Equinox morning on the Mile

In Edinburgh the Royal Mile is being dug up and the cobblestones taken away to be cleaned, one by one. Then they will be replaced, gothic glory plucked and replanted. At the moment there is scaffolding blocking the entrance to St. Giles Cathedral and this morning as I walked up toward the castle I heard the bells ringing, calling people to where the great barriers waited to turn them away. But the blue sky was deep and seemed to desire to wash the soot-kissed stones. People took photos of the thin, snake-like ladder that has been hung from the highest steeple, ready to be scaled by some brave mason. Again I walked through Lady Stairs Close and past the Writer's Museum, where on the outer wall the stacked carved heads of Robbie Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson advertise the many layers of creativity sold within.