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FIVE-A-DAY FUN QUIZ

Submitted by Editor on

Are you bored?

Are you not bored but in need of distraction?

Do you like having your brain teased?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, Spurtle’s quizzical ramblings may be just what the doctor ordered.

Every day this week, Monday–Friday, we’ll be adding five clues to this page. You’ll then have until midnight on 4 December to EMAIL us your answers and provide a very specific solution.

YARD SALE

Fundraising for Cancer Research & Alzeimers charity. 10am–4pm.

Date and time
Venue
Leith Walk Police Box, Croall Place

Board, board, board, board: bored

Dear Spurtle,

As a resident of Broughton, I am becoming increasingly dismayed by the preponderence of estate agents' To Let & For Sale signs across the New Town. They seem to be breeding!

Surely they only serve to provide advertising for the estate agents rather than for the properties that they are attached to! In my opinion, these days, every potential customer uses the Internet to search for suitable properties rather than stumbling across a board on a particular street.

Twenty years ago, I lived in Westminster, where – even then – the Council had banned the use of boards as part of the City's World Heritage status. Surely Edinburgh's New Town, with similar status, should be able to offer residents and visitors alike the opportunity to enjoy the streetscape free of advertising.

Would the Spurtle be able to lobby the Council or lead a campaign for them to be banned? I realise that estate agents would be opposed, but would anyone else?

Gareth Parry

CAPITAL FOG – IT COULD BE WORSE

Submitted by Editor on

This morning we woke to a third day of miserable damp gloom.

It may seem grim. But Edinburgh has known worse.

The following article is extracted from a longer piece published in the Scotsman on 16 November 1929 – the day after weather conditions had combined with smoke from coal fires to spectacular effect.

 

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NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

Submitted by Editor on

To avoid further binge-watching of US Presidential election coverage, one Spurtle correspondent today opted for a walk in the Botanics.

In no particular order, what follows is what they saw.

1. The usual peppering of young mothers and their little monkeys.

Inverleith House

2. A short story on a wall.