Tuesday, 29 April 2008

• "Open for Business"? Only if you can get past the traffic cones...

  Jenni Cruickshank

   Poor Mr Businessman. He can't drive his shiny new Lexus down Shandwick Place, cutting precious minutes off the daily rush-hour commute to work.

  And isn't it a shame for all those tourists and travellers, struggling to get to the airport in time because diversions have caused city-centre gridlock?

  Well, they get absolutely no sympathy from me. For the past nine months - the grand total time I've lived in Edinburgh, in fact - I've been virtually unable to cross my own bloody street due to “tramworks”.

  That's because I happen to be a resident of the road formerly known as Leith Walk.

  I say 'formerly,' because with all this digging, drilling and dastardly destruction, Leith Walk is hardly recognisable anymore.

  The cute metal pigeons perched at the top of Elm Row are the latest victims of the demolition, leaving only sad little rivets in the pavement as testament to their memory, and the centre islands which ran down the length of the Walk are no more - alongside the trademark cannonball-esque sculptures which were once dotted along them. The roundabout that linked the Walk with London Road is now represented by a circle of traffic cones, which act like the chalk outline of a murder victim; the clock which sat in its centre is long gone.  

  But, nostalgia for the various artistic paraphanelia of the old Walk aside, there’s been real trouble for the small businesses of Leith Walk too. In fact, owners of several shops on the Walk have formed an action committee, scheduled to meet on Tuesday night. The Federation of Small Businesses is supporting the meeting, after Leith traders have claimed they have been suffering great economic troubles during this “nine-month tram nightmare”.

  And I can see why – the currently wrecked state of Leith Walk means that it might cost you more than a couple of quid to get your daily loaf...

  Having to straddle traffic cones and scale a series of chain-link fences whilst dodging oncoming traffic certainly makes the daily trip to the shops more interesting, but I can’t say that the thrill of an Indiana-Jones-style adventure every time I want a pint of milk is much consolation for the many near-death experiences I’ve had at the hands of disgruntled Lothian Bus drivers.

  Maybe that’s what they should call the next movie: Indiana Jones and the Ruins of Leith Walk. But I suppose the keen archeologist might cause a stir when he dug up the remains of a very similar-looking transport system of old...

  

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