A warmer reception for the icy conditions

AS pretty as it can look from the comfort and warmth of our homes, most of us will be happy when the ice that has caked the city's pavements over the last week finally melts.

• Boys break the ice on St Margaret's Loch in 1959

Serving as nothing more than a hazard on the roads and pavements, it's unlikely there will be tears shed when our frosty visitor eventually says goodbye.

But over the years, some residents have revelled in the arrival of icy conditions to Edinburgh, heading out to celebrate as our ponds and lochs freeze over.

That includes these skaters pictured here back in 1961, making the very most of the thick ice that covered Inverleith Pond that December.

In the winter of 1959 there were similar scenes at St Margaret's Loch in Holyrood Park as youngsters enjoyed hacking the ice with sticks, breaking it up as best they could.

There were scenes of trepidation at Edinburgh Zoo in January 1982, however, when the arrival of Arctic weather shocked the caged inhabitants.

Pictured here, one polar bear was more than unsure of the ice as he took tentative steps on the floats in his enclosure.

That same year, for the first time, penguins were seen shivering at feeding time, and keepers were forced to carry buckets of meat for animals on sledges, owing to the treacherous conditions.