Occasional giveaway - Maisie comes to Morningside

"For as long as she could remember, Maisie MacKenzie had lived on a tiny farm, in a distant glen, among the great northern mountains of Scotland. She lived there with her Daddy, who was a famous explorer."*

But Maisie's Daddy goes away on one of his explorations, and she goes to live with her Granny in Morningside.


"They took a shiny maroon taxi from the station and Maisie stared out at the darkening city. Huge dark buildings towered against the night sky, there were cars, buses and lorries tooting their horns on all sides, everyone was rushing somewhere...Maisie sat back and cuddled close to Granny, shivering a little.
When they arrived at Granny's street, Maisie jumped out of the taxi and groaned to herself. 'So this is Morningside," she thought. "What a disappointment.' "*

But Maisie comes to discover the delights of Morningside, as indeed anyone may do if they take the number 23 bus south from Princes Street. Ideally sitting at the front seat on the top deck. However, not all readers of my blog have the chance to discover Morningside in person, so to give a taste of where the 23 would take them, fish and chip shops, the Dominion Cinema, Blackford Hill, vanilla tablet and all, I'm having my first Occasional giveaway. A copy of 'Maisie Comes to Morningside', by Aileen Paterson. The Maisie books have been part of Edinburgh life since 1984, and once you've read 'Maisie Comes to Morningside' you'll feel like an honorary Edinburgher.

To enter the giveaway, send me an email to occasionalscotland@yahoo.co.uk, including a link to your blog if you have one and tell me two things: in this time of contrail-free skies and people paying unbelievable sums to cross Europe by taxi, tell me your favourite journey by public transport (bus, train or boat). It can be a one-off, or a regular journey. And let me know who you would like the book for. It doesn't need to be a younger person - it's okay to admit that it's for you. You just have to be willing to have your answers published on my blog.

Life is hectic just now, especially since the allotment season has started, so I'm setting a closing date of 30 April. The draw will be made by my daughter, who was brought up on the Maisie books.

I'll be buying the giveaway copy in Morningside, to give it that extra bit of cachet, and I'll take the number 23 bus to get there.

*Quotations are from 'Maisie Comes to Morningside', by Aileen Paterson.