What Do You Reckon?

[StreetCowboy]

...

I had a former colleague, a sailor and a member of North Berwick Yachting Clubwho once said to me that he had "sailed in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and, having been in a regatta around Portobello, have now sailed in the WC". They have built a sewage facility since that time, I should add

What's the difference between the Forth Estuary and a new penny?

A new penny is shiny bright.

My grandmother said that she used to swim off portabello beach, but my mother said she just went through the motions.

So pretty much the same as Pattaya, then.

So what with the news of the old industrial estate being turned into a 'tolerance zone' for prostitution, we have:

Pattaya:

For: Crap beach, hookers, pollution

Against: Nothing

Score: +3

Portobello

Against:

Used to have a crap beach, never used to have any hookers, pollution, but now all sorted

For:

Handy for Musselburgh and golf, ice creams and horse racing; and Leith Links just up the road, and a convenient bus service

Score: +4

So it looks like Portobello comes out ahead

Sadly my dear old grandmother sold the ancestral home some 30 years ago.

SC

And,

Many years ago on a clear day you could see the Gas Works. Is it still the same ?

At Granton? I believe that it's closed down - an ex-member of my staff shut down it's computing facility (as part of his contract, he said but I can't swear to whether British Gas did plan it that way). I think it's now part of the continuum of yuppie flats all the way from the Shore to dam_n near South Queensferry. So Leith is no more now - a maze of good fish restaurants and soulless pubs. Is that what they call progress?

There was a gas works in Portobello, between Portobello and Leith, before Seafield, I think, near to the power station. Its only a very hazy memory for me, but a 30-second investigation tells me it was at Pipe Street, but I couldn't find any pictures.

On a clear day you could see the Forth Bridge, until they built the road bridge. I heard there are plans to build a Third Road Bridge, which made me chuckle; I think somewhere between the Forth Road Bride and the first road bridge, at Kincardine.

I suppose none of likes progress that benefits other people, but I'm glad I don't have to live somewhere quaint and atmospheric.

SC

I was looking for other aspects of comparison with Pattaya; there are no bridges in sight at Pattaya, and, contrary to what I posted on another thread, apparently there is surf at Portobello

So: Better beach, surf, ice cream, horse racing...

Had it not been for a salutory experience on Sukhumvit Road one night, I'd be on my way back now...

SC

[David48]

So is it safe to say Portebello is not in Italy ?

Pretty safe, I think. There is a Portobello in Sardinia, and, as David and others have mentioned, a Portobello on Sea in Queensland, which is why I saw fit to mention Joppa, as well.

I meant the Pattaya in Thailand, as well, before anyone goes trawling wikimaps for obtuse references

SC

Actually the 'Portobello' that I know of is in Italy ...

As well as Dicky Beach QLD

But when I first read the OP of this thread I subconsiously read Portobello Bordello or Pattaya.

My Bad ...

.

[overherebc]

What was the name of the programme I used to watch as a kid where the pirates were based in Portobello ?

I honestly can't remember.

[StreetCowboy]

What was the name of the programme I used to watch as a kid where the pirates were based in Portobello ?

I honestly can't remember.

Was it Captain Pugwash? I think it was, you know...

And while researching that assertion, I learned that Tom Edmundson, who played The Trumpet Hornpipe by way of theme music for the show, learnt the tune from the legendary

now there's a man you don't meet every day

SC

Edited August 14, 2012 by StreetCowboy

[smokie36]

The fish and chips are fine enough....now we are all returning the atmosphere will be just like 20 years ago....but this time we'll no bother havin' a stramash ootside.

Who cares aboot the Jambos onyway...and there is a new bridge being built....plenty of work for a jobbing engineer or three....or an entrepreneur with a chip van....or a painter....or an emergency team....oops...

Edited August 14, 2012 by smokie36

[StreetCowboy]

The fish and chips are fine enough....now we are all returning the atmosphere will be just like 20 years ago....but this time we'll no bother havin' a stramash ootside.

Who cares aboot the Jambos onyway...and there is a new bridge being built....plenty of work for a jobbing engineer or three....or an entrepreneur with a chip van....or a painter....or an emergency team....oops...

Waht's the new bridge to be called, now its the fourth bridge?

Rail, Kincardine, Road...

It really is a joy to live (or not live, in my case) in a country that is flourishing in so many ways. I've got tenants, by the way

AhthotyesedTennents andAhwizgoannieaskaboot thebirdsoanthcanz