It happened on our streets 'The European Summit in 1992'
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All work within 'It happened on our streets 'The European Summit in 1992' is the work of Andrew Murphy and contains factual events.
All copying in part or whole of 'It happened on our streets 'The European Summit in 1992' is strictly forbidden, as is printing or using any parts for any other kind of use ©
This work has not been proof read by another reader and there are some mistakes in the proper spelling which the spell check may not of picked up on, there may be some other words misplaced, such as cat instead of car. This book needs to be checked over with the spelling where I know there are some mistakes.
It happened on our streets 'The European Summit in 1992'
It’s very hard to imagine how the people of Edinburgh will be viewed in a hundred years time as we move into the future of the 21st century.
Like any other modern living city of the 20th century, Edinburgh has changed. And it will continue to change as we move forward. That’s what we call progress.
In the 20th century, nothing has changed faster than our way’s of learning, working, travelling and entertainment.
The people of Edinburgh in the late 20th century have had to move along with this progression of time. If we had not done that, we would have been left behind.
The way that we can travel around the world and move around our cities would have been hard to imagine in the last century. And it would have been hard to foresee the advancements we could have made in our way’s of entertainment.
These advancements have made us more aware of what’s going on in the world that we live in.
The invention of televisions, computers and video’s has given us a better understanding of what our past was and what our future might be.
There is still nothing more exciting than being able to go out and explore the cities that our forefathers started to build for us.
Edinburgh is a city that has seen many changes in the past, and it will continue see these changes well into the future of the 21st century and beyond.
Being brought up and educated in Edinburgh, I have seen some of the changes that have taken place in the 20th century.
Edinburgh still retains a character that’s hard to find in many other cities. It’s the type of city that you can explore and learn from.
You could explore Edinburgh for the rest of your life, and never get tired of the process. The more you find out about its past, the more you want to know.
Almost all of Edinburgh’s historical city centre has been retained and refurbished. And that has proved to be of benefit to this city which relies heavily on its tourist trade.
Edinburgh’s character will remain preserved, taking us well into the future of the next century.
Like us, people growing up in Edinburgh in the 21st century, will have to wait and see what the future holds for them. But like us, they will see changes.
Nothing has changed more than the working practices of the British people.
Towards the late 1980’s Britain had a high unemployment rate like the rest of Europe.
With the advancements of technology, people were put out of work. This was because highly advanced machines could do the work that people had done in the past a lot cheaper.
The dawning of a new age had begun in the 1960’s when I had left school. Factories at that time were gearing up for the future and changing over to these new machines.
The decline of the workforce started around about the middle of the 1970’s. And by this time the electronics revolution had started to show through.
Computers were beginning to become affordable for companies, and no one can deny that the march of progress is fast.
Less people were required for a steadily declining workforce. I was beginning to notice this having worked in industry most of my life since I had left school.
I had worked in a few jobs in the 1980’s, but the advancement of technology was moving fast. Things were slowing down, and more people were becoming unemployed.
The day’s of walking into a company and asking for a job were gone. You could no longer expect to walk into a job and start right away on the same day. The experience that you had didn’t seem to count anymore.
In the 1980’s a company would give you an application form and ask you to fill it in. They would then tell you that they would contact you.
For a lot of people, these types of changes were hard to adapt to. They may have thought that an interview had gone well, only to find out that they never even got a reply.
The workforce was now having to adapt to the changes of the 1980’s. The people who were in work were becoming frightened to move out of a job in case they could not get employed again. Some said that they were better with the devil that they knew than they devil they didn’t.
Working practices have changed near the end of the 20th century, and this has given people more time to follow pursuits that they might have thought impossible years ago.
Being out of work again in 1992, I had decided to take a well earned break.
A friend had visited Thailand on a number of occasions and had recommended this country as the ideal place to go. So, I selected Thailand for this break.
This was to give me a chance to unwind and spend a month resting in the sun enjoying a holiday that I would never forget.
Holiday’s had never been a priority with me and I had not taken one since 1976, so this was going to be the holiday of a lifetime. This was as good a time as any to take a well deserved break.
In 1991, I purchased a video camera, and it had lain in a cupboard unused for almost a year.
My intentions had been right when buying the camera. But, I had not been able to make my mind up on what I wanted to film.
I could never make my mind up if it was local events, buildings or something different that I was going to use the camera for. So this holiday was the right time to use this video camera for what it had been purchased for. This was the chance to put it to a practical use.
Video cameras had come down in price within the last few years, and being able to film was no longer a pursuit for the rich.
This type of hobby was now affordable for most people in the last part of the 20th century.
While in Thailand, I had used 12 hours of video tape, filming elephant farms, crocodile farms, orchid gardens and various other types of markets.
By the time I had left Thailand, my feel for this type of camera was just beginning to get a grip of me.
The camera which used a full size VHS video tape was ideal. Advice had been given to me on purchasing the camera, and the advice had been, that I used full size VHS video tape.
The advantages of using this size of tape would help me a lot when I came to edit any film that I had taken.
It was also a case of finding a camera that was going to be reliable and serve me well without any problems.
In the end I had opted for a full size Hitachi video camera which had a very good reputation.
This camera would prove to be worth every penny that I paid for it when I purchased it.
When I came back from Thailand, I viewed my video tapes very carefully to see what they were like. And I was in for a pleasant surprise at the results.
They had come out far better than what I had expected. The quality was good, and I felt that things had gone just right when I was using the camera for filming the subjects that I had filmed.
Edinburgh is a city of events, so it was up to me to start making a plan of what I was going capture on video film.
My intentions were to start filming and to build up a collection of local events on video film.
I had started a typing and word-processing course in November 1992, to try and gain some new skills to help me get back into employment. So, the camera was put back into the cupboard.
This time it was not forgotten about as I waited for an event worth filming to happen in Edinburgh.
No plan had been made up because it was near the end of the year. The International Festival and street events were all over for 1992. So I had thought that I would have to wait for awhile before anything of interest would happen again in Edinburgh.
I was wrong in my estimation of something worth filming happening.
Towards the end of November 1992, a leaflet from Lothian and Borders Police dropped on my carpet. This was telling the local people who were living in the area about the European Summit which was due to take place in Edinburgh in December 1992.
The leaflet was put to the side and forgotten about as I continued studying at my course.
It was not until a day before the European Summit that I had decided it was worth filming.
This event had a lot of hype, and people were worried about the flow of traffic which was bound to be held up as the Heads of the European Governments held their high profile meeting in Edinburgh.
I did not know at this point what I was going to film or how I was going to do it.
I read the leaflet that had been circulated by the Lothian and Borders Police to see if I could get some idea of what was happening.
The leaflet was headed European Council of Ministers Meeting 1992, and started:
Dear Occupier
On Friday 11th and Saturday 12th December 1992, the forthcoming European Council of Ministers Meeting will be held within the Palace of Holyroodhouse placing Edinburgh and its citizens under the world-wide spotlight of the international stage.
Residing in six city centre hotels from Thursday 10th December, the President of the European Commission together with the Heads of Governments of the 12 EC Countries and their delegations will require to travel to and from the Palace as well as other venues in Edinburgh including the Conference Media Centre at Meadowbank Sports Stadium.
I’m sure you will appreciate that in these times, any such gathering of national leaders brings with it major security implications and in addressing these concerns. Lothian and Borders Police has been working alongside other agencies, including both Lothian Regional and Edinburgh District Councils, to ensure that the Summit Meeting occurs without incident and Edinburgh is remembered for all the right reasons in the years ahead.
In pursuance of this objective Lothian Regional Council has approved a special traffic management plan designed to provide the necessary levels of security without causing unnecessary disruption to the local community.
You will however be affected to some degree by these measures and I would ask for your understanding and co-operation in assisting my officers who will be in operational control over the Summit period.
There are two main ways in which you can help. Firstly, in relation to the road closures and waiting restrictions detailed overleaf, simply familiarise yourself with the controls affecting your particular area, plan ahead to avoid unnecessary problems and follow the advice given to you.
Secondly, be extra vigilant, not only during the Conference but in the final weeks before it. If you notice anyone or anything unusual or suspicious, contact the police immediately.
If after reading this leaflet you are still in doubt about any other aspect of the arrangements you can obtain further advice by phoning Police Headquarters immediately.
Finally may I take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude in anticipation of your assistance during the Conference.
The leaflet had been signed by Sir William Sutherland who was the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police.
At the back of the leaflet were maps of the routes which the European Heads of State would be using.
It was estimated that 5,000 backup people would be coming to Edinburgh for this European Conference which was held twice a year by the 12 Member States of the European Community.
Our Prime Minister, John Major was Chairing the Presidency of the EC this time.
The Meetings in Holyrood Palace had been scheduled for seven and a half hours of talks over two days.
And the agenda was to cover: Define Subsidiary. Resolve the Danish question. Agree the EC budget for the next five years: package to combat recession. Agree steps to enlarge the EC. Complete the single market and agree foreign policy, especially on ex-Yugoslavia.
The batteries for my video camera had been charged the night before the Summit had begun and I had checked my camera thoroughly in readiness for filming.
The only way I could film this event was by being on the street and taking it as it came.
Edinburgh was going to be full of Government Ministers and security would be high profile. There would be Bodyguards, Government Security Men, Metropolitan Police Officers and all sorts of other people. So, I was quite aware that I would be limited to what I could film.
It would mean a lot of walking and just seeing where I would be able to go. At this point I was not expecting to much.
I knew that the 12 Member States were: The United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal and Spain.
The Edinburgh Evening News had published a full list of the Prime Ministers and Presidents who would be present in Edinburgh. So, I had a rough idea of what the program would be when I got up on the 11 December 1992.
Once my breakfast was eaten, I loaded a battery and a 3 hour video tape into my camera and packed it into my bag.
The excitement of filming was starting to get a hold of me by the time I had left the house.
