Virgin Money scored an enormous coup with its advertising campaign for the Edinburgh International Festival Fireworks concert. Nobody could work out how it was done, but at about 08:00am on the morning of the concert itself the skies over Edinburgh suddenly darkened. A live 30-second trailer of the evening’s festivities then burst into view from above, complete with a shower of fireworks over the castle.

All attempts to capture this display on camera failed and – without any documentary evidence – many of those who missed it refused to believe that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

I later discovered that some of the “magic” from the ad campaign had leaked out into the streets. The mainly residential Claremont Crescent now offered an international chain hotel at number 20, and a huge Pizza Express at number 21. When I asked my god-daughter what was going on (she was swinging on the railings outside number 22), she suggested that I photograph the scene.

In a single snapshot everything was back to normal. This was a great relief: I could now put my black cow and the calf back out to graze in the crescent garden.