MSB welcomed her friends into her plush new showroom on the corner of Edinburgh’s Broughton and Barony Streets. Through the floor to ceiling windows, from outside you could see the visitors gathering beside her, hanging onto her every word.

When I entered the shop, I noticed a collection of decorative candles gathered on a table at the back of the room in the far right corner. Each was so distinctive that I was able to guess the names of the friends who had presented the candles as gifts to MSB. The fancy one from BW was the most obvious.

All the talk at the gathering was of the recent shootings in Edinburgh. I related my experience of observing a man hold a tiny child at gunpoint on the Meadows only earlier the same day.

Later we all headed to the Pentland Hills for our own target practice, with empty beer cans as our quarry.