This was it then, I was now on the road, ready to capture my record and a view of what was happening on Edinburgh’s streets in the late part of the 20th century.
My main intentions were to be objective and not take part in any political discussion of anything that I was seeing.
This was not a time for giving political opinions on what I was seeing.
It was a case of looking through the viewfinder, keeping my mouth shut unless I was asking a question, and aiming the camera at what I thought was of interest.
I live in the High Street which is on the Royal Mile and has Edinburgh Castle at one end and Holyrood Palace at the other.
So no matter what was going to happen, the European Government Heads of State would use the route that I was living on. That was guaranteed.
I walked up to the corner of North Bridge and the High Street which was a hive of activity by this time.
People were laughing and joking with the extra police officers and traffic wardens who had been posted into this area.
Traffic wardens and police officers were all over the street directing traffic, keeping pedestrians right and keeping the routes open for the convoys of cars that were going to be moving unhindered through the streets of Edinburgh.
This Summit in Edinburgh was something new for Edinburgh’s police officers and traffic wardens, but it was something they had been trained to cope with by the Lothian and Borders Police.
When I reached the corner of the High Street and North Bridge, my camera was taken out of its bag and checked, I was now ready to start filming.
It didn’t take long before two police motorcyclist came up North Bridge with the cars that they escorting.
My camera was now switched on and it was action as the police motorcyclists made the cars that were still moving up North Bridge move into the side and stop until their convoy had passed.
Things were starting to move very fast by now as this convoy of cars led by the police motorcyclists turned off North Bridge and headed up towards Edinburgh Castle.
Once they had turned the corner to the level of Cockburn Street, they stopped.
No one knew what was happening as the Bodyguards jumped out of their cars and started moving around hastily.
Someone quoted, maybe they’ve got lost amid the laughter and joking that was going on in the street by the local people who were curious to see what was going on.
It did not take long for the bodyguards to get back into their cars and start moving again.
The convoy proceeded up the High Street and not down to Holyrood Palace which is where they should have been going.
I was to later to learn that the French President, Francois Mitterrand had ordered a slight detour. He had wanted to go up to Edinburgh Castle’s Esplanade before going down to Holyrood Palace, this had thrown the security arrangements into disarray.
No sooner had the first convoy gone by, when another two police motorcyclists came up North Bridge with their blue lights flashing, indicating that they were on escort duty.
They shouted at pedal cyclists and cars to move into the side of the road above the roar of their high powered motorcycles.
This was so that they could get through the streets and out of the way as soon as possible. There was a whooshing sound of car wheels as car after car in the convoy passed by.
Some people were unaware of what was going on, and they could be heard asking questions to try and find out what was happening from the people who had already been standing watching this movement of European Ministers for awhile.
The first car contained Albert Reynolds who was the Prime Minister of Ireland, there was one other car behind his which was followed by another two police motorcyclists.
They were then followed by the other cars which were part of the delegation which was going down to Holyrood Palace.
The streets had become noisy by now as other convoys of cars were coming down the High Street with their escorts of police motorcyclists and police cars which had their blue lights flashing and headlights on.
At the same time, convoys of cars were also moving up North Bridge with their escorts and were turning off onto the High Street amid the excitement that could be felt in the air.
All the traffic had been stopped by this time to let these convoys go right through.
There was no stopping this highly orchestrated movement of Government Ministers as they headed down to Holyrood Palace.
Edinburgh had never seen so many High Profile Government Ministers travelling in such away through its streets like this before.
The Royal Mile is in the Historical Old Town of Edinburgh and it is a mile from the Castle down to Holyrood Palace.
It’s made up in five sections, starting with Castle Hill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and the Strand.
For shortness, it’s all called the Royal Mile rather than calling each section by its own name.
The people who had stopped to watch this movement of European Government Ministers had moved off to continue with their daily business when the convoys of cars had stopped coming down the street, they had now passed by and the streets were looking deserted.
No traffic whatsoever had been allowed onto the Royal Mile until all these convoys had passed.
I started to walked slowly back down the Royal Mile to the other side of the Scandic Crown Hotel where there was a lot of movement with police officers, security men and bodyguards.
They had been standing outside the hotel and within the doorway monitoring the movements of anyone who was going in or coming out of the hotel.
The Scandic Crown was a new hotel that had been completed in 1990, and built to blend in with the Old Town.
Police officers on motorcycles and officers with patrol cars had been moving about outside the hotel, as had the bodyguards, so I had guessed that some of the Heads of State were staying there.
On asking, I found out that it was Poul Schluter the Prime Minister from Denmark and Rudd Lubbers the Prime Minister from Holland.
Television crews and reporters had gathered outside the hotel in anticipation that they were going to get an interview before the two Prime Ministers got in their cars and proceeded down to Holyrood Palace.
They moved backwards and forwards and kept looking up and down the street in case they were going to miss something while they were waiting.
I stood on the other side of the street at this point in case I got in the way, I still lacked my full confidence yet.
Bodyguards, security men and police officers were standing outside the hotel watching everything that was going on. And it would have been hard to imagine that they had missed anything that was going on around them as they talked into their radios.
The newspapers had said that armed marksmen and cameras had been positioned on roofs in Edinburgh.
It had been stated that if a mouse had walked by one of these buildings, it would have been spotted with the state of the art equipment that they were using.
There was no doubting that this Summit had been well planned in advance.
I cast my mind back to a few months before this European Summit, and recalled that had been sitting in the house one day.
A yellow Sea King Helicopter had been flying very low over the Royal Mile area. The sounds of its blades chopping the air were not hard to distinguish if you had heard a helicopter before.
My windows face North to the back of the building giving me no front view of the Royal Mile whatsoever.
I had heard the helicopter flying around the area for awhile, but I hadn’t been able to see it.
That changed when it flew low over the back of my building. It started to hover over a spare piece of land that had been awaiting development for years.
It was just an overgrown piece of land and nothing much more, so I couldn’t understand what they were doing.
The noise of the helicopter was deafening as it hovered beside my building at around 50 feet and sometimes lower for about a quarter of an hour over this piece of land.
I stood at my window and watched in amazement at this manoeuvre, they were so close that I could see into the helicopter where the crew were highly visible.
They had the side door of the helicopter open and seemed to be charting out details of the area that they were in.
The yellow Sea King helicopter is the type that is used in air sea rescue operations, and it is a big helicopter. It’s not often that you see them flying so low in the middle of Edinburgh.
The chopping noise that they make with their rotors is loud, and the people living in the area couldn’t help wondering what they were doing flying so low over the Royal Mile.
At that time I had assumed that they were charting out a map for an exercise connected with the type of service that do.
I was now beginning to think that it may well have had something to do with this European Summit. And that might only have been part of their advanced planning.
By now, there was a flurry of activity at the doors of the Scandic Crown Hotel as people started moving around and taking up their positions.
The television crews and reporters who had been joking and laughing moved forward as a delegation started to come out of the hotel doors.
It was Ruud Lubbers the Prime Minister of Holland with his bodyguards and party.
My camera had been running most the time, so I had not missed what was going on.
The television crews and reporters closed in on the Prime Minister and were now talking to him.
Bodyguards moved in very swiftly so that they could see exactly what was going on, and so that they were in control of the situation.
Ruud Lubbers, the Prime Minister of Holland stopped and gave a brief interview to the television crews and reporters who appeared to be questioning him about the EC Summit.
Once he had finished talking, he moved forward to get into his car.
The television crews and reporters moved rapidly back up to the door of the hotel, indicating that someone else would be coming out shortly.
Police motorcyclists and the officers in their cars on both sides of the street had left their engines running so that they could move off once the Prime Minister, Rudd Lubbers and his party had entered their cars.
With a roar of engines, the motorbikes moved off down the Royal Mile with the cars in the convoy following behind.
It didn’t take long for them to move out of sight as they headed down towards Holyrood Palace with the two police motorcyclists in front.
I stayed where I was trying to read the signals that were being sent out by the television crews and reporters who had settled down again outside the hotel.
They were waiting for the next delegation to come out of the hotel.
The Prime Minister’s and Presidents who were representing their countries at this European Summit had the flag of their own country on the wing or radiator of the car that they were travelling in.
They also had the first few letters of their country displayed in the windscreen of every car that was in their convoy. So, there could be mistaking what country a delegation was from.
It was not long before the bodyguards and police officers started getting restless again, they were looking up, down, and across the street checking it out thoroughly.
I could hear the officers speaking into their radios, giving out clear commands for the movement of the next delegation.
The television crews and reporters who were looking comfortable lifted their equipment off the ground where they had left it while waiting for the next delegation.
Poul Schluter the Prime Minister from Denmark came out of the hotel surrounded by his delegation and made for his car, only to be met by the news men who surrounded him very quickly.
He stopped at the side of his car and started speaking to them for a few minutes.
The police motorcyclists had started up their motorbikes, put on their blue lights and moved into position ready to proceed down the street.
When Prime Minister, Poul Schluter had finished speaking to the reporters he entered his car to be transported on the same route that most of the EC Heads of State had taken.
The television crews and reporters had got the story that they had waited for and waved each other goodbye as they made their way up the Royal Mile.
Police officers who were at the door of the hotel seemed to be more relaxed now as some of them move off.
Two police officers were left guarding the doors of the hotel, the street was quite now and almost empty apart from the few people who didn’t appear to interested in what had being going on in the first place.
It seemed that it was all over for the time being, so I switched off my camera to save using up my batteries.
I was now at a loose end, everything had passed by and I was pondering on what to do next.
My next move was to walk down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood Palace and see if there was anything else going on.
I didn’t know how close to the Palace I would be able to go, it was just a case of walking down the street and seeing.
I walked down the Royal Mile with my camera at my side, and stopped at the traffic lights at the corner of St Mary’s Street which is at the corner of the High Street and the Connongate.
