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Rose Street
A narrow
street that runs parallel to Princes Street in Edinburgh New Town |
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Recollections
1.
Ralph Fusco
Colinton, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Ralph Fusco who
wrote: |
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Asa Wass
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The Shop
"I've read previous entries on your edinphoto
web site concerning Asa Wass, especially the one from Asa's
great-grandson Ken Miller, and your own letter in tonight's Evening News
yesterday.
I can confirm that there was an Asa
Wass 'shop' in Rose Street around 1949 - early 50's when I lived there.
Obviously, it would not be Mr. Miller's
great-grandfather (who arrived in Edinburgh 1860) who ran the shop then,
but may have been one of his sons."
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Bottles and Clothes
"I was born in 1943 at 112 Rose Street, above
'Scarlets Pub'. I remember, from the age of 6 or 7, being sent
frequently by my mother to 'Asi Wassi's' (as we kids pronounced it) to
hand over empty bottles or old clothes in exchange for badly needed
pennies."
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Inside the Shop
"The 'shop' was about 4 or 5
stairs along, on the same side from my home, so would be about number 120
or 122 Rose Street. It was actually a first -floor flat in a slum
tenement like mine at 112.
I only recall seeing one big room, just inside
the door of the flat, and the bare wooden floor, covered from wall to wall
with hundreds of empty upright bottles and a large pile of rags in one
corner of the room."
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Moving the Goods
"I think these stockpiles were regularly moved
from Rose Street originally by horse and cart and later by lorry, but
I've no idea to where they were all taken to!" |
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Visiting the Shop
"Visiting the strange old man up 'Asi Wassi's'
stair in Rose Street with other 6 or 7 year-old pals was a scary, but
exciting, adventure for us boys in those days." |
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Ralph Fusco,
Colinton, Edinburgh:
September 2, 2008 |
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Recollections
2.
Ralph Fusco |
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Thank you to Ralph Fusco who
wrote: |
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Blue Sun
"By sheerest coincidence, while leafing
through the items about Asa Wass on your website, I spotted the one about
the
blue sun in 1950 and the entry by
Bob Wright
of Inverness who was in Rose Street when it occurred.
Can you believe that, at that very
time, some pals (7 year olds) and I were lying on our backs on the
pavement in Rose Street staring up at the sun and watching the same
phenomenon, not far from where Bob Wright would have been."
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Ralph Fusco:
September 2, 2008 |
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Recollections
3.
Edith Caulfield
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Edith Caulfield posted this
message in the EdinPhoto guest book: |
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Question
Ice Cream Shop
"Does anyone remember the name of the Ice
Cream Store on Rose Street between Castle Street and Frederick Street?
I lived on Castle Street and can remember going
along Rose Street for Ice cream."
Edith Caulfield, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Message
posted in EdinPhoto guest book, Dec 12, 2010
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Recollections
4.
Tom Finlayson-Smith
Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
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Tom Finlayson-Smith wrote |
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Reply
Ice Cream Shop
"The name of the ice cream shop was Di Marco. (I
think that's the correct spelling.) They also sold meals in their
cafe section. e.g. fish and chips.
I lived in Rose Street, above the Kenilworth Pub
and moved to Castle Street when I was 18."
Tom Finlayson-Smith, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia:
December 18, 2010 |
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Recollections
5.
Allan Dodds
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
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Allan Dodds wrote |
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Milnes Bar
"I used to frequent Milnes Bar (on the corner of
Hanover Street and Rose Street) in the 1960s. It was a hotbed of
political discussion and artistic endeavour."
Literati
"We used to sit at a table next to the
literati of the day:
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George Mackay Brown,
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Sorley McLean,
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Hugh McDermaid,
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George Mackay Brown,
- Sidney
Goodsir Smith,
- Ian
Crichton Smith,
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Alan Bold,
and of course there were ourselves,
aspiring but regrettably failed poets of the day!"
Beethoven
"One of my best recollections is of whistling
movements from Beethoven's Pastoral symphony alternately with one of the
august group during the course of a drinking session.
Regrettably, we never progressed socially from
this and I never got to know which of the poets he was. But it
sounded good, impromptu and with no rehearsals.
Sandy Moffat
Sandy Moffat was then an undergraduate friend
who attended Edinburgh College of Art, and I see from the internet that he
painted a very good picture of the leading poets of the time, exactly as I
myself remember them.
Understandably, I do not appear in his
picture, but I don't altogether hold it against him as I was a complete
nonentity at the time!
Allan Dodds, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England:
January 13, 2011 |
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Recollections
6.
Dorothy Finlay (nee Cossar)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
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Thank you to Dorothy Finlay
for posting a message in the EdinPhoto guest book.
Dorothy wrote: |
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Scott's Bar
"For a time, I worked in the Roxburghe
Hotel in Charlotte Square, as a waitress. If we had an early finish
we'd head for a nighcap to Rose Street where there was a pub called
Scott's; I beleive she was the owner.
She had steel grey hair, cut in a bob. She sat
at the bar and refused to serve any ladies who didn't have a male escort.
Is the pub still there?"
Dorothy Finlay (nee Cossar), Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia
Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook: March 4, 2012 |
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Scott's Bar
I think it would probably have
been around 1960 before emigrating to Australia, when Dorothy worked
at The Roxburghe Hotel and visited Scott's Bar.
Yes, Scott's Bar is still at
202 Rose Street, just round the corner from the Roxburghe Hotel.
Peter Stubbs: Edinburgh: March 4, 2012 |
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