Edinburgh’s East Claremont Street was closed to traffic for a performance of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. We all gathered on the northern side of the road against the high hedge of Claremont Crescent Garden. The performers lined up opposite us. The stage was much longer than usual. This was to accommodate some ‘guest’ socks.

There was an obvious problem from the moment that the show started. The socks’ voices weren’t amplified properly, so the spectators from further along the street couldn’t hear a single word of the dialogue.

‘Not to worry, we’ll fix it. All will be sorted within 30 minutes’, declared Kev Sutherland.

‘Is that really how long it will take?’ I asked.

‘No’, replied Kev, ‘It will take two hours – but I don’t want to lose my audience.’