I looked to my right to make sure that the street was clear to cross, when I noticed a convoy that appeared to be coming up St Mary’s Street.
The car behind the two police motorcyclists had the registration number FRA 1, indicating that it was the French President, Francois Mitterrand who had gone off route earlier on in the day.
The flag on the car and the letters in the windscreen confirmed that it was the French delegation as the convoy sped round the corner onto the Royal Mile and headed down towards Holyrood Palace with great speed.
There was an ambulance at the end of this convoy, and this ambulance would follow the French convoy throughout the EC Summit.
I crossed the street and continued walking down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood Palace filming the EC flags that had been placed on the building for this EC Summit.
When I reached New Street a barrier had been put across the street, keeping any cars from going beyond that point.
I was now moving into a security area that prevented cars, but allowed pedestrians in.
There were a few people walking on the street and police officers who were highly visible had been posted in various locations down the route that I was heading.
While walking down the street I continued filming when something of interest caught my eye such as the litter bins and pillar boxes which had all been sealed up during this Summit.
When I came to the Canongate Kirk, I noticed some police officers looking up at a building and laughing.
Some residents beside the Canongate Kirk had draped a large banner on the building. They were having great fun trying to stretch it from one window to the other.
They had leaned out of their windows to put a banner up with the words, End English Rule. They couldn’t seem to get it right and were getting frustrated with their actions.
They were shouting at one another so that they could be heard between the windows.
A few other people had gathered and were giving them advice on how to drape the banner so that it looked straight.
In the end they got it right and retired back into their houses.
Moving down the Royal Mile, I could see Holyrood Palace appearing and coming closer as I walked further down the street.
Police dog handlers with alsatian dogs were walking the perimeter of the Place gates while other police officers were standing talking with each other.
When I reached the bottom of the Royal Mile I crossed over and walked away from the Palace towards Calton Road and Abbeyhill.
A small group of about thirty people were holding a peaceful demonstration. They were waving their flags, chanting and walking around in a circle.
There were two groups of demonstrators, one had a sign up which read recognise Macedonia while the other group had a banner which read, asking for respect in Germany.
They were out of view of the palace and police officers were keeping a very close eye on them without being to obtrusive.
It was quite clear that the demonstrators were not looking for any trouble, and there was none, it was a peaceful demonstration.
Some of the demonstrators looked very colourful and had their faces painted, they were wearing a wreath of leaves over their clothes.
Other demonstrators were dressed in normal clothes with the flags of their country sewn onto the backs of the jersey’s. They chanted for awhile, made their protest and lay down on the street for a few minutes.
I left the group and started to move along Abbeyhill while looking into the Palace grounds.
Police dog handlers with their dogs were clearly visible guarding the pavement along the railings surrounding the outside of Holyrood Palace.
A refreshments tent had been erected behind the railings of the Palace for the police officers and bodyguards who had been with the convoys of the European Heads of State.
Motorcyclists and traffic officers who would drive patrol cars had also formed a queue for a well deserved break.
The officers who had received their cups of tea, moved to the side to let other officers in.
These police officers duties were not over for the day, they had to wait until the EC Ministers came back out of Holyrood Palace again.
The delegates cars were parked on the main road and in the street at the North side of Holyrood Palace, they were there until they were required again.
I had never seen so many limousines, police motorbikes and patrol cars in one place before, the police motorbikes were parked in groups of twenty on some parts of the road.
I started to move back to where the demonstration had been, only to see that the people who had been involved in the demonstration moving away, having made their protest, the demonstration was over.
I continued moving back along the street towards the Palace gates again, where I could see the police dog handlers standing outside with their dogs.
The dog handlers had large alsatian dogs that were obeying every command that was given to them, when they were told to lie down, they did it to the command.
There was nothing much to see as I stood at the corner of the Canongate looking over towards the Palace gates.
There were just the police officers who were keeping in contact with their control by giving and receiving information.
The dog handlers would walk along the road at intervals to check that everything was as it should be.
Moving along Horse Wynd to Holyrood Road, I entered into Holyrood Park and walked up to gates on the South side of Holyrood Palace and started filming through the gates.
A delegation was standing outside the gates showing their security passes to the police who were in charge of this area.
Now and again a car would come out of the car park and head out of the gates onto Holyrood Road.
A police officer was standing next to me at the gates where I was filming.
I asked this police officer what time the Prime Ministers and President’s would be expected to come out of the Palace.
The police officer replied that he didn’t know, he had come in from another area, he went onto say that he had been drafted in to help with the policing of the Summit, it was just a case of waiting and seeing when they came out.
Newspapers had stated that police officers had been drafted in from all parts the country to help with mammoth task policing.
Hundreds of police motorcyclists had come from Glasgow alone, there were also other specialist police backup teams which had come from other parts of the country.
Moving into Holyrood Park, away from the Palace gates, I could see that a car park had been set up in Holyrood Park for the backup staff’s cars.
These were the average cars that would have been used by Secretaries. Car park attendants were on duty to make sure that the right cars went into the right spaces.
It was the car park attendants job to direct the cars from each country into the right space which had been clearly marked out with a large yellow sign indicating the country that was being represented.
The car park attendants were having a good chat while things were quite, there was very little movement of traffic in this car park which was full.
Having filmed the cars and the area that I was in, it was time to move out of the park and back to the front of the Palace gates at the Canongate.
Feeling bolder now, I walked onto the island in the middle of the street and filmed all the European flags from the Member States which were displayed just outside the gates in front of Holyrood Palace.
There was nothing happening at all at this point so I started to walk back up towards Abbeyhill again filming all the motorbikes and cars which were mainly limousines.
Continuing up Abbeyhill, I could see chauffeurs sitting in their cars enjoying their cups of tea while reading their newspapers.
Some were lying back on the seat getting forty winks, while other would have a police officer in beside them for a chat.
The cars from each EC country were parked in groups so that they were kept together in readiness for their next highly orchestrated movement.
Most of the big cars which were being used were mainly Daimlers and Jaguars.
Police motorcycles and patrol cars that had been used to escort a convoy for a particular country were also parked up beside the limousines that they had been assigned to.
The cars were parked right along Abbeyhill and up to the top of Abbeymount from nose to tail.
Police officers had been assigned to keep an eye on these cars and they were walking alongside them to check that they were secure in the place that they had been parked.
Two police officers on horses came up Abbeymount and headed for Regent Road. It did not take them long to pass by and move out of sight.
One of the cars on Abbeymount was having trouble with its radiator, two plain clothed police officers were on their hands and knees looking under the car to see if they could identify the problem.
The water from the radiator was running down the street and there was nothing they could do but wait for a recovery vehicle.
I had now walked to the top of Abbeymount and turned onto Regent Road to see if I could film Holyrood Palace from higher ground.
Once I had done that I continued up Regent Road and headed back towards the city centre, the cold was starting to bite into my hands and I was in desperate need of a nice hot cup of tea.
I came to the bottom of the Calton Hill where the vigil for Democracy in Scotland had been sitting for 246 days.
People who were fighting for Scottish Democracy had put up a portocabin opposite the Scottish Office and they had declared that they would set up a vigil until Scotland got its own independence.
The people manning the vigil had put up signs in all the languages of the 12 Member States which read, Scotland, no voice in Europe.
The vigil was manned by one person who was sitting there by himself waiting patiently across from the Scottish Office.
A fire was burning and I was tempted to go over and get a heat at it, but I could see movement on the Calton Hill and decided to go up there instead to see what was happening.
On the Calton Hill another demonstration was taking place in front of the National Monument.
Horses and a mule had been taken up to the top of the Calton Hill, the mule represented Great Britain while the 11 horses represented the EC Member States.
They were being walked around in a circle by members of the GMB Union who were chanting and holding up posters which read, we demand a social charter.
It was blowing a strong wind and the flags from the 12 Member States covering the mule and horses were being blown around wildly.
The television crews and reporters were covering this event, and they were getting the people who were in charge of the horses to pose for their cameras.
I had not seen the television crews or reporters since I had been at the Scandic Crown Hotel earlier in the morning, and that had been almost three hours ago by now.
After watching and filming the horses getting walked around for awhile, I moved over to the South side of the Calton Hill so that I could get a view of Holyrood Palace from the top of Calton Hill while I was there.
Standing to the East of Nelson’s Monument, I had a good view of Edinburgh, Holyrood Park and Holyrood Palace.
Something on the hill of the park caught my eye, so I zoomed my camera lens in to see if I could make it out.
It was a command centre, it had been placed on the hill above the Palace and covered in camouflage nets so that it would be hard to see.
It had been well camouflaged and I had not noticed it while I had been filming in Holyrood Park earlier on.
It blended in with the hills, and that’s why it was in the position it was.
This was only another part of the highly sophisticated security arrangements which were obviously needed for this EC Summit.
I was very sure by this time, that I must have been spotted filming by someone and that they had done nothing about it.
I could see the security arrangements which were not hard to miss, but they had not been of interest to me.
Filming was a hobby that I had hoped wouldn’t get me into trouble, and up to this point it hadn’t.
So I was hoping it would stay that way, because I was very aware - having worked for the Ministry of Defence years before - that security was paramount on an event like this, and the people involved with the security would want to keep it that way.
If I was doing anything wrong, I would have soon been told, that had not happened up to now. So I was going to continue filming whatever I could without getting in anyone’s way.
I now had the filming bug, and this video tape would be my record of what was happening on the streets of Edinburgh from the ordinary persons view.
Unlike the television crews and reporters, I could not just walk into places and flash a press card.
I was having to do this the hard way, but I was capturing things that might not have been of interest to the media, but they were still part of what was going on in Edinburgh during the EC Summit.
By now, it was time to go home and charge my camera batteries, and get something hot to drink and eat.
