Ghost town

I was oddly relieved to see Princes Street as busy as one would expect on Christmas Eve.

Last weekend it was just too easy to carry out the bulk of my Christmas shopping. Depressingly easy. Even if so many shops began discounting on Friday, at least it gave the illusion of retail health. It’s perhaps perverse to yearn for overcrowded shops and dwindling stocks, but the near ghost town of recent weeks makes one worry about one’s own long-term capacity for any shopping at all. Or paying the mortgage.

Nathan Klein

Edinburgh