Strange By The Shore

Nostalgia about the Leith I remember when I was a teenager, taking a bit of license.  It includes lots of references to local things and places: The Angel Hotel, The Westward ‘Ho (where the hookers used to hang out – no angels), the scum that used to build up on the Water of Leith, the former beach and Leith Links golf course (both historical references), Timberbush, Coal Hill, Bowie’s Close (the Bowie Angels were a small local gang), the dodgy dealers selling knocked-off goods in and around the docks, and the Drawbridge (a double reference to the Drawbridge pub, and the actual drawbridge that no longer lifts open so is now just a bridge without the draw).

I was going to include the line “where you would sign on the dole”, but took the safe option of “where you would play out your role”, as the dole office used to be in the building on the Shore at the end of Bowie’s Close and I signed on there after I left school (it became an Italian restaurant).

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