I walked down the steps of Calton Hill and walked onto Waterloo Place, I then started to proceeded onto North Bridge.
On North Bridge, at the Balmoral Hotel, a car park had been set up on the West side of the bridge for the cars of the Irish, French and German delegations.
People were walking and cars were moving in this area, and it was good to get back into the land of the living.
There had been very few people who were not connected with the security and the arrangements of this EC Summit in the areas that I had visited up to now.
My walk had been an eye opener, and it had been quite a solitary morning with no one to speak to, and I realised that not everyone would share my enthusiasm for the hobby that I taken up.
I had made my mind up, this is what I was going to do, and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought or said.
It was good to get back into my house and get warmed up for the afternoon.
My camera batteries were put on a charge which would take just over two hours. So there was no point in going out again until then.
I viewed the video film that I had taken to see exactly where I was going, and see if my video film contained material that other people could view and feel at ease with.
It had turned out very well, but I needed to capture other people, rather than filming the type film that I had filmed so far.
I read the leaflet that had been posted through my door by Lothian and Borders Police Force to see if I could get any clues as to the movements of the EC Heads of State in Edinburgh.
It did have the times that the roads and traffic would be disrupted, but that was only a rough guide.
Like anything else it could have been changed at any time for security reasons.
I decided to go out in the late afternoon and see if there was anything going on, and in the evening, I would just have go by the times that were on the leaflet.
When my camera was loaded in the evening, I would go along Princes Street and around some of the big hotels in the hope that I was going to the right places for filming.
An Art Exhibition called Eurolux had been put up in various locations around the city centre, so I went out in the afternoon to see if it was worth filming them at that time, or if I would have been better leaving it until the evening when it was dark.
When I viewed several different locations, I decided that it would be worth filming some of the exhibition during the afternoon, but I would leave the rest until later.
Until now the weather had not been too bad, the skies were grey, and it was very cold, but for that time of year in Edinburgh, that was good.
I walked up to the corner of the High Street and North Bridge and aimed my camera at the Bank Hotel which is on the corner of the High Street and South Bridge.
They had a blue lighted florescent sign up saying, Let’s talk about art.. maybe. This sign seemed to beam out and make people look at it.
People on the street were stopping to look up at it, and they were commenting on it before they moved on.
The traffic was now running freely on North Bridge while the European Heads of State were inside Holyrood Palace discussing the things that were on the EC Councils Agenda.
A few people who were looking over to the West side of North Bridge beside the Scotsman steps attracted my attention. So I walked down in that direction.
When I reached that location I looked over the bridge to see what they were looking at.
A small crowd of people had gathered opposite the City Art Centre and appeared to be waiting on something.
I went down the Scotsman steps and onto Market Street where this small crowd of people had gathered next to the doors of the Waverley Station.
A number of police officers were walking about on both sides of the street, and were preventing anyone from walking on the street beside the City Art Centre.
It was then that I noticed the police motorcyclists and the two Rolls Royce cars that were sitting outside the City Art Centre, it was our Queens car.
The first Rolls Royce had no number plate and it displayed a plate with the Royal Crown on its roof.
I walked over the street and joined the small crowd who were waiting for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll. to come out of the City Art Centre.
There were all types of people standing there waiting for Her Majesty to come out.
You could almost feel the excitement that was being put out by these people as they talked with each other.
Across the street, television crews and reporters had gathered to one side of the City Art Centre.
On looking up at the windows of the buildings, I could see that windows had been left open at the Evening News and Scotsman office, peoples heads would look out occasionally hoping to catch a glimpse of our Queen.
Police officer on motorcycles had been posted at both ends of the street, this was to guide the traffic away from the area when Her Majesty came out of the City Art Centre.
Adults and children were laughing and joking to keep themselves amused while waiting. And the police officers who had been posted on the side of the street that I was on were talking in a relaxed manner to the public.
They were talking to the children and letting them know what was happening.
Other people had come over to see what was going on, and they asked the people who had already gathered there what was happening.
They were told by the people who knew what was happening, that the Queen was visiting the City Art Centre and that she would be coming out shortly.
Later on in the evening she would be hosting a reception for the European Heads of State on the Royal Yacht Britannia which was berthed down at Leith Docks.
Some people who were curious would stay, while others acknowledged the person who had given them the information by thanking them, and then walking away.
One of the television crews on the other side of the street was trying out his camera light by switching it on and aiming it at the doors where Her Majesty would be coming out.
Inside the building I could see some activity as people started coming down the stairs of the City Art Centre.
The people who were waiting outside were starting to get excited and were saying, the Queens coming out now.
It was a false alarm, and the people settled down again by talking and laughing.
The heads that had been looking out of the Evening News and Scotsman office appeared again and stayed where they were this time.
There was a flurry of activity as police officers and bodyguards started moving around on the outside of the building.
Her Majesty was clearly visible through the glass doors of the City Art Centre, I could see that she was wearing a lemon coloured coat and hat.
The guests and other people within the building had gathered at the bottom of the stairs inside the City Art Centre.
I could now see clearly that Lord Provost Irons and his wife talking to Her Majesty as she moved closer to the doors in readiness to come out onto the street.
The television crews and reporters started to get themselves into a position that would allow them to get the best picture. The lights of their cameras were switched on and left on this time.
The police officers on their motorcycles were talking into their radios, they were getting ready to start their motorbikes to escort the two Rolls Royce cars and the Range Rover that was with them for Her Majesty’s bodyguards.
Inside the City Art Centre I could see a television crew filming and a photographer taking photographs of Her Majesty and the guests who were inside the building.
The doors of the City Art Centre opened and Her Majesty came out onto the street. to a clap and cheer from the people who had been waiting outside.
The police officers who had been standing next to the two Rolls Royce cars moved over to them and stood facing the small crowd of people who were enjoying every moment of this Royal visit.
Lord Provost Irons who can be easily identified by the kilt that he wear’s was followed by his wife.
They both walked over to the car following Her Majesty.
The Queens lady in waiting came out of the doors holding a small bunch of flowers which had been presented to Her Majesty at the City Art Centre.
Lord Provost Irons gave a small bow and his wife curtsied in front of Her Majesty before she got into her car with her lady in waiting.
The Queens Personal bodyguards got into their Range Rover and started the engine, and the two Rolls Royce’s sped off into the dark of the evening towards Jeffrey Street led by the police motorcyclists who were escorting Her Majesty’s car.
The guests who had waved Her Majesty off from the City Art Centre turned and walked back inside the building.
The small crowd of people who had stayed to watch Her Majesty moved off on their separate ways to continue with whatever they were doing.
I headed home for my tea, having now filmed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll. for the first time.
I came out of my house again after I had eaten my tea and headed back up the Royal Mile.
A traffic warden was standing near the corner of the High Street and North Bridge, so I walked over to her and asked what was going on.
She explained to me that the Heads of State were due to come out from Holyrood Palace within the next five minutes so that they could go to their hotels and get themselves ready for the banquet which was being held on Royal Yacht Britannia.
She went onto say that she would have to stay on the street until the convoys had all passed by.
In the conversation I learned that I had missed the convoys taking the Heads of State for their lunch in Edinburgh Castle at lunch time.
I crossed the street to the South side of the Royal Mile so that I could get a better position for filming and to be closer to the television crews and reporters who had now gathered outside the Scandic Crown Hotel.
A convoy of cars led by police motorcyclists who had their blue lights on came speeding up the Royal Mile past John Knox’s house.
As they passed my position, I noticed that the French flag was flying on the first car indicating that it was the French President, Francois Mitterrand. This was confirmed by the ambulance which was following the convoy.
It did not take long for the next convoy to come up the street and pull up in front of the Scandic Crown Hotel.
I moved down the street and got as close to the hotel as dared to, it was the Prime Minister from Holland, Ruud Lubbers. I watched him get out of his car and go into the hotel.
He did not stop for the television crews and reporters who were asking him questions as he approached them.
He walked right passed them and straight into the hotel followed by his delegation.
The cars that his delegation had come up the Royal Mile in were moved out of the way to let the next convoy pull up in front of the hotel.
The next convoy led by police motorcyclist did not take long to come up the Royal Mile with their blue lights flashing.
They pulled up in front of the hotel and the doors of the cars opened to reveal that it was Denmark’s Prime Minister, Poul Schluter.
He got out of his car and moved over to walk into the hotel, the television crews and reporters moved in very quickly and surrounded him, they started asking him questions which he was willing to answer.
I plucked up some courage and moved down beside the television crews and reporters who had been able to stop the Prime Minister for their interview.
I had kept my camera on hoping to get a close up of what was going on and what was being said.
I moved in without being stopped to hear the Prime Minister, Poul Schluter talking, so I just kept my camera running and filmed the interview which was being conducted.
There was no reason for me not to carry on filming, if I had been told to move I would have.
Poul Schluter was giving an interview to the television crews and reporters by saying.
“And on the outside the solution will start soon and necessitate new verification processes, it’s a bit difficult, but there’s a lot of good will, I’m sure”. Poul Schluter put his hand up to his mouth, smiled and whispered, “I’m not sure”.
He took his hand down and continued by saying, “Almost sure that we shall receive the final result tomorrow”.
A woman reporter asked him a question by asking, “Do you think that’s going to be a deal we can start in other parts of the market and the British Empire”.
Poul Schluter replied by saying, “That’s the purpose, we must secure that when we arrange the second referendum, will it be a clear yes, this is what we are”.
The woman reporter came back with a question asking, “Some of the journalism people are saying that this doesn’t go far enough, it’s not legally binding, it’s not a particular formula”.
Poul Schluter went onto say, “It shall be legally binding, and it will, and based on that provision we can also, I’m sure, will also tell the voters in Denmark, yes we have respected the no last time, and here are a number of new statutes which are binding besides the Maastricht Treaty as such, so now the times right, lets have a clear yes”.
