A beautiful Sunday morning in the centre of Edinburgh, blue skies, wispy clouds, people soaking up the sun, relaxing after a hard week at work. And then ........ road closures, diversions, and this time the culprit was not the seemingly endless tramworks. No, this time the frustration of relatively minor inconveniences in comparison to the tiresome tram fiasco was caused by two enormous cranes appearing at two different points in the city centre like an alien invasion from an outdated science fiction film (slight exaggeration, maybe, but fun nonetheless).
Princes Street, enter centre stage crane number one, its huge arm stretching into the wild blue yonder, outstripping the clock tower of the Balmoral Hotel. Protruding into the magnificent Edinburgh skyline it swung into action, playing its own special role in the construction of the new city centre hotel, a role only a crane of such eminent proportions can fulfill. People walked passed, glanced in its direction for a moment or two, then continued on their way ......
St Andrew Square, enter stage right crane number two, equally as high but a little thicker - in width that it, not intelligence. And this player in the construction game had a name - Bernard Hunter. Bernard the crane, lifting, swinging, landing with precision, hoisting materials from lorry to roof of Harvey Nicols. People sat in St Andrew Square enjoying the weather and a cup of coffee looked up momentarily and returned to their conversations. What a wonderful sight for a Sunday!! Yes, I love cranes, big cranes, little cranes, tall cranes, short cranes ...... all cranes!! Am I mad? Maybe. Sad? Probably. Happy? Oh definitely. Two cranes in one morning, free entertainment, sunshine. Would that I were a crane driver. Just think of the possibilities. Here come the men in white coats to take me away .........
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