Talk Porty ~ Portobello

Yes, there is a local salsa event - and it's also Scotland's Only Buena Vista Social Club too! It's in Beach Lane Social Club behind the Police Station on the High Street. Every month, Malecon Matinee creates a small outpost of Cuba here in Portobello with the gorgeous music you hear played there th...

. . . and of course thanks (again) to Stella Ellis and the team of PONGS workers, and also the performers (local and not so local) who helped it run so well.

Last Friday we had a great sold out World Premiere Salsa Ceilidh. Many thanks to all those who came along and enjoyed the party, and helped make it such a success. It raised a lot of fun. And it raised a lot of funds for PONGS - over £1200!! So thank you twice over! Nick PS If you want to read more ...

We've sold most of the tickets for Salsa Ceilidh next Fri 9th Oct in the Portobello Community Centre.

But why not make it 100% - get your ticket in advance from Kitcheners, Woodwares, Stella or me. See posters or www.salsaceilidh.com for details.

Nick

Maybe we should start a Porty Parent Protection from Pesky Progeny action group.

When our all-local family went on holiday together this summer, we only just managed to hold it together with a 6:4 majority of adults! But, like the tug o war, it sure was brilliant fun!

And quite a few parents too!! Though the kids won that one, I think, and it wasn't just because the parents/dads were letting them!

If I'm the first, I'm sure I won't be the last to say what a great and enjoyable event yesterday's Village Show was in Rosefield Park.

Well done all the organisers and organsations involved.

Well done Porty!

Nick

Hello Porty Friends and Neighbours I run so many other wider email lists myself, that I don't have time for "my local". So I hope I am hitting the right buttons now with this. Please put me right if I'm not. Part of the PONGS fund raising programme is a Salsa Ceilidh that Stella Ellis and I are orga...

Thanks for posting this para on the City Car Club from Maureen's Councillor's Report. I just want to add how magical the Car Club has been for us for many many years now. And to remind anyone interested to overcome their "That's expensive!" reaction to the costs given. When you buy a car, "your car"...

Hi, I've been too upset to be reading message boards for a few days. I'm shocked at how many people seem to be thinking of the congestion charge referendum in terms that are limited to self-centred, party political, council's-always-a-baddy kind of things. Whether the result is Yes or No, I'm far cl...

A true congestion charge would target all users, not just those who live outside an arbitary boundary. The problem is car users in general, not just those who live outwith certain post codes. I agree. This is one of the bits that was put in for the wrong reasons. There will be lots more buses in pl...

Ian McWhirter in today's Sunday Herald says voting Yes to congestion charging is the obvious "no-brainer" choice. He wonders though, in relation to polls showing people voting No, what happens when the citizens don't want to be citizens, and want to have no brains. And when even politicians put inte...

Ian McWhirter in today's Sunday Herald says voting Yes to congestion charging is the obvious "no-brainer" choice. He wonders though, in relation to polls showing people voting No, what happens when the citizens don't want to be citizens, and want to have no brains. And when even politicians put inte...

Thanks Marya. This is so fraught and exciting because it's a totally new kind of vote for everyone in Edinburgh - a postal one, a single practical issue, an X against a proposal not a candidate, with campaign collaboration across parties and others, and (I gather) with the ballot papers there will b...

And that's the second time you've given me a personal jibe. Why even bother? . . I am putting forward a point of view that is different to yours. I do not think it ultimately right, nor do I expect answers. However I think it is fair to say that on a message board people normally discuss. I'm sorry...

I don't have all the answers to every question there is, nor the time to answer them. I don't believe experts get it right always. In fact Holyrood is an interesting example - increasing numbers of people are seeing it as a fabulous building that indeed should have had better controls over the manag...

I may have put my last point clumsily in a rush. :roll: In fact debate is of a much higher quality around a big single issue referendum than it can be around a more general election. I didn't have time to answer all the points, and I won't because I don't think they're the main way to solve the prob...

Of course as an individual you can and obviously are going to make up your own mind! I mentioned the organisational things simply to point out that it was your individual view, not the collective view of all cyclists. But you talk like someone who thinks that your own views are gospel and that every...

Message boards like this attract those more interested in details - though sometimes I wonder about even that! Congestion Man arose because feedback showed how most people prefer their prejudiced views than even the minimal information that has been poured out about Congestion Charging, voting etc. ...

.. they are very, very busy, in bad condition and the prices keep going up.....and up....and up.... Its almost as if they only want the rich to drive in the city...Hmmmm! The charge is designed to improve all that. At that moment everyone is paying through delays, risk, ill health. This is a charge...

the traffic during the day is nowhere near as bad as it is at peak periods but the inner cordon is in force all day, so even when there is less traffic you will be getting stung. If both were in force only at peak periods then i would consider voting yes But that's why. The traffic in the centre do...

Hey Everyone, Congestion Charge Referendum begins on 7th Feb! Exciting because it affects everyone in Porty, Edinburgh and (eventually) the world; and everyone in Edinburgh can make their view count. Here's my selection of briefest and best sources of information to help decide whether to vote No or...

Don't know if this is new or not to this thread, cos I'm too active in other web/communities to read everything here! Sorry if it's old hat or just wrong. I heard the following from an authoritative Planner pal. The longer a developer has to spend in enquiries and appeals, the more they have to keep...

I gather that a rich middle class Barnton "delinquent" was very recently caught and convicted of systematic racist spitting on an Asian neighbours Mercedes each morning as he passed by on his early morning run. How? By informal use of CCTV I'm told. So where's the "it's illegal" argument stand now?!...

Yes, I think I remember that story too.

Just to confirm, I'm certainly not down on kids. I think they're great too. I imagine, for example, in the lunch hour litter example, that many of those who drop their wrappers would rather not, but are doing it because they think other kids would think they were feeble to put them in the bins. Ditt...

OK OK. But I was never intending to be surreptitious about this. I'm quite happy to be above board and ask first - there are enough adults around doing some of those things and I could ask to photograph them. For kids I'd ask them where they lived so I could go and ask their parents' permission. Of ...

It would be worth finding out how many reacted like that, cos I think most will be more unsure and ashamed. If it became known that a number of Porty residents were likely to do this, then it would be worth one or two angry reactions. It would also depend on how you took it after any abusive reactio...

I expect I'm not the first to think of this, but it's worth repeating it lots anyway. By accident of upgrading my mobile phone, I got one with a camera function on it. The mobile's camera function is now fairly well known if not rather fashionable. Now, you know when you see someone who's dropping l...

Especially if we're against a new supermarket, shouldn't we all be shopping locally. Imagine there's a roof over the high street and it's no bigger than a real supermarket! And you'll find it's cheaper than supermarkets lead you to believe. And it's friendly. And it's better quality. And there's les...

Yes, Maureen and I have used the Car Club and were instrumental in getting one placed down in Porty. We are among a dozen or so locals who do. Please join us and see what it's like. You can also access the other 14 cars around Edinburgh too. Because we've been members for so long, we don't have the ...