The woman reporter asked her last question by asking, “So how close are you, do you think you’ll be at tomorrow sir”.
Poul Schluter continued by replying, “Well this is a bit difficult to say, but we must work for a solution tomorrow”.
Another reporter tried to get in by asking, “What are the major obstacles sir, the major obstacles”.
Poul Schluter replied by saying “Well I’ve just explained, okay”.
The interview was over as Prime Minister Poul Schluter walked away and entered the Scandic Crown Hotel followed by his delegation and bodyguards who had been standing beside him all the time that the interview had taken place.
The television crews and reporters picked up their equipment and started to walk up the Royal Mile away from the hotel.
Police officers had now closed in and were standing guard on the doors outside the hotel until the EC Heads of State were ready to continue with their planned schedule.
While the interview had been going on with the Prime Minister, Poul Schluter from Denmark, the other convoys of cars had passed behind us.
I had heard the other convoys which were carrying the rest of the EC Heads of State passing by on the Royal Mile behind me, and by the time the interview was over, the streets had become deserted again.
The cars for the Dutch and Danish delegates had been positioned on the Royal Mile ready to take them down to Leith Docks for the banquet on the Royal Yacht.
The chauffeurs, bodyguards and police officers who were on escort duty were now standing talking to each other while waiting to move off again.
I started to walk up the Royal Mile and down North Bridge towards Princes Street to film some of the Eurolux Art Exhibition which had been placed at various locations around Edinburgh’s city centre.
From North Bridge, I could see the art display that had been put onto the Royal Observatory Building on the Calton Hill.
It was a circular piece of work that looked like a neon sign flashing off and on from the distance.
I aimed my camera to film the piece of art on the Calton Hill and the moon which was full and shining bright.
The cars that were being used for the EC Heads of State that were staying in the Balmoral Hotel were parked on North Bridge.
They way they were parked, took up almost all of North Bridge which was part of the security cordon.
I started filming the cars and police motorcyclist who were sitting on their motorbikes talking into their radios, these radios were blasting out into the emptiness of night, they were in different locations all the way down North Bridge.
I slowly started to walk down North Bridge until I reached the side door of the Balmoral Hotel on North Bridge and Princes Street, I was on the opposite side of the street, which was the East side.
On reaching the bottom of the street, I couldn’t help seeing the police officers and bodyguards who were handling the security arrangements for the Balmoral Hotel.
They were standing outside the hotel talking and liaising with each other to prevent anyone from walking on the West side of the pavement.
I hadn’t noticed it until this point, but there was an eerie feeling on the streets of Edinburgh which would be very hard to describe.
The streets were empty apart from a few people who would rush by very quickly to get out of way of what was going on.
I hadn’t noticed it during the day light because people had been going to their work and doing their shopping.
The whole area seemed empty apart from this high profile security operation which had been set up to ensure that this EC Summit went without incident for these EC Heads of State. I moved around onto Princes Street and started walking along it on the North side which is the side with shops.
This was to film the art display that been put right along the South side of princes street.
At spaced intervals, art in the form of neon lights had been placed on plinths that had been placed there by the Council for exhibiting different subjects throughout the year.
In the windows of the main buildings, such as the City Chambers, Edinburgh Castle, the Balmoral Hotel and various other buildings looking down onto Princes Street, red paper had been put in the windows of these buildings, the lights had been left on to show the window shining as red.
The few people who were on Princes Street were in a hurry to catch their busses and get back home with the shopping that had bought before the shops had shut.
Princes Street was nearly empty as I walked along filming the various types of neon sign art sculptures.
Cars were running, but they were very sporadic at this time of the evening when most people would have been home having settled into their houses for the night or getting ready to come out later on for their entertainment.
The night was cold, but it was clear which is what I needed to be able to film.
I filmed all the statues and Edinburgh Castle as I walked along to the West end of Princes Street, hoping to catch some of the Heads of State at the Caledonian Hotel.
I had found out that our own Prime Minister, John Major who was chairing the Presidency of this EC Summit in Edinburgh was staying at this hotel as was President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors.
I reached St John’s church at the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road and noticed that the lights had been left on.
The lights illuminated the stained glass windows, giving the building that had been recently cleaned a brightness in the dark that I had never seen on Princes Street for a long time.
I crossed over the street and headed over to the outside of the Caledonian Hotel where barriers had been put up to keep the public from going beyond the security cordon.
So, I moved over and stood beside the barrier which was facing the hotel.
There was a lot of activity at the doors of the hotel as police officers and bodyguards moved around.
Along Rutland Street, I could see the police motorbikes, police cars and the limousines which would take the EC Heads of State down to Leith Docks.
The Rutland bar which was a few yards from where I was standing had police officers along from its doors.
I settled my self down to wait until our Prime Minister, John Major came out of the hotel.
While I was waiting I filmed Edinburgh Castle and the area surrounding my position.
I thought I saw something move on the roof of the church so I turned my camera away in case I was filming the security arrangements, I just did not want to get involved in that.
Two plain clothed police officers moved over and stood in front of the barrier, they had been posted there until the Heads of State had left the hotel.
A number of other people started to gather beside me in the hope of getting a glimpse of the Prime Ministers and the EC Commissioner who were staying at the hotel. One person remarked that it was a little bit like waiting for a look at their favourite film star.
The chauffeurs who were at their cars in Rutland Street started up their engines to get ready for the Delegates who would be coming out of the hotel.
A few more people had gathered outside the hotel by now, and some were parents with their children, they had brought their children out to see the cars and the motorbikes.
One father with his child told me that he had found the EC Summit in Edinburgh very exciting, but he had not seen much of it because he had been at his work during the day.
The first convoy of cars that had been sitting in Rutland Street moved to the outside the Caledonian Hotel amid a flurry of activity.
Police officers and bodyguards took up their positions as the first delegation came out.
The doors of the hotel were opened by a bodyguard who stepped back to let the delegation and other bodyguards out of the doors.
I could see the Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd of Britain coming out of the hotel with Prime Minister, John Major at his side.
The Prime Minister, John Major waved to a small crowd of people who had started to cheer on his appearance.
Flanked by security men they walked over to their cars with the rest of their delegation.
The bodyguards and security men moved into a position where they able to face the small crowd who had gathered to watch the Prime Minister getting into his car.
They scrutinised the crowd with great care not missing a thing, they took great care in making sure that the area was safe for the Delegation departure.
Prime Minister, John Major gave a final wave as he and the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd got into their cars.
Their bodyguards closed the car doors behind John Major and Douglas Hurd and got into the cars themselves.
The convoy moved off led by police patrol cars and cars with bodyguards and security men.
Another crowd of people had gathered on Lothian Road, curious to see what was going on.
The Prime Ministers convoy sped off onto Lothian Road and headed up to Castle Terrace which had been the designated route for the movement of the EC Heads of State.
Police officers were standing outside the Caledonian Hotel door and in the Old Caledonian Railway Station doorway which had been taken over by the hotel when the railway station closed down many years before.
The security men were still facing the crowd of people who were still waiting to see who was going to come out of the hotel next.
The next convoy of cars moved up to the hotel doors, and the first car had the EC flag on the bonnet indicating that it was the European Commissioners, Jacques Delore’s car.
The man standing beside me told his son excitedly “here come Jacques Delore”.
You could almost sense the importance of the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delore as he came out of the Caledonian Hotel and entered his car.
The security men moved around into a position that would ensure they were able to watch everyone who was in the area until the President of the European Commission was secure in his car.
The convoy sped off, the traffic that was still using Lothian Road was halted to let the convoy speed on its route to Leith Docks.
There was no hanging around now as the next convoy of cars pulled into the front of the hotel to pick up the Prime Minister from Portugal, Anabal Cavaco Barroso.
He and his delegation got into their cars and moved off on the same route that had been taken by the convoys of delegates that had gone before them.
Led and followed by police motorcyclists and police patrol cars they moved onto Lothian road and onto Castle Terrace to disappear into the dark of the night.
The way the moves had been orchestrated had been an amazing feat on its own.
I decided to get back along to the Balmoral Hotel and film a delegation leaving that area, so I walked briskly along Princes Street until I arrived at my new location.
When I arrived, I walked right onto the island that was in the middle of the street at the bottom of North Bridge and started filming right away.
I was just in time to see the Greek convoy turn onto Leith Street followed by police motorcyclists and a patrol car.
I had not been able to see the Prime Minster of Greece, Constantine Mitsotakis who had been in the first car of the convoy.
I turned round and aimed my camera at the side door of the Balmoral Hotel, where I saw police motorcyclists and cars moving down North Bridge to park outside the hotel.
The car that had parked outside the Balmoral Hotel had the registration number FRA 1 and the French flag on the wing.
I was in no doubt as to who’s car this was having seen it earlier on in the day.
It was President Francois Mitterrand’s car, his bodyguards had now gathered outside the hotel ready to ensure his safety.
Someone who had at little bit to much to drink was standing on the East side of North Bridge at the Post Office and he was shouting out abusive language that echoed into the night.
A police officer walked over and had a word with him for a few seconds, the drunk moved off ranting and raving to himself.
He had been lucky not to have been arrested for the type of language that he had been using, the police officer had been diplomatic, he had warned the drunk who had taken the advice that had been given to him.
A police officer was sitting on his motorbike on the West side of North Bridge, his radio was blasting out as he waited to escort his convoy past the Duke of Wellington Statue which had a number of people standing at the railings.
The people who had gathered to watch were waiting for the French President to come out of the Balmoral Hotel and proceed down North Bridge.
The French Delegation came out of the Balmoral Hotel, they spoke to some of the people who standing right outside hotel doors as they waited for the French President to come out.
The French President, Francois Mitterrand came out and got into his car to be driven away with his escort.
The convoy moved off led by the motorcyclist who escorted them down Leith Street.
