Up the junction

Great Junction Street, Leith, Edinburgh. 14th September 2016. Thick, smirry, wet rain. A man in mustard trousers and a trilby cycles passed, a small child in pink wellies whizzes on her scooter. I sit outside the library looking at the enormous mural painted on the gable end wall of the tenement next door. It tells the story of Leith – its industry, its activism, its story of welcoming new communities. It has been here as long as I can remember. Boys with dogs, boys with phones.A sofa put out for the rubbish. ‘Yes’ independence posters in flat windows opposite, the blue fading , but not the desire. Anoraks and parkas, pigeons and buses. My feet are getting wet, daft to be wearing sandals on a day like today. The leaves are already starting to fall. The end of summer.