Stand Up and Be counted

I am a number person; I am compelled to add numbers, count numbers or factorise numbers, but if sleepless, I never count sheep.
I have been known to add up the hymn numbers displayed on the board beside the pulpit and I always count the steps on any long stair I am climbing.

Needless to say my memory is faulty so the total is forgotten once I have performed the addition which is why I can’t tell you how many steps are involved in this staircase from King’s Stables Road to Castle Terrace, but I know to my cost it is more than than the famous 39 Steps of John Buchan.

This part of Edinburgh along King’s Stables Road and through Princes Street Gardens (no need to climb the steps today) is my secret way to get to the city centre without joining the scrum of tourists in the vicinity of the Royal Mile.
It is a little longer and a lot creepier as I walk under the Johnston Terrace overpass; I may be wrong but I have a feeling that Ian Rankin set a murder thereabouts. I certainly wouldn’t do the walk in the dark or late in the evening.

You will notice there is no weather whingeing from me today. In fact it is quite a pleasant day- milder and brighter without committing to full blown sunshine and blue skies. Heaven forbid that it should go the whole hog, better to go gently with the earthlings who will be so grateful for small mercies.