Tetedelacourse said:
Goo, so, eh, do you have much bother with prossies?!
Very delicately put ! No, had no bother with them for years since they were moved away from their old haunt in Coburg Street. They used to stand around the door to a printers' business (now demolished) opposite the old Leith Burial Ground, and I had to walk past them every time I went to and from the library.
I used to use the opposite pavement and avoid looking at them, so as to avoid having any comments directed at me. Julia "Pretty Woman" Roberts these hookers weren't...
I was once waaaay past them and opposite what was the Black Swan (now the Roseleaf) pub, when I heard someone calling "Excuse me !" from some distance behind me. I stopped, turned and saw a well-dressed woman walking towards me, so I stopped as I thought she was wanting directions. When she got closer she said, "Would you like a price list ?"
I don't think I've done a quicker about-turn and fast walk away in my life. I was utterly mortified and embarrassed.
It wasn't just me who got bother either - the ex used to get kerb-crawled a lot in her student days, as she wore a faux-leopardskin coat she found in a charity shop, which - it has to be said - did match the kind of coats the prossies wore at the time !
We also once saw a policeman leaning in a car window near Cables Wynd (the real smackhead prostitutes that lived their used to try their luck around Coalhill) giving a very contrite punter a lecture on what his wife would think if she were to find out that hubby was picking up the Aids-ridden scag-hounds down in Leith. It was hilarious to see and to hear, and he was well and truly publicly humiliated. You just don't get that quality of policing down here any more - punters these days would probably sue the police for mental cruelty if they were shamed in front of honest folks and win thousands....
Ahhhh - you've got me all nostalgic for Leith as it was back in 1990 / 1991, when the Shore still retained a few rough edges
