Moving back to Edinburgh after five and a half years in Canada has not been without its challenges. Forcing myself not to return to my old habit of eating bacon rolls with brown sauce nearly every morning is one. (Well, it's bacon! With brown sauce!). Starting again as a freelancer in a "new" place is another. An early task involved finding a suitable "office", i.e. a cafe that will let me sit in it for hours at a time. One of the many good things about Vancouver is its plentiful supply of coffee shops open all hours for so-called laptop nomads. In fact, Vancouver is possibly the most coffee-obsessed city on the planet (not only a Starbucks on almost every corner, but also sometimes another one directly opposite!) and certainly the only place where I've witnessed line-ups of kids ordering large coffee-flavoured beverages before school (I pity the teachers).
So I've been delighted to discover that everywhere in Edinburgh seems to have Wi-Fi now - even the pubs. Whether or not this means that the traditional "old man at the end of the bar reading the Evening News", who seemingly comes free with every pub in Edinburgh, will swap his print paper for a laptop showing the online version remains to be seen. I hope not, as it's handy being able to swipe his paper when he leaves. And crisp crumbs play havoc with keyboards.
After much wandering around town, including one typically windy Edinburgh day that allowed me to reacquaint myself with the experience so accurately depicted by the Fringe performer opposite, I settled on the Elephant & Bagels. It comes complete with friendly staff, perfectly good coffee, 50p refills, little nooks with desks and desk lamps, fast and free Wi-Fi, and plenty of snacks.
