Bingo
31 January 2026 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI have made bingo down the B and G columns of my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Bingo Fest. I also made 6 extra fills.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith
Sunday Word: Demesne
1 February 2026 12:12 pmsallymn posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
1word1daydemesne [dih-meyn, -meen]
noun:
1 possession of land as one's own
2 an estate or part of an estate occupied and controlled by, and worked for the exclusive use of, the owner
3 land belonging to and adjoining a manor house; estate
4 the dominion or territory of a sovereign or state; domain
5 a district; region
Examples:
A couple of centuries or so later, the peninsula became part of a Spanish land grant, and the demesne of Manuel Dominguez as his Rancho San Pedro. (Patt Morrison, Palos Verdes Peninsula landslides can tell us a lot about L A history, Los Angeles Times, May 2024)
In Loki, the titular character finds himself in the bizarre (almost Brazil style) demesne of the Time Keepers, an organization devoted to ensuring the sanctity of the timeline. (Erik Kain, Owen Wilson And Tom Hiddleston Light Up First 'Loki' Disney Plus Trailer, Forbes, April 2021)
The castle or manor-house of the baron or lord, into which the thegn’s hall had now developed, was the centre of rural life. Around it lay the home-farm, the lord’s demesne land, cultivated partly by free tenants, partly by the customary labour due from the villeins whose cottages clustered on its border, and whose holdings, with a tract of common pasture and common woodland, made up the remainder of the estate. (Kate Norgate, England Under the Angevin Kings)
However, as he pursued his wayfaring with the two Armenian Christians who formed his retinue, he began to hear from the inhabitants of that portion of Abchaz the rumor of an equally dread demesne, named Antchar, lying before him on the road to Georgia. (Clark Ashton Smith, 'The Kingdom of the Worm')
After winding along it for more than a mile, they reached their own house. A small green court was the whole of its demesne in front; and a neat wicket gate admitted them into it. (Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility)
(click to enlarge)
Origin:
c. 1300, demeine, demeyne (modern spelling by late 15c), 'power; dominion; control, possession,' senses now obsolete, from Anglo-French demesne, demeine, Old French demaine 'land held for a lord's own use,' from Latin dominicus 'belonging to a master,' from dominus 'lord, master,' from domus 'house' (from PIE root dem- 'house, household'). Re-spelled by Anglo-French legal scribes under influence of Old French mesnie 'household' (and the concept of a demesne as 'land attached to a mansion') and their fondness for inserting -s- before -n-. Meaning 'a manor house and near or adjacent land,' kept and occupied by the lord and his family, is from late 14c, hence 'any landed estate' (late 14c) (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Why isn't 'demesne' pronounced the way it's spelled? Our word actually began as demayn or demeyn in the 14th century, when it was borrowed from Anglo-French property law. At that time, the Anglo-French form was demeine. Later, the Anglo-French spelling changed to demesne, perhaps by association with another term from Anglo-French property law: mesne, meaning 'intermediate.' (Mesne has entered English as a legal term as well.) According to rules of French pronunciation, the 's' was silent and the vowel was long. English speakers eventually followed suit, adopting the 'demesne' spelling. Our word domain (which overlaps with the meaning of 'demesne' in some applications) also comes from Anglo-French demeine. (Merriam-Webster)
Rose and Bay Awards
31 January 2026 06:13 pmysabetwordsmithLast call! Today is the final day for nominations in the Rose and Bay Awards. If you haven't already made your nominations, do it now.
Food
31 January 2026 02:11 pmysabetwordsmithA quiet change in everyday foods could save thousands of lives
Tiny, invisible cuts in salt could quietly prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Lowering salt in everyday foods could quietly save lives. Researchers found that modest sodium reductions in bread, packaged foods, and takeout meals could significantly reduce heart disease and stroke rates in France and the U.K. The key advantage is that people would not need to alter their eating habits at all. Small changes to the food supply could deliver large, long-term health benefits.
This is one of those cases where it seems like a good idea at the time, but is not. You have to ask: Why is all that salt there in the first place? Two purposes: 1) It preserves food. 2) It belongs to a category of ingredients -- along with sugar, fat, artificial colors, etc. -- that covers up how terrible most mass-produced and especially ultraprocessed food is.
