The Edinburgh Insider Blog

Like many places in Edinburgh, Portobello has the uniquely retro charm of a timewarp. In this instance, a 1970s timewarp. If you were born in the late 1960s, that can make a trip there like revisiting your childhood.

Edinburgh musician Susanna Macdonald launches her new album on Friday 26 March. Hailed as one of Scotland’s most original artists, Susanna’s music takes inspiration from her life here in her native city.

Susanna’s music is not unlike Edinburgh itself. Once you’ve experienced it, you can never quite shake it from your mind. She has a range and complexity that just makes you want to keep listening.

By turns haunting, humorous and heart-breaking, Susanna’s songs have a bewitching quality. Her first album, Best of Nothing Yet, has already won her many fans. The Edinburgh Evening News has described her work as “hypnotically haunting”.

Her new album, Some Misconceptions, is a diverse collection of 13 tracks. They range from the raw but delicate Buddah on the Sideboard to the dance track O. It even includes a parody James Bond theme with mariachi style overtones and a classical piano impromptu.

The album features guest performances from Nico Bruce, Rob Sproul-Cran, Gavin pringle and Paul Southall and, fittingly enough, it was recorded here in Edinburgh.

There’s a quirky humour to Susanna’s writing and singing that many will enjoy. Here come the Maniacs is based on an attempt to navigate the M8 motorway from Edinburgh to Glasgow. The Birdwatcher takes inspiration from a brush with Edinburgh’s new tram system.

The launch takes place Friday 26 March at The Big Red Door, 10 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh at 8pm.  Admission is £10 (includes cost of CD).

Susanna Macdonald – website

http://www.susannamacdonald.com/

Elaine's Vintage Clothing is the place to cherish your inner eccentric. Based half way along St Stephen's Street, the shop is located in the heart of Edinburgh's bohemian district of Stockbridge.

Edinburgh has beaches. Lots of them. It's easy to forget. We ventured out to the one at Cramond on Friday. As usual, afterwards I wondered why we don’t do this more often.

Youngest daughter (20 months) whooped with delight from her car seat when she saw the sea. “Look. Look. Look,” she cooed.

We left the car in the free parking next to the Cramond Inn. Then raced down to the beach. The sight of a huge stretch of water reaching across to Fife, well, it was exhilarating.

We walked for a mile or two along the wide promenade – excellent from a practical point of view if you have a buggy. When my eldest daughter was a baby, I took part in an exercise group for new mums along this promenade. We raced our buggies in formation.

Eldest daughter (now nearly four) clambered up onto the wall separating the promenade from the beach. Proud and scared by turns, she tottered along the wall for half a mile or so.

Then we abandoned the buggy and walked down onto the sandy beach, where, for once, we found an activity that suited both children.

Youngest daughter sat in the sand, inspecting shells and letting sand run through her fingers. Eldest daughter raced around the beach, collecting pebbles, feather and shells.

We saw the island of Inchkeith out at sea, in the Firth of Forth, hazed in mist, looking like the scene for a children’s adventure story.

The sight of a container ship on the horizon, out in the North Sea, sparked theories from elder daughter of pirates.

The snow-capped hills of Fife rose above the northern side of the Firth of Forth.

All this, just twenty minutes drive from central Edinburgh.

if you don't have a car, the 41 bus will take you there instead. 

Cramond Beach, Cramond Glebe Road, Edinburgh, EH4 6NU

Edinburgh's Leith Festival was founded more than a hundred years ago, making it 39 years older than its more famous rival, the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF).

Most capital cities are built around a river. Edinburgh is the notable exception to that rule. Instead, the city grew up around its castle rock. But Edinburgh does have a river, just not a well-known one.

One of Edinburgh's most distinctive features is its Victorian swimming pools. Originally places for people to wash (not for nothing were they called 'baths'), many of them still survive today in the era of internal plumbing.

Are you a lover of the bacon sarnie? Then you must head to Moo Cafeteria. Their version of this classic (just £1.75) is the best I've eaten in many years. For a start, the bacon tasted like it had been cooked from scratch, not just microwaved. A novel sensation in this day and age. A freshness about roll and bacon was almost equally unusual.