From The Leither Magazine, February 2010
Having spent the best part of the last five years cycling around Edinburgh to personal training clients, I am now very happy to have my very own ‘fitness base’ on the corner of Balfour Street. It’s a perfect place to people watch…
The view from the front window was the real clincher of the deal. It’s strangely fascinating watching the tidal flow of folk up and down Leith Walk. Weekday mornings most folk are walking up the way, iPods in ears and slightly distracted look on face. Between 5pm and 6pm it’s the opposite flow down the way. iPods are still firmly wedged in ears, but the individual’s stride is more bouncy as they are freed from the constraints of work for another day.
Mr Fitness and I have spent many a summer hour sat outside Vittorias watching folk do the ‘Leith Walk walk’. We even wrote a wee poem about it:
Sitting on the Walk of Leith,
Are people from all walks of life,
Drinking coffee and passing time,
Watching people from all walks of life,
Watching them walking by.
(The poem makes as much sense as the mythical / mystical tramworks).
There’s something about the gradient of Leith Walk that exaggerates any walking eccentricity. If someone has a limp, then they have a double limp getting down the Walk. Walking up Leith Walk is nowhere as much fun as the swagger from the toon doon the way. Now the ice has gone, that is.
Many people are lop-sided, either with a limp, a kicking out foot, heavy handbag on shoulder or babe in arms. It’s fascinating to watch people’s posture as they do the Leith Walk. What’s yours like? Do you always carry your stuff on one shoulder? Try swapping shoulders and feel the difference – it will feel weird to begin with, but your spine will thank you. As for heavy shopping bags, try packing two with an even weight and carrying one in each hand. It’s great that more and more shops are reluctant to supply plastic bags, so do your bit and take along a couple of sturdy shopping bags that you can load up evenly. Greener Leith have produced some retro hessian bags which will also give you a discount at various Leith retailers.
Whilst on the subject of Greener Leith, Ally from Greener Leith informs me that there are exciting long term plans for Leith Links in the pipeline. Think a café / toilets (how novel) and enhanced sporting facilities. This is all in the long term, pending funding. Check out the Greener Leith website at www.greenerleith.org for more information and how you can get involved. They do lots of community gardening, which is great exercise and very rewarding. Just remember to pull in your tummy muscles (“engage your core” in Pilates-speak) as you dig to protect your back and work your front.
I digress, so back to the important subject of people watching. If you’re an avid people watcher, then you definitely must read the essential people watching bible, the 1977 guide ‘Manwatching’ by Desmond Morris. He’s the same guy who penned ‘The Naked Ape’, and ‘Manwatching’ is another classic, especially the daggy pictures of folk in flares. Under the ‘Locomotion’ chapter I found the following excerpt,
“In any typical street scene one can spot strollers, walkers, shufflers and hurriers, all navigating their routes, weaving in and out of one another with great dexterity, and hardly ever colliding.” OK, So perhaps not Leith Walk on a Friday night! He continues,
“It feels so simple to do, and yet it involves limb movements and visual checking actions of great subtlety and complexity.” So there’s so food for thought next time you’re wandering the Walk.
It’s not just pedestrians on the footpaths of Leith Walk – doesn’t the amount of folk cycling on the footpath of Leith Walk indicate that perhaps a cycle lane would be appreciated? There are people out there who would like to cycle, and are just too scared to brave the traffic / pothole / tram work combination. And who can blame them? But cycling on the footpath is definitely not the answer – try the back streets which are a bit quieter traffic-wise and with less pedestrians to dodge…
If you see the vertical blinds twitching at 3 Balfour Street, you know it’s just another people watcher. Come in and say hello!
PS – Did you know that Leith Walk has it’s own Wikipedia entry?
