I pulled back the shutters and looked out of the window of the first floor. Imagine my surprise when I saw a someone come flying through the sky on the back of a man-sized robin! Also, on the branches of the trees were hundreds of colourful birds. Here was confirmation that the UK parakeet problem had hit Edinburgh.

Then hundreds of people climbed over the far garden wall into my own plot to congratulate me from below on my newly acquired horticultural skills.