Tap o' the city

Ah wis comin past Drummond Street oan the tap deck o the number 5 th'day, doon fae Nicholson Street oantae the South Brig, an ma mynd went right back tae ma wee pal Maisie Crabbit. Puir auld sowel. Ah used tae pick her up early oan a Saturday mornin an we wid jump oan a tramcar, mibbe a service 7, an gang doon tae Newhaven fer some fresh-landit fish. Everytime, every week, she wid come oot o her stair door, look up an squeal "Is he there? Well? Is he there?"


She wis lookin up at this wee laddie, the Golden Boy, oan tap o the University dome. He wis pit up there when they added the dome tae the College buildin in the 1880s, John Hutchison wis the sculptor an he based the boy oan Anthony Hall, a young athlete cum model. She maintained that the laddies fae the University used tae climb up tae the dome every year, tak the wee man doon, an parade him aroon the toon in yin o their 'pageant' affairs. Then, the next mornin, she wid say, ye got up, an the Golden Boy wis back! Ta-daa!


She aye got awfy excitit when she startit talkin aboot the student laddies, or should ah say 'her' student laddies, an their high-jinks. Bidin up that way ah think she thocht she had a special claim oan the place. "Oh aye!" she wid start, "We aye had students up oor stair, we saw aw sorts, aw colours an religions, we were very cosmopolitan." She actually said that...

An yet, if yin o them looked onywhere near her she wid run a mile. She wis crippled wi shyness ye see, an she wis jist a wee draft o a wummin, nae much mair than the claes she stood up in. Ah wis ferever losin sicht o her when we were oot daein messages or gaun tae the shows, an here she wid be hidin ahint a wee laddie or a big dug. Aw the same she wis a hardy wee wife, she wid aye gie ye a guid day's work, awfy guid wi brasses.

She wid look up, smile, an shout "Is he there? Well? Is he there?"

"Aye Maisie, he's still there"

Ye ken, ah aye felt ah wis lettin her doon...