The lights of another convoy turning round from the Royal Mile made me aim my camera on it as it came down North Bridge.
No traffic had been on North Bridge while these convoys were moving, so they took up whole road which belonged to them.
The way the next two convoy’s came down North Bridge gave me a shiver down my spine. The eeriness and quietness of these black cars slowly moving down North Bridge was strange.
A few people passed me while I was filming the last two convoys, one person said to the rest of the people he was with, “look, there’s a funeral, I wonder where their going at this time”.
The convoy coming down North Bridge was the Danish delegation which was followed shortly after by the Dutch.
After they had passed, I decided that I had finish filming for the day, it was time for me to go home, view my video film, and make my plans for the second and last day of the European Summit.
I was glad to get back in the house and away from the cold of the night which was starting to bite into me by this time.
It had been a long day and I had not seen or read any newspapers to see what other events the professional reporters and television crews had been covering.
There had been other small protests and events that had been going on in Edinburgh, but it would have been impossible for me to cover everything that was going on our city with one camera.
I just thought that I may have seen a side of things that the media would take for granted, to them it was not worth reporting, but to me, this was what the average person on the streets of Edinburgh was seeing.
I had a record that covered another angle, and this was often forgotten about unless some local person was recording it and keeping a record.
I had no idea if other local people were taking their own records of what was going on in our streets or if they even thought it was worth keeping a record.
I had now decided that I would keep a record of every event that I could attend, this would be my record of was going on in Edinburgh’s streets. If nothing else, it would get me out of the house so that I could see if I was missing anything of great importance.
I did not want any privileges or any special concessions, I just wanted to be able to take it as it came.
The privilege of using a press card was best left to the professional reporters.
I felt that I was best left taking these events from another angle which is often lost in our historical records.
But, I now needed to learn how to walk right into the front of an event with full confidence, and not to move unless I was told that should not have been where I was.
This was something that I would have to pick up as I went along, it was like starting a new job.
After awhile, I would be able to find out what was going on and find out where the events were happening.
My batteries were now put on charge for the start of the second day of the European Summit.
I was going to be out a seven in the morning, and a good nights rest was now essential.
When I got up on Friday 12 December 1992, I got myself ready to go out as soon as possible.
I packed my camera in my bag and left the house to go down to the bottom of the Royal Mile, where I waited on the outside of Holyrood Palace gates.
I knew I would be there before the EC Heads of State started coming in for their last and final day of this Summit in Edinburgh.
It was going to be a busy day according to the plan that I had made out.
There was a democracy march with an estimated 20,000 people supposed to be attending and there was also going to be street entertainment in the evening.
These two events had been well publicised by the Edinburgh Evening News.
The events in the evening had been hailed as the Edinburgh peoples event, and it was to celebrate the end of the EC Summit in Edinburgh.
I also wanted to be down at Holyrood Palace at the end of the Summit, but there was no given time for the Summit ending, so I was not sure if I would have been able to see the EC Heads of State coming out of Holyrood Palace, that would depend on how I got on with the rest of the day.
It would also depend on whether an agreement was reached by the EC Heads of State who were thrashing out a deal in the Palace.
They had said that they would stay in Holyrood Palace, even if it meant staying all night to reach an agreement.
I walked down the Royal Mile and reached Holyrood Palace at the back of seven in the morning.
Police officers were already at their stations waiting for the EC Heads of state to start coming into Holyrood Palace.
Two police officers on horses were in the Strand while police dog handlers were walking with their dogs on the outside of the Palace.
I moved into the position that I intended to stay at until all the convoys had arrived and parked up.
A local man passed by with two small dogs, he was taking them for their morning walk, once he had gone, the streets were empty again, apart from the police officers who watching every movement in the area and keeping in touch with their control through their radios.
I took my camera out of its bag in readiness to start filming the first convoys which would start coming in within a short period of time.
It did not take long for the convoys of cars to start rolling in led by their police motorcyclist escorts, they were not displaying their flags so I had to try and read the letters that were in the widows of the car, and that depended on what way they were coming in.
The first two police motorcyclists came down the Royal Mile with two cars behind them and went right through the open gates of Holyrood Palace, the next convoy came down from Abbeyhill.
A convoy was coming down the Royal Mile very slowly beside a delegation who were walking down the street, the delegation were in deep discussion with each other as they walked down one of Edinburgh’s streets that was steeped in history.
The bodyguard who was walking in front was looking very uncomfortable as he passed me, he looked me up and down weighing up the situation.
He didn’t relax until the party he was escorting reached the gates of Holyrood Palace.
The delegates seemed to be enjoying their walk as they walked carefree down the Royal Mile and into the Palace.
The convoys of cars had started rolling in fast with their escorts by this time, the main cars would enter the gates of Holyrood Palace while the other cars went along Horse Wynd to park up in the car park that had been set aside for them in Holyrood Park.
Some more people had gathered beside me now to watch the EC Heads of State going through the gates of the Palace.
Some of the convoys were using the Abbeyhill route while the others were using the Royal Mile.
A short time later the Prime Minister of Holland, Ruud Lubbers walked down the Royal Mile surrounded by his delegation and bodyguards.
They had walked from the Scandic Crown Hotel down to the Palace, their convoy of cars followed them slowly as they made their way on foot.
The convoys of cars had stopped coming, and the gates of the Palace were closed indicating that all the EC Heads of State were in Holyrood Palace, the police officers on horseback started to exercise their horses by walking them up and down the Strand while the dog handlers walked their dogs along the pavements to break the monotony.
They were waiting for one more convoy, and the EC Heads of State couldn’t start until the last convoy had arrived. President Francois Mitterrand was missing.
Prime Minister, John Major who was chairing the Presidency for Great Britain had arrived as had the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delore.
The EC Heads of State who had arrived and were the
Prime Minister of Denmark, Poul Schluter.
The Prime Minister of Belgium, Jean-Luc Denhaene.
The Prime Minister of Greece, Constantine Mitsotakis.
The Prime Minister of Spain, Felipe Gonzales.
The Prime Minister of Italy Gluliamo Amato.
The Federal Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Albert Reynolds.
The Prime Minister of Holland, Ruud Lubbers.
The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jacques Santer.
The Prime Minister of Portugal, Anabal Cavaco Silva.
They had all arrived for the last day of the Summit, but it could not begin until the French President, Francois Mitterrand arrived.
It had been relayed by radio to the police officers at the Palace gates that President Mitterrand had gone off route and decided to go shopping on the Royal Mile.
The motorcyclists who were escorting his convoy of cars had come down the Royal Mile only to find that he had stopped at a shop around the corner from North Bridge.
The motorcyclists had to turn around and go back up the Royal Mile to collect the convoy that gone adrift.
I waited for the last convoy with the other people who had stood and watched the EC Heads of State going into Holyrood Palace.
After half an hour the convoy of cars had still not appeared, so I decided that I would walk back up the Royal Mile and go to Waterloo Place which was the assembly point for the much publicised Democracy March.
This march had been planned months before in advance and was expected to attract people from all over Scotland.
I was at the Netherbow when I saw the convoy that had gone adrift come speeding down the Royal Mile.
The French President, Francois Mitterrand had stopped off at Hector Russell’s tartan shop to buy some gifts and souvenirs.
He had walked on the street talking to the local people strengthening France’s Auld Alliance with the Scottish people.
He had left the other EC Heads of State waiting for him to arrive, and this had now thrown the EC Summit behind in time.
When I reached North Bridge and looked over from the East side of the bridge towards the Regent Road area, I could see hundreds of people holding up their banners and flags as they were getting ready for the Democracy march.
I had been glad to get away from the areas that I had been filming in, they had a greyness about them and were colourless, it was very formal and something that the average person in Edinburgh was not involved in.
The EC Heads of State had been travelling around in Edinburgh and going down to Holyrood Palace in their cars with their escorts of high security that was alien to most people in this city.
It was a Government meeting for the Leaders of the EC Countries, Holyrood Palace was being used as an Office and Conference Centre for the two days of business meetings.
The EC Summit had been good in the way of media and television coverage, Edinburgh had receive world wide attention, and it had shown the other EC Member States and the rest of the world that Edinburgh is a city of great beauty and culture.
It was hoped that this Summit would add to Edinburgh’s high reputation as a tourist city. World-wide television coverage would show the world that Edinburgh is the Athens of the North. Edinburgh could compete with any other part of the world as a major conference centre and tourist city.
I walked onto Waterloo Place to be greeted by a person dressed up in a latex mask of our Prime Minister, John Major, he was holding a Union Jack in his hand, he had on a sandwich board which read, mobile 48 - Birmingham, Major 0 Maastricht 0,
Subsidiary 0 Confused 12, GATT 1 CAPP 3, the list was quite a long list which had other scores on it.
Waterloo Place had thousands of people who standing joking and laughing with banners, placards and flags from all nations, they were waiting for the march to start.
Crowds of people who were not taking part in this march had gathered along Princes Street to watch and cheer the marchers as they passed by.
A group of people had gathered at the Wellington Horse Statue railings on the North side of Princes Street, they had draped a banner along the railings which read, Campaign for a Scottish Assembly.
The traffic had been stopped to let people who still coming from all directions go onto Waterloo Place and join the march which was due to start shortly. A traffic warden was standing at the junction merging with Waterloo Place, Princes Street and Leith Street, this was to allow any emergency vehicles through without any hindrance.
The streets were alive with people who had decided to make it day out for the family, there were mothers and fathers with their children, people with dogs, politicians, workers and visitors from other countries, they had all gathered to swell the crowd up to an estimated 25,000 people.
This area had never seen so many people gathered outside St Andrew’s House which stands on Regent Road.
The crowd that were here today stretched as far as the eye could see, and there was even more people waiting further around the curve in Regent Road which could not be seen from Waterloo Place.
A pipe band started to play as the crowds of people surged forward ready to march.
