A wonderful place to behold and even better to buy a broom from. Robert Cresser’s brush and broom shop opened in 1873 - the Cresser family lived on the top level, made the brushes on the middle level and sold to the public on the ground level. It closed in 2006.

Nowadays it’s a multi-storey Harry Potter emporium where you can buy toy wizard brooms and pretend things, all based on a novel that was written nearby.

Edinburgh’s stories have created their own industries, but nowadays locals struggle to find a place to buy things that they need.

The old town, once a thriving community of residential, industrial and retail spaces, has been hollowed and Harry Pottered-out, so it represents a caricature of its former self. A town pretending to be a town. The city’s port is headed that way too.

Trainspotting ain’t no more.

Leith is a ‘destination’.

Sounds important,

(but as a port it always was).

The late Mary Moriarty used to talk of amazing stories she heard as publican of the Port of Leith in the 80’s. Sailors would sit at the bar and regale her with stories of far-flung places. I’m sure some of those stories were pretty wild, as the Port of Leith was (dancing on the bar anyone?).

What we long for is nostalgia, the simpler old days. When we travel maybe we’re seeking something we don’t have at home, whether that be a taste of history, a novel experience, or new flavours.

After an intentional break from international travel, I recently visited Istanbul. When away I remembered just how much fun people-watching is. I like to sit in a café and watch the world go by.

In Turkey there are many street cats, and dogs. I miss Coco, our dear dog who passed away earlier this year. But watching locals feed and pat the street pets made me realise that we never actually own anything. We are just thrown together for a fleeting time, whether it be friends, family or neighbours. We don’t own our neighbourhood. We are transient passengers day tripping in Leith’s rich societal tapestry. Travelling does get your brain thinking differently…

Unexpected events on a holiday are the most memorable. We decided to spend a few days in a small village of Amutlu, a ferry ride from Istanbul. Due to a communication error, we didn’t get off the boat and ended up in Mudanya instead. We don’t speak Turkish and the locals didn’t speak English, but collectively they helped us catch two buses for the two and a half hour trip back around the bay… We got back to Amutlu in the end, and the crammed bus journeys will always stick in my mind as a highlight.

There’s a profound quote about it not being the destination, but the journey that is the important thing. I was struck with just how kind a bus-full of strangers were.

The public transport in Istanbul is excellent. We caught ferries, buses, trams and trains, and it was all so easy. I can see how whole areas can change if they’re close to a tram stop, and as a tourist in a foreign land I could see how trams are the easiest transport for a visitor. Aaah!

It was when I was absentmindedly watching a local put their rubbish out, that I had an epiphany. Global tourism is booming as it’s human nature to watch other humans.

We’re fascinated by other people and their places.

We want to go there ourselves.

We want to see it with our own eyes.

We are the problem.

I’m not sure what the answer is. How can we halt the commercialisation and touristification of our neighbourhoods? Should we even try? I tried travelling less, but that didn’t stop it. If anything, being a tourist again and going somewhere different reminded me it’s not just happening in Edinburgh. Whole neighbourhoods in capital cities all around the world are being turned over to visitors. How will we look back to this point?

Will AI and VR headsets mean that we wouldn’t need to fly four hours to Istanbul to experience Turkey ourselves? Where will we get our souvenir fridge magnets? What will become of travel as a pastime? So many unanswerable questions.

The one thing we have in common is that we are all travellers.

Through space and time itself.

Citizens of the world.

Bluesky: @tracygriffen

Griffen Fitness, 3 Balfour Street IRL