( Read more... )
Tiny, invisible cuts in salt could quietly prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Lowering salt in everyday foods could quietly save lives. Researchers found that modest sodium reductions in bread, packaged foods, and takeout meals could significantly reduce heart disease and stroke rates in France and the U.K. The key advantage is that people would not need to alter their eating habits at all. Small changes to the food supply could deliver large, long-term health benefits.
This is one of those cases where it seems like a good idea at the time, but is not. You have to ask: Why is all that salt there in the first place? Two purposes: 1) It preserves food. 2) It belongs to a category of ingredients -- along with sugar, fat, artificial colors, etc. -- that covers up how terrible most mass-produced and especially ultraprocessed food is.
( Read more... )
Isn't It Punny.....
31 January 2026 02:53 pmdisneydream06Jan 31st/Feb 1st...
Someone Broke Into My
House Last Night And
Stole My Limbo Stick.
How Low Can You Get?
Someone Broke Into My
House Last Night And
Stole My Limbo Stick.
How Low Can You Get?
Birdfeeding
31 January 2026 01:49 pmysabetwordsmithToday is cloudy and cold, spitting a few snowflakes.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows plus a male and a female cardinal separately.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/31/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I added more birdseed to the hopper feeder.
I've seen two starlings.
EDIT 1/31/26 -- I saw a female downy woodpecker at the suet cage.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows plus a male and a female cardinal separately.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/31/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I added more birdseed to the hopper feeder.
I've seen two starlings.
EDIT 1/31/26 -- I saw a female downy woodpecker at the suet cage.
I am done for the night.
Snowflake Challenge: Friending Meme
31 January 2026 12:17 pmysabetwordsmithSnowflake Challenge: Friending Meme
The post-Snowflake Friending Meme has been such a rousing success that we’ve made it a permanent fixture here at the Fandom Snowflake Challenge, so come and make some new friends!
Just copy and paste the template into a comment; include as much or as little info about yourself as you want.
After you've done that, go through and read other people's comments and either strike up a conversation here, or take your mutual interests to each other's journals and new, shiny friends.
See also the Snowflake Wrap-Up Post with a poll.
Names I go by:
ysabetwordsmith, Ysabet
Other Places I Can Be Found:
Livejournal: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/
My Websites: http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/
http://greenhaventradition.weebly.com/
The fannish platform(s) I am most active on is/are: Dreamwidth, LiveJournal, Weebly
The ways I find my Fandom Joy are: (writing, reading, reccing, betaing, cheerleading/prereading, art, podficcing, mixing, modding, graphics, fanvids, commenting, meta, filk, picspams, etc.)
writing, reading, reccing, reviewing, modding, commenting, meta
Link(s) to my Masterlist(s):
Articles and Essays
Books Written
Love Is For Children landing page
Serial Poetry page
Shared Worlds page
Note that my author site on Weebly is currently being updated, so new landing pages for series and threads are appearing.
I also put a lot of energy into communities. I make lists of active communities forfollowfriday. One of my recurring posts this year is Community Thursdays. I also run multiple communities:
allbingo hosts a new bingo fest each month. All formats and lengths, all fandoms and original works are welcome. Join us for the Valentines Bingo in February!
birdfeeding is all about birds. If you're into feeding, watching, photographing, drawing, or talking about birds then drop by. Some of us are also into fictional birds ("Crebain, from out of Dunland!") so there's already a tag for that.
crowdfunding is mainly for original work, but some folks welcome fannish prompts because they can use those for freebies. It runs a Creative Jam on the third weekend of each month. The February theme will be "Not Giving Up."
goals_on_dw supports New Year's resolutions and other goals. Currently the most popular is Fannish 50 with 52 participants, so check there to find links to fannish content. Do you post your fannish content here? Sign up for Full Content on Dreamwidth to grow your audience. The tag for signup posts has some for reading, writing, art, and nature goals along with Community Thursdays and other stuff. Additional masterlists appear in the sidebar.
newcomers offers many resources on how to use Dreamwidth and where to find things here. It helps new people get the hang of this platform in hopes that they'll stick around. Established users are welcome to join for supporting newcomers, so if you like making new friends and helping folks, come check it out. Have you written materials that explain how to use DW? You can link or repost them in this community. Do you want to help new users? Sign up for the Dreamwidth Welcommittee.
