Earth Hour Edinburgh

Switching off the lights on the Forth Rail Bridge, seen above in all its rusty-red splendour, was one of Edinburgh's civic contributions to Earth Hour yesterday. For some reason, this bridge is illuminated every night. Yes, it's a feat of 19th Century engineering - the world's first major steel bridge. No, we don't need to see it lit up at night.

During Earth Hour you would still have seen its partner road bridge illuminated in a ghastly orange glow reflected off the clouds.


These photos were taken by our intrepid Austrian friends right at the end of their round-Scotland bike trip in the summer.

In our household, we lit candles, turned off the lights and the TV and the computer(s). My husband and son were felled by sleep almost immediately - husband on the sofa, teenage son stretched out on the floor. My daughter and I looked at each other, sighed, and spent a peaceful hour reading by candlelight in a Jane Austen-ish way. Perhaps as a result of aligning body clocks to earlier darkness we were up with the sun this morning and on our way to the allotment by 8 a.m.