“Come on boys,” I said the other day. “Let’s jump on a train and go to Edinburgh.”
I felt giddy with the sense of last minute-ness. To heck with the booking, the planning and the five bags of snacks and spare clothes. The Edinburgh Fringe is almost over for another year and it would be a great experience.
The boys were wild with anticipation by the time we left Dundee Railway Station a couple of hours later.
I gave up asking them to be quiet and giving them “the look” when a lady told me to relax – they were just being boys and it was nice to see such childlike excitement.
As our train rolled in, we bounced onto the streets of Edinburgh and gazed at the majesty of the castle.
Then we turned our eyes towards the pavements.
The roads were flowing with litter.
The bins were bursting.
The kerbs were strewn with a weeks’ worth of plastic bottles, takeaway boxes, half-eaten burgers.
You name it, the streets had it.
I had read about bin strikes but nothing could have prepared us for this.
Will Edinburgh bin strike spread to Dundee?
Other visitors have been landing in our capital from across the world for the crème de la crème of festivals.
Many will have been saving for years to attend. Others waiting until restrictions finally allow them to visit.
They have been greeted with a national embarrassment.
One Canadian man told me his family couldn’t get over the sight of this new Edinburgh.
He had last visited a decade ago and he didn’t know if he’d return again.
The strike is about wages and it’s not just an issue for the capital.
Cosla, the umbrella body for local councils, has upped its pay offer from 3.5% to 5%.
But if it can’t reach an agreement with unions, the industrial action will spread elsewhere, including Tayside.
The Edinburgh strike only started last week and it is due to last until August 30 – the day after the end of the end of the city’s International and Fringe Festivals.
By then, experts warn the city is facing an infestation of rats.
Chaos took the shine off our day
Many aspects of our day out were great.
Mr Bubble is a family-friendly sell out every year for a reason.
A brilliant rapper dressed as a banana asked the boys to be part of his street act.
But the place felt filthy, with remnants of days’ worth of night-time partying and leftover lunches.
And as we made our way back to Waverley, Monty said: “I’ve had a good time, but I can’t wait to get home.”
“I know,” said Chester.
“Dundee’s really clean. I miss Dundee.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell them strikes are planned for all over Scotland. And Dundee is no exception.
Can people’s passion for Dundee halt spread of Edinburgh bin strike?
No one relishes the feeling that their city is being used as a pawn. Not least during a cost of living crisis.
While some workers are battling for wage rises, others are being laid off.
The bin men in Edinburgh are on strike and this is what it looks like at day 2.
People love to say "no skill jobs" and look down on them yet when our areas look dirty or people don't bring our groceries we moan.I hope they get what they are on strike for! pic.twitter.com/ZGDWB8ALUZ
— morena melissa ᑉ³ (@conceptKitty) August 21, 2022
There are people in Dundee worrying that they’ll have to use a food bank for the first time when winter kicks in and they can’t afford to heat their home.
But with industrial action by refuse workers due to start in Dundee on Wednesday, the City Council has asked residents to “prepare” for chaos.
There’s a possibility that no bins will be collected for a week.
Grey, blue, burgundy and food waste cans might be left to fill and overflow.
And people who pay an optional £40 a year for the collection of garden waste brown bins will also find their service is suspended.
We have brilliant refuse workers who keep Dundee clean, day in day out.
None of them will take pleasure in doing anything to tarnish our city.
And thankfully, unlike Edinburgh, we don’t have the pressure of thousands of visitors on the streets at the time of a strike.
But we do have a pride in our city that rivals anywhere else.
And I won’t be alone in hoping that passion will inspire those with the power to prevent a repeat of the chaos in Edinburgh.
There’s still time to spare the people of Dundee from suffering the same punishment.
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