Ten Questions: Mark Fleming

Published on Thursday 23 October 2008 10:01

Mark Fleming, 46, lives in Joppa. His Capital-based punk and club novel BrainBomb has just been published by Chipmunka.

1 What is your earliest memory of Edinburgh? A waiting room in Elsie Inglis Maternity Hospital when my wee sister was due. I was more thrilled by my new Matchbox car.

2 What are your memories of school? At Tynecastle Annexe (now a supermarket) we played football at every opportunity – except footballs were banned. So we improvised – golf balls, tennis balls, even the ballcock from a lavatory!

3 Where is your favourite place in Edinburgh and why? Portobello Promenade. The Forth can be like a mirror or a grey cauldron. Strolling along there you can see redshanks or, very occasionally, seals.

4 What are the best things about Edinburgh? The International Arts Festival, some of which is within its citizens' price range; the Royal Mile where you get the impression of history unfolding; our strong literary traditions from Robert Louis Stevenson to Irvine Welsh; and I must mention our unsung rock stars of yesteryear – The Scars!

5 What would you change about the city? Take the massive bonuses promised to the suits overseeing the tram project and give them to the small businesses ruined by the traffic chaos.

6 Describe a perfect Edinburgh day/night out. The Botanic Garden is a fantastic, colourful oasis amidst the metropolis. You can travel from deserts to rainforests in the same hour. Night-time, catching bands in any of the Capital's caverns – Henry's, Bannerman's, Whistle Binkies.

7 Which sports interest you? I'm an armchair football fan of Scotland and Northern Ireland, after my parents' nationalities. We're all facing mountains to climb to qualify for South Africa but, if we fail, at least we'll still be partying and there won't be CS gas involved.

8 What was your most embarrassing moment? In a fit of lager-fuelled bravado, I once put my name on the karaoke list in the Carousel (a 'traditional' Leith pub rather than a Shore wine bar) to sing Cathy's Clown by the Everly Brothers. The key was too high and I sounded like a cat being tortured.

9 What is your greatest achievement? Our gorgeous wee girl Elise, born in 2001.

10 Sum up Edinburgh in three words. Cap it all.