Tuesday
Today we were at Granton Crescent Park to carry out some intense vegetation cut back along a staircase. The day was somewhat grey, which was disappointing but we battled on as per. Sea buckthorn and rose thorns were on our cut back menu so nothing too thorny for us!
We began by tearing into the bushes (and into our skin) straight away with the enthusiasm that only BTCV amazing volunteers’ possess. Kate and David throughout the day managed to clear an impressive section off the top of the steps and opened up the area. As to the steps we had a never ending fight with thorny debris and fought it continually into a bin for the council to pick up later in the afternoon. The day ended with all hands on deck trying to make all the debris fit into the bin, which we succeeded though a bit scratched at the end.
Wednesday
After picking the team up as usual, we proceeded on our way to Granton Crescent Park, parking within 25 metres of Tom’s flat, much to his bemusement. The sun shone on Granton after a cold start, with the team continuing with there efforts to clear back the scrub and make the park more friendly. Enthusiastic tree cutting led to a quick safety talk regarding safe working distances and what is meant by crown lifting, rather than clear felling an area. A quick litter sweep cleared much of the uncovered rubbish and also resulted in Tommy acquiring a new golf club. The afternoon was spent clearing the cuttings into the waiting council cage, Anna and Rob discovering the joy of jumping up and down on top of a pile of scrub to pack it all in. We’ve also decided we have had quite enough of sea buckthorn for the time being. 
Thursday
The sun was shining as we descended upon Inverleith Park for a touch of path scraping with our friendly neighbours…the swans. The day began in a chilly air, however, within about 10mins lots of t-shirts were on show due to the sun beating down on our backs. The group carried on working as dedicated as ever until lunch time and shockingly the BBC actually got the weather right….just as we began our sandwiches the clouds descended and blocked the sun from our sight.
Rob (ex VO) decided to feed the swans at lunch time so we got surrounded until the bag was empty. After quite a chilly lunch we all got straight back to work and continued to make the path look fantastic. The BBC were not completely correct though as it had the cheek to drizzle on us! Not impressed. But the day ended well with the path looking much better and easier to walk around, well done to all!
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