Steep-sided Castlehill-adjoining close, hail and heavy rain,

Soaked to the skin after great Blondie concert

At the Esplanade, ten minutes to catch the

Last train home to Dundee from Waverley station.

Half-eaten sausage roll in hand, I almost turn ankle on

Uneven cobblestones – yeasty aroma from remaining

City brewery. Difficult to see in the low mist,

Hanging dank like a suit of chain-mail armour.

Localised power cut enough to plunge the area into

Darkness, antique lamps of decorative value only.

Hemmed in by 5-storey-high tenements;

Picking my way through piles of refuse and

Dog dirt; head aching with adrenalin mixed with

Echoes of ‘Heart of Glass’ booming bass loudspeakers.

Hopes of catching the last train receding minute by

Minute in the humid ozone night air…