threeweeks guide to edinburgh

There are a number of things about Edinburgh - oddities if you like - which you're bound to stumble across in the shortest of stays. Just so you're prepared here are some of our favourite Edinburgh quirks.

First, the buses. YOU MUST HAVE THE CORRECT CHANGE on Edinburgh Buses. If you get on without the correct change, you'll upset the driver and everyone in the queue behind you.

And if you're walking, you will find that the streets have more than one name, well some of them do. Although everyone calls the stretch between the Castle and Holyrood Palace the Royal Mile, that's only its nickname. Any business on the Royal Mile will not be listed as being on the Royal Mile but as on one of the streets that make up the Mile. These are the Canongate, the High Street and the Lawnmarket. A similar thing applies to the top part of what is generally known as 'Leith Walk', the long road that runs between the city centre and the Leith docks. It doesn't officially become Leith Walk until about half way down. At the top you will find Elm Row, Picardy Place ... Antigua Street ... and some others I guess ... And as for Victoria Street. One side of the street is called Victoria Street. The other side is called West Bow. Go Figure.

Next up is the money. Each of the three Scottish banks - the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank and Clydesdale - print their own paper money. Which means, with the Bank of England money you also get, you could have up to four different types of £5, £10 and £20 notes in your wallet (though if that's the case you're probably too rich to care). The Royal Bank also print one pound notes, so don't get excited when you're handed a lot of paper money in your change, its probably not as much as you hoped.

Nothing to do with money is 70, 80, 90 shilling, this is to do with beer. Elsewhere in Britain they don't refer to types of beer by using its former tax rating, here they do. The more 'shilling' the more alcohol. So you will get used to hearing people ask for 'a pint of eighty', or 'a pint of seventy please'. You'll hear 'a pint of ninety, please', less often. There's a reason for that ...

Talking of beer, don't forget Edinburgh's late licenses. Most Edinburgh bars shut at 1am as a norm, those that serve food are often open to 3am, and clubs normally go on to 4am or later. This is the year round set up and some pubs get extensions during August. So there's no pre-11pm alcohol rush, meaning people tend to go out later and drink slower. There are a handful of pubs that open at 6am so 24 hour drinking is possible for the die hard drinker.

And if that's you, you might also want to discover Irn Bru, the soft drink known as Scotland's second national drink. It's orange coloured, fizzy and the taste isn't easy to describe. They sell it everywhere, so you may be tempted to pick up a can (or a bottle - you get 15p back on these if you return the glass in one piece). I was addicted to it for about 4 years. It's an acquired taste, usually acquired because of its incredible power of hangover alleviation.

If you've got the alcohol induced munchies, be careful of salt and sauce when you're in the chip shop drunk. If you buy chips in Edinburgh they don't offer salt and vinegar as elsewhere in Britain, they offer salt 'n sauce. Though they will drag out the vinegar if you want it, so don't be afraid to ask. The sauce is brown.

It's a sort of thin version of brown sauce. It is the consistency of gravy and is treated like gravy, as it is lathered all over the chips. Some people who have lived in Edinburgh and have to go back to England or wherever tend to be inconsolable when they're leaving because they miss the unholy combination of salt 'n sauce and Irn Bru. But they're mad and I can't condone this obsessive level of behaviour. Nevertheless Try it. You might like it.