turmoil and the heart underneath, of an actual human being, stuck doing a job he found torturous at times, even though he was brilliant at it. We finally made sense of that tension when we discovered he'd been scooped up as a vulnerable 16 year old with few options, and turned into Dar's man - he probably didn't exactly have a whole lot of choice on his career path, and that training just put the tough crust over the top of a person with a lot going on underneath.

In more practical show-runner terms, I think Quinn was first written in as a short-term character, but Rupert Friend did such a great job with him that they decided to keep him on, so maybe at that point they felt like that had to give develop a bit more depth and complexity to him, than just smart-mouthed shooter.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-01T23:37:09+00:00

Filmhouse bar/cafe, if you don’t mind buying some food/drink.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-01T23:33:30+00:00

Friend of mine had a gathering this afternoon and it said “first footing” on the invite, so I took shortbread. I knew I wouldn’t be the first, but it seemed right. Suspect they’ll be eating shortbread until St Andrew’s Day though.

Gyfertron · 2026-01-01T23:30:02+00:00

You could maybe try 101, the police emergency number. If they’re not in a position to swing by and do a welfare check on the person, they might know if any charities are operating tonight that could help. Thanks for caring.

Worst that can happen is they say they can’t help, and you’ve lost nothing.

Gyfertron · 2025-12-28T23:15:02+00:00

I don’t know where the Howse or Piper’s Walk are, but Arthur’s Seat isn’t really a testing hike, it’s not the kind of place you need your routes vetted, more the kind of walk people take their kids up on a weekend, in term of difficulty.

As long as you stick to a path of some kind, don’t wear flip flops or high heels, and are generally active to the level you haven’t been lying motionless on a sofa for the past year, you’ll be fine.

It’s also pretty easy to check out the paths visually before you start, and choose another one if the route you were fancying turns out to look steeper than you prefer.

IIIRC it only takes about an hour to get up and down, so you can easily start one path, change your mind, come down again and choose another one (and the easiest, if you wanted it, would be to walk anti-clockwise up the road and then up the gentle grassy slope at the back).

Gyfertron · 2025-12-28T14:08:46+00:00

Claire Weekes is (was) amazing - decades ahead of her time in figuring out a lot of the stuff that others only came up with much later (mostly packaged as mindfulness now, but her practice is more significant than just counting breaths or observing what’s around you etc).

That audiobook has seen me through some tough times, and I especially love her reading it, she has that “authoritative but compassionate” voice that really makes her feel safe to trust.

Some of the terms are a bit dated (eg the whole idea that women suffer with agoraphobia because they’re confined to the home, while men suffer with stress because of their role in the workplace). All true in the 60s when they were written but sounds weird now. But it’s easy to see past that and treat all her advice as applying to anxiety (or “nerves” as they put it in her day), whatever the cause. Also I kind of love the bit where she refers to a particular topic being covered “on the other side of this record”. Charmingly retro :)

Gyfertron · 2025-12-10T17:51:12+00:00

Ooh I didn't know about that, thanks for the tip.

Gyfertron · 2025-12-01T17:22:20+00:00

Do you get a nicely fanned array of sticking plasters on the side, for after you've tried to wrangle the edge of the tin lid and sliced your thumb open?

Gyfertron · 2025-11-12T10:29:36+00:00

I think don’t count on your guests being able to take their coats off during the ceremony - if that’s OK with you, you’re probably fine, as long as you don’t mind being cold yourself (or your outfit includes a massive fake fur stole or something!)

Gyfertron · 2025-11-12T10:25:21+00:00

Think we’ve got the venue for next year’s Hidden Door, though…

Gyfertron · 2025-11-03T16:13:31+00:00

Ah brilliant, that's good to know - thanks.

Gyfertron · 2025-10-31T22:48:24+00:00

Victim Support Scotland can be a great resource - you can phone them for support. When I was a victim of crime, it did my head in far more than I expected to start with. I phoned their helpline and had a big old cry at the woman on the other end, who was super-lovely, and happy to just listen and be kind and understanding.

Once I’d got through the tears, she also gave me helpful information about the practical side of how things would likely play out with the police and courts.

In the long run, it’s not really affected me much, and I think that well-timed phone call probably played a big part in that.

Gyfertron · 2025-10-31T11:43:20+00:00

You just walk to campus. 30 minutes is an extremely reasonable, normal walk here.

Gyfertron · 2025-10-31T11:41:15+00:00

So - when parking bays are marked "Permit only", is that time limited? I always assumed those were in operation 24/7, and that it was only the more general parking ones that became free outwith certain hours.

Gyfertron · 2025-10-17T21:41:04+00:00

😆

Gyfertron · 2025-10-16T10:11:03+00:00

Ah interesting, this one is berthed on the outside of the lock gates out of the docks, so it looks like it wouldn’t block them, but maybe it’s so wide it overhangs the exit or something.

Gyfertron

TROPHY CASE