Television crews and reporters were everywhere taking pictures and photographs for a press that eager to show the world that Scotland was the centre of the EC Summit and that they could have a peaceful march.
The march started to move off and television camera crews and photographers rushed to get into the best positions for the start of the Democracy march.
The march was led by politicians and various other groups who held a banner stretched across the Street.
The first banner was held by Alex Salmond, Leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, Labour Members of Parliament and other groups. They started moving forward slowly holding the banner which read, Scotland Demands Democracy.
Dalkeith Pipe Band beat out their music as the march started to snake along the junction of Waterloo Place and onto Princes Street.
Looking along Waterloo Place from Princes Street, Nelsons Monument could be seen standing on Calton Hill, a silent witness to this Historical event which was happening on Edinburgh streets.
Banners, flags and placards of all shapes and sizes could be seen as the people on the march held them high with pride and conviction. Police officers were stewarding this event which was happening on Edinburgh’s streets.
A large Labour Scotland banner followed the first marchers onto Princes Street as they headed onto the route that had been designated for them.
The march organisers had wanted to march past Holyrood Palace, but this had to be put off for security reasons and another route had been selected and decided.
Scottish Saltire’s, Rampant Lion’s and flags from other nations could be seen fluttering in the cold wind which was blowing over Edinburgh even though the skies were clear.
The fun and humour that was being generated by the people on this march indicated that it had a serious side to it, but it was also a family event where people were enjoying themselves as a march of a mass movement.
A group of Post Office workers were on this march with a Post Office van following by their side.
Looking along from Waterloo Place to Princes Street, Sir Walter Scots Monument stood high in the background as the marchers started to pass it.
It was a great sight that would not be forgotten by the people who took part in this Democracy March during the EC Summit.
An ambulance came down North Bridge and needed to go down Leith Street, the marchers moved out of the way immediately and the ambulance passed by without even stopping.
I moved along with the Democracy March filming it as I walked along Princes Street, it passed Waverley Bridge, Sir Walter Scots Monument and along to the Royal Scottish Academy which merges with Princes Street and the Mound.
Looking back along to Waterloo Place let me see what was happening further back on the route, the marchers flags and banners could be seen as far as Regent Road, there were thousands of people still coming along the route that had already been trodden by the politicians and other groups who were leading the march.
Princes Street was lined by thousands of people who were not on the march, but were supporting the people who were.
Children and adults were eating food, laughing and singing as they braved the cold and bitter winds which came down from the North.
The march was orderly in every respect and the various groups of people stuck with the people that they were with.
People who were supporting the march by lining the streets had gathered on the Royal Scottish Academy steps and had lined the route up the Mound.
One marcher who passed by at the Mound clutching his flag was shouting passionately for an Independent Scotland with other marchers as they moved slowly around the corner.
On the Mound a Chinese marcher passed by with Edinburgh Castle and Ramsay Gardens in the background, cars were still using the West side of the Mound which allowed for the movement of some traffic in the city centre.
I moved along to the top of The News Steps which is at the East side of the Bank of Scotland on the Mound, this allowed me to look down onto Princes Street.
I could see the marchers passing the Balmoral Hotel, making their way past the Waverley Bridge and along Princes Street.
Historical Edinburgh’s landmarks had made a perfect setting for this Democracy March on what was a cold but bright day.
I walked round to the Lawnmarket where the junction meets up with George lV Bridge, the High Street and Bank Street.
Looking down the High Street was a picture of its own as St Giles Cathedral and the Tron church sat there witnessing the people of Edinburgh in the last part of the 20th century.
Marchers walking up George lV Bridge headed towards the Meadows where the speeches were being made by the various speakers who were on this march.
I took up a new position in the middle of the street beside Greyfriars Bobby Statue which sits at the top of Candlemaker Row and looked back towards Bank Street.
Banners and flags were fluttering in the wind as they were being marched along the streets for the various groups and union organisations.
The Church of Scotland was represented, they had their own banner. People had come from all over Scotland, the banners and flags read Aberdeen, Glasgow, Paisley and other major cities in Scotland, it would seem that they were all being represented in some way.
Even the disabled were not left out as a woman passed me in a wheelchair holding up her placard which read, home rule, not lame rule.
A van representing the vigil at the bottom of Calton Hill was being driven along the street. It clearly stated that the Scottish people had been sitting on the vigil for 247 days.
The van which painted blue and white had the saltire on it, and on the side of the van were the words, Scotland demands Democracy, 1st step a referendum for a Scottish Parliament, Sat 12th Dec, be there.
A miners brass band passed by playing well know tunes, they were helping to keep the marchers in step.
The march continued to make its way along Bristo Place and past the Edinburgh University on Teviot Place.
Marchers were coming along in their thousands with the police officers who stewarding them, the event was so relaxed that some police officers were laughing and joking with the people that they had walked along the streets with.
The Democracy March wound its way around Teviot Place and went into the Meadows which had been prepared for the thousands of people who were going to listen to the speeches.
My batteries had run out just as the last of the marchers made their way past the Royal Infirmary and down to the Meadows through Middle Meadow Walk.
I could not do any more filming now until I got my batteries were fully charged up again.
An estimated crowd of 25,000 people had marched through Edinburgh’s streets and there had been no arrests or trouble.
Lothian and Borders Police Force praised the way the march had been organised and thanked the people who had taken part in the march for being so orderly.
I left the Meadows area to go home, get warmed up and get something to eat before I came out for the last 12 hours of the EC Summit in Edinburgh.
It was in the early evening before I came out onto the streets again, my camera batteries had been charge, and I had been fed, so I was now ready to go out filming the rest of the events which were programmed to happen on our streets.
I headed back down to Holyrood Palace to film the EC Heads of State leaving the Conference which was scheduled to finish at five in the evening.
At the bottom of the Royal Mile, a number of other people had gathered to see what was happening, some of the marchers from the Democracy March had made their way down from the Meadows and were waving their flags in anticipation that the EC Heads of State may have seen them.
This was not to be, the meeting with the EC Heads of State was going on longer than expected.
I waited outside Holyrood Palace for over an hour with no sign whatsoever of the EC Heads of State coming out of the Palace.
Some of the people who had been waiting for a glimpse of this powerful group of people had started to drift away leaving about a dozen people still waiting outside the palace.
A lone piper stood and played his bagpipes very badly due to the cold which had started turn into a cold frost.
I started to walk back up the Royal Mile after awhile to see the start of the entertainment that had been arranged on the High Street for the end of the EC Summit.
At the Tron Church where the junction meets with the High Street and North Bridge, the High Street had been shut off to traffic from the early afternoon to allow a stage to be built. The stage was about 7 metre’s high and stretched from one side of the street to the other.
I arrived on High Street before the expected crowds of people had started to gather, the entertainment was due to begin when the concert finished in St Giles Cathedral.
The area that had been selected for the entertainment was the High Street between North Bridge and George lV Bridge. The street entertainment locations were to be on the Royal Mile and Parliament Square, East and West.
Tennents brewery were sponsoring the live entertainment on the main stage that had been set up and they had placed their own banner up which read, Tennents Live.
The scene was all set for the show to begin and people were slowly starting to drift into area.
In Parliament Square East, a 4 metre high Scotsman was walking about laughing and joking with the people who had already arrived. The giant Scotsman had red hair, a tartan tammy, white shirt, kilt, bagpipes and was walking on stilts that had leg coverings with socks and shoes.
An elderly couple who were sitting on a bench had caught the Scotsman’s attention as he was walking about, he walked over to the couple to crack some more jokes and have a conversation with them.
The man who was sitting beside his wife asked the Scotsman if he wanted to see what he had bought in the shops when he had been out shopping.
A fully blown up blow up reindeer was produced from his carrier bag to the amusement of some of the other people who had been following the Scotsman around.
The Scotsman nearly fell off his stilts with laughter, he laughed and commented, it’s amazing what you find on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
The street was starting to fill up with people and there was a buzz of excitement in the air as they waited for the free entertainment to begin.
Two street performers appeared, they walked across Parliament Square East and placed a ladder that they were carrying against Edinburgh’s Mercat Cross which is where Proclamations are made. They climbed their ladder to put fireworks that would be used later into place.
While the street entertainers were up the ladder the giant Scotsman walked over, held the ladder and shouted loudly, come doon, your tea’s oot.
He moved over to the middle of the Royal Mile with his bagpipes under his arm to greet other people who were wandering about looking for the best vantage points.
In Parliament Square West, people had started to come out of St Giles Cathedral where a concert had been held.
They moved onto the Royal Mile and started to walk down to the Tron Church where the street entertainment was due to begin.
A French street theatre company called Plasticiens Volants had been organised for the street entertainment which had been advertised.
I noticed a modern pipe band coming up the Royal Mile from the Tron Church, they were dancing and playing their bagpipes as they moved up the street, behind them was a 10 metre long red inflatable dragon which was floating in the air, this was being controlled by the street entertainers who were holding drag lines to direct the route that it was taking.
The show had begun for real and the crowds of people started participating from the very beginning. They were following the dragon which was being edged up the Royal Mile a few metre’s a time.
The street entertainers who were dressed up like court jesters were striking their torches which burst into a bright red flame with a red glow, this filled the street with smoke.
Another colourful figure appeared on stilts, he was draped in a red cloak which was draped right over his head and body, the robe flowed down to the ground.
This stilt walker was amazing, he spun around in circles on his stilts and pulled out a torch which burst into flames leaving a trail of smoke that followed him while he was dancing and spinning around on the street.
He took calculated steps to walk up the street to lead the dragon and the people following it further up the street. No one knew where they were going or why, they just kept following the events as they happened.
The pipe band stopped occasionally to give a rendition of the Scottish song, I love a Lassie, a bonny bonny lassie.
They spun around and danced on the street while they were playing their instruments giving the people who were watching the show the chance and a reason for joining in.
