The National Library of Scotland stretched up to the sky in its brand new twenty-two storey building. I joined a guided tour for the afternoon, partnered up with the young man known to be the object of KT’s affections. This was handy: I would check him out further on KT’s behalf. I began my mission by chatting to him on the escalator as we travelled up to the top of the building.

My companion and I were parted for the journey back to the first floor. There were no downward escalators. Nor were there any stairs. Instead you were expected to jump onto an almost vertical conveyor belt to make your descent. This looked much more like a contraption for carrying books than human beings, but there was no other option if you wished to get downstairs, so in I hopped.

I emerged at the other end rather sore and battered, but at least I survived the trip without getting my hair all tangled up in the mechanism. It was a little shocking, however, to discover that the landing pad was also home to a colony of wriggling reptiles. Each creature was about 10 inches long, and they all came in different see-through colours. Had they been static, you might have thought they were just rather large sweet jelly dinosaurs. I stepped away from them as fast as I could. I didn’t want to be bitten, especially if these creatures turned out to be poisonous.