Lots of blunders lie ahead on the way to the new normal – Kevin Buckle

Earlier in the week as I crossed over Princes Street to get to Waverley Mall I found what I discovered later to be a large pile of temporary pavement outside one of the two Waverley Steps bus stops.

By the time I returned to go home work was in full swing and while it was clear my bus would not be stopping as usual there was no signs to say what I should do.

When both bus stops had been closed for filming, one tiny poster, obscured as soon as somebody stood in front of it, told passengers they had to walk to the other end of Princes Street, but this time careful scrutiny revealed nothing.

Thankfully I caught the eye of one of the workmen and he pointed to the other nearby stop. It transpired that all the buses would be using the one stop, first as a thin paving was put outside my stop and then a couple of days later as it continued to the next stop nearer the steps.

Now those who pay close attention to such things will know that the area around the bus stops is a bottleneck as people come out of the station while others wait for a bus and at the moment a third group fight their way to the outdoor takeaway on the mall roof.

Part of the approved plans to build on the roof of Waverley Mall extends the pavement towards the roof which makes good sense. However, what makes no sense at all is to build a thin walkway between the bus stops and the road, which I’ve yet to see anybody use, as long as you don’t count a couple of young lads I saw running up and down in amusement.

Buses often have to queue just to get to the stops, so most of the time walking along this new strip would involve being squashed between the bus stop and a bus and having to walk through those trying to get on the bus.

What is actually happening is the buses continually get a little too close to this new ‘pavement’, resulting in the bus slightly overlapping with the walkway and all in all, probably creating a more dangerous situation than there had been before with the overcrowding.

I did on the second day ask one of the workmen what the purpose of the strip was and he explained with a grin it was to help with social distancing.

I’m sure, should it be said the money could have been better spent, we’d be told this was special ‘social distancing’ money that had to be spent this way.

Meanwhile, as all this was going on in the centre of Princes Street, a new tartan tat shop had arrived on a busy corner taking over the old Cath Kidston shop, along with the usual racks of clothing outside.

As my bus stopped opposite on the way home, not only were the racks blocking the pavement, but then people looking at the racks were blocking it further. Days later and it was still the same scenario.

We are in such serious times that need serious, not token solutions and yet this latest fiasco does not bode well for the long haul we all face in trying to reach the new normal.