They had the crowds of people eating out of their hands by this time, something that Edinburgh had not seen the likes of for a long time on its street. This was street theatre at its best.
When the street theatre company reached the Mercat Cross in Parliament Square East, they lit the fireworks which had been placed there earlier in the evening. The fireworks exploded to a roar of approval from the crowd of people who watching.
St Giles Cathedral was standing in the background making this a perfect site for this street show.
The people who were following the red dragon had grown to about a thousand people by now as they were led into Parliament Square West where the show was ready to begin.
Parliament Square West started to fill up with the people who had followed the dragon and the street entertainers up the Royal Mile.
They formed a semi circle which faced the Signet Library, a giant speaker system and platform had been set up in the corner of the square. The Speakers started to blast out music as the street theatre company started their show.
A sudden burst of fire which lit up the sky made the crowd gasp with surprise and shout with excitement, the fire which had erupted with a roar from the gas burners on the platform merged in with the fireworks which were being let off at the same time.
The red dragon was still being paraded around Parliament Square West while the fireworks were exploding.
An inflatable fish was floated around from the back of St Giles cathedral on drag lines to join the show.
The large dragon and fish came down to a level that enabled the crowd participate, they did this by pushing and shoving the inflatable fish and dragon in different directions.
In the crowd were people who had been on the Democracy March, they were still clutching and waving their Saltire and Rampant Lion flags as they shouted their approval at this show.
The street theatre company manoeuvred their dragon and fish around Parliament Square while the court jesters were running around with their lighted torches which had burst into flame. They were creating a screen of smoke which lit up bright red and filled the air with a light smog.
At one point the fire and smog looked so real, I could almost have imagined what it was like when they burnt witches outside St Giles Cathedral 100s of years ago.
The show seemed to be creating a medieval feeling about it while the stilt walker draped in red danced around in circles.
The Scotsman did not come into Parliament Square West, he did not appear be part of this show.
The crowds of people with adults and children were mesmerised by these events which were happening on Edinburgh’s streets at the end of the EC Summit.
The words and music coming from the speaker system on the stage were being spoken in French and English.
Suddenly a loud cheer filled the air as a new inflatable dragon was brought into Parliament Square West from the direction of the Sheriff Court which was on the Royal Mile.
The dragon which was 10 metre long, green, had teeth, a red mouth and small legs, was brought in to join the show which had attracted thousands of other people who were standing on the Royal Mile trying to get a glimpse of what was going on.
People were standing on the steps of St Giles Cathedral and any other high vantage point that they could get to give them a better view of this street theatre show.
The court jesters and the stilt walker lit up new torches which were bursting into flames and giving off a red smoke to replace the one’s that had burnt out. The dragons and fish were paraded around the square with their drag lines giving the people watching a chance to join in by pushing and shoving the inflatable’s as they floated past them.
Finally, the dragons and fish were directed into each other, giving the impression that they were fighting and tearing each other apart as the show drew to a close, a loud explosion filled the air as more fireworks were let off to one of the loudest cheers of the evening.
The stilt walker spun around fast in a circle with his robe fluttering in the wind, he lit up another torch and trailed the smoke through the crowds of people who were showing their approval by cheering and clapping at this street theatre companies contribution to Edinburgh’s streets.
A fireworks display that had been set up on the roof of the Signet Library in Parliament Square West drew the show to a close, the sky lit up with all the colours of the rainbow as rockets and roman candles explode high above the buildings on the Royal Mile, the fireworks display which ended the show lasted for five minutes leaving the crowd shouting for more.
The street theatre company took a final bow in front of the crowds of people who had been watching the show outside St Giles Cathedral before they took their final exit.
Most of the people who were in Parliament Square West started to drift back onto the Royal Mile to join the rest of the entertainment that had been organised on the street.
A percussion band was playing at the North wall of St Giles Cathedral which is on the South side of the Royal Mile.
People who had moved from Parliament Square West had gathered around the band to listen to the strong rhythm which was being beaten out by them on their drums and their other instruments.
The rhythms which had a strong Afro Caribbean/South American beat had the crowd clapping their hands and tapping their feet as they danced merrily on the street.
This percussion group Inner Sense were dressed costumes that were green with a gold collar, they looked as if they had been styled from the Italian 18th century. The group didn’t look out of place as they stood singing and playing their instruments against the walls of St Giles Cathedral.
I squeezed through the crowds of people who were dancing on the street to move down to Parliament Square East where a rock band were blasting out their music through the amplifiers that had been set up on a stage to the East of St Giles Cathedral.
The group which was called Antibody were playing their guitars and drums as they sung with conviction about the environment. They performed in front of about a hundred people who had assembled in front of their stage.
I looked over towards the City Chambers from where I was standing to see crowds of people walking down the Royal Mile, they had started moving down towards the main stage where the main artist’s were appearing. I also noticed that another crowd of people had gathered outside the City Chambers, so I moved over to the other side of the street and see what was happening.
A modern sculpture which had someone inside it had been set up on the street outside the City Chambers, the human sculpture which was white and had black stripes like a zebra was moving in different directions to the amusement of some children who were with their parents, they had gathered around it to watch its animated movements.
A man who was with his children was having a conversation with the organiser of the sculpture, they were enjoying themselves by talking about France and Scotland’s auld alliance.
I moved further down the Royal Mile to the main stage which had nearly 5,000 people gathered around it, they were listening to Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham who were on stage singing and playing their instruments.
The crowds of people who were on the street were swinging, dancing and swaying to this rich sound of Scottish music.
Cans of beer and bottles of wine were being produced by the people who were surrounding the main Tennents Live stage which was beside the Tron Church on the Royal Mile.
The stewarding and the rest of the entertainment had been organised by Unique Events of Edinburgh, they had, along with other groups, organised this event for the end of the European Summit
A group of young girls linked up their arms and started to dance on the street, they were kicking their legs high into the air and spinning each other around to the sounds of this deep rooted Scottish music which was coming from Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham who were on the main stage.
People who had come into the city centre were still flocking onto Royal Mile to join the street party, the entertainment which was going on in three locations was scheduled to go on until after eleven at night.
Edinburgh had not seen anything like this for a number of years, and I was sure that it would see nothing like this again for a long time.
I stayed at the main stage for awhile before I moved over to a police officer to ask him if the EC Summit had come out of Holyrood Palace.
The police officer told me that the EC Heads of State were still in the Conference, but they were due to come out within the next half hour.
I had already made the decision that I was going to go down to the bottom of the Royal Mile and see the EC Heads of State leaving Holyrood Palace at the end of this Summit.
As I walked down the Royal Mile, I could still hear the music coming from the main stage which had still to host the Silencers, Hue and Cry, Dick Gaughan and Capercaillie.
They had been selected to perform at the end of this Summit in Edinburgh, I was aware when I walked down the Royal Mile, that I would unable to film the rest of the entertainment and the other main artists.
I carried on walking down Royal Mile listening to the music which was being carried for miles in the air. When I reached St Mary’s Street, I looked back to see the stage before it finally disappeared out of my sight.
When I reached the bottom of the Royal Mile the streets were deserted except for the police officers who had been guarding this venue throughout the two days of talks, the people who had been waiting earlier for the Summit to come out had gone.
I waited on the corner of Horse Wynd and the Royal Mile for the convoys of cars with the EC Heads of State to start coming out of the gates of Holyrood palace.
They would be going over to Meadowbank Sports Stadium where a media conference centre had been set up.
The EC Heads of State were going to give their final statements on the progress that had been made at the EC Summit before they went back to their hotels. Some of them would be leaving Edinburgh after the Statements were given while others would be leaving early in the morning.
A police officer told me that some of the convoys would be going along Horse Wynd and some would be going up Abbeyill on route to the media centre.
I decided that the best location for me filming the EC Heads of State leaving the Summit would be for me to stand on Horse Wind. It had been a long day and I was starting to get cold again as the frost started to bite into my hands.
The convoys started coming out of Holyrood Palace at about eleven at night. The first police motorcyclist moved into the middle of Horse Wynd and waited for the convoy that they were leading to come out of Holyrood Palace gates.
The first convoy to leave Holyrood Palace was Helmut Kohl the Federal Chancellor of Germany, his convoy came speeding along Horse Wynd and was escorted at high speed through Holyrood park.
The rest of the convoys came out in succession and were escorted along the same route through Holyrood Park, they could be identified by their flags, the first convoys to come out were France, Holland, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece and the EC Commissioner, Jacques Delore.
They sped out of sight allowing the other convoys to use the other route which was being used. Other convoys sped up the Abbeyhill route to go to the Media Centre at Meadowbank where the world press were waiting for this long awaited statement.
There was a slight break before the rest of the convoys came along Horse Wynd which was where I was standing filming the end of the Summit at Holyrood Place.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Albert Reynolds convoy came sweeping round the corner and moved along the street with his escort. He turned on the seat of his car, lifted his hand and gave me a wave as his car drove past my position, I acknowledged his wave by waving back at him.
His car which was followed by his delegation and police escort did not take long to move out of sight as they swept through the gates of Holyrood Park.
The last two convoys to come out of the palace were the Heads of State from Spain and Portugal, they looked tired and exhausted as their cars passed along the street that I was standing on, as they passed by they acknowledged me by giving a wave before their convoys turned into Holyrood Park and into the dark of the night.
Once all the convoys had gone I packed my camera back into its bag, it had been a long two days of filming for me. I started walking back up the Royal Mile to get back to my house, the European Summit was now over for me.
I had enjoyed the filming that I had done during the European Summit, it had been varied and it had given me an insight into different ways of being able to film other events in the future.
During the European Summit I had filmed five hours of video film which had been at a different angle from the media, this was my view of an important event that might have been lost with the progression of time.
When I got home, I cleaned my camera and packed it into its case ready for future use.
The End
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