After the darkness, let's celebrate the return of the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh natives took their prescribed walks through eerily quiet streets, grass growing between cobbles where, in normal times, a throng of performers and tourists (and locals, tutting our way through the crowds as we go about our errands) would have moved.
The pleasures – and occasional frustrations - of the Edinburgh Festival felt very far away.
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Hide AdSo we should greet the return of the festival today, even in its limited state, with glee. The programme features world class performers including violinist Nicola Benedetti and multifaceted musician Damon Albarn, alongside the up-and-coming and, of course, the utterly unknown.
Covid restrictions and the hardships of the last year - especially for performers - mean the famously long tail of venues and performances will be scaled back. The joy of finding a hidden gem in an obscure venue may be experienced a little less this August.
Indeed, it might take five years for the Fringe to fully recover from the pandemic, its chief executive has said. Some hope that the 2019 peak - unsustainable in its scale, for many - will never be seen again.
But the fact the festivals are back at all is a sign of hope, a source of joy for many in the audience, and the resumption of a livelihood for a vast number of people after a long and dark year.
Yes, even Edinburgh - which has always had a mixed attitude towards the annual event - should raise a glass to the return of the festivals. We now know the city just isn't the same without them.