A shared moment for those in the know.

So, a little late into the action, but enjoyed BLOODY TRAMS by The People of Edinburgh at the Traverse last night.

Bloody Trams is a cabaret rendition. David Paul Jones on the piano plays and sings while actors Nicola Roy and Jonathan Holt perform a script compiled from interviews with folk encountered in Edinburgh.

They made a great hour’s entertainment and the audience hung on every shared joke breaking into laughter at the more recognisable ones. My own hobby horse over the tram debacle has always been the disregard of the small traders whose lives were, and for all we really know, may still be, blighted. The Birthday candle for one of Leith Walk’s holes – mined and then undisturbed for a year – did not feature, but it is remembered.

Did the script give us enough? It’s undoubtedly the way we think and sound as the utterers of the instant sound-bite. Some are reluctant, some are over-keen and at least one was twelve.

I left the theatre with my own prejudices undisturbed – South-side resident who hasn’t been on an Edinburgh tram and will only be on one when bullied into it by the family/friends. The tram truly makes no difference to the way I travel around the city and I’m not yet understanding the ways all the extra council tax will be justified.

I was also a little down-hearted. Edinburgh has an arguably unrivalled public transport system. A huge number of later evening buses could be taking us all over for the cost of those rails.