I'm also an administrator for some of The Freaks Club family of communities includingthefreaksclub, tfc_musicianships, and first_nations_freaks.
Fandom(s) I enjoy: The Avengers, Dragon Prince, Good Omens, Harry Potter, High Potential, Jurassic Park, Lucifer, Magnificent 7, Nimona, The Sentinel, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tolkien, X-Men.
My favorite people/characters in this/these fandom(s) are: I am pretty flexible about pairings and often like multiple characters per fandom.
Pairing(s)/grouping(s) I ship within this/these fandom(s) is/are: I particularly like teamfamily.
The type(s) of fanwork(s) I consume the most is/are:
(fic/podfic/art/mixes/graphics/fanvids/meta/filk/picspams/etc.)
Fiction, art, and meta. I like poetry when I can get it, too.
Fanwork tropes/clichés I enjoy are:
I listed a few favorite tropes here. I also enjoy afterlife, alien sex/gender dynamics, alpha / beta / omega, amnesia, anthropomorphic, asexuality / aromance, canon divergence / fork in the road, disabilities, enemies to friends/lovers, fixit, fluff, gen, hurt/comfort, genderbending, kink, mpreg, racebending, relationship repair, sedoretu, sex, skin hunger / touch aversion, soulmates / soulbonds, time travel, trauma and recovery, troll romance / quadrants, wingfic, and xenolinguistics.
Recs on Dreamwidth or sites other than AO3 are welcome for any of these: canon, fanwork, original, yours or anyone else's.
If you are into these things, a lot of them appear in my fanwork and original work.
The type(s) of fanwork(s) I consume the most is/are: (fic/podfic/art/mixes/graphics/fanvids/meta/filk/picspams/etc…)
Fanwork tropes/clichés I enjoy are:
Non-fandom things I enjoy: (hobbies, interests, job, etc.)
I am a professional wordsmith with writing, reviewing, editing, and other activities.
I enjoy activism, birdwatching, cooking, crafts, ethnic studies, gardening, gender studies, history, intentional community / neighboring, linguistics, magic, Paganism, science, spirituality, thinking, tikkun olam, and worldbuilding.
I love talking about big-picture issues and deep topics. I care about S-risks and X-risks. I never stopped asking "Why?" and "How does that work?"
I post/want to post mostly about:
* Reading (22,659 posts)
* Writing (21,144)
* Cyberfunded creativity (18,816)
* Poetry (16,722)
* Networking (14,504)
* Fishbowl (13,153)
* Fantasy (11,644)
* Weblit (8,006)
* News (7,948)
* Personal (7,486)
* Poem (7,358)
* Nature (7,252)
* Science fiction (6,686)
Other things I want to share about myself:
One thing I am good at: Language. I have a linguistic coprocessor in my head. It takes up space normally devoted to other stuff like facial recognition. But I can learn new sounds, hack any language I can hear or read, pick up words without half trying, write poetry in languages I don't actually speak, and build model languages for fun. I am linguistic SillyPutty.
Other things I want to share about myself: I fly my freak flag proudly. The mainstream has never been a good fit for me and is rapidly moving farther away. If you are a fellow freak and/or the mundanes frequently say you are not human, my blog is probably a good match for you. If you like the direction the world is going at present, you probably won't like my blog.
I post daily, often multiple times. If you are frustrated by low activity on Dreamwidth, here is an area of high activity. If you are easily overwhelmed, this may not be the blog for you.
The post-Snowflake Friending Meme has been such a rousing success that we’ve made it a permanent fixture here at the Fandom Snowflake Challenge, so come and make some new friends!
Just copy and paste the template into a comment; include as much or as little info about yourself as you want.
After you've done that, go through and read other people's comments and either strike up a conversation here, or take your mutual interests to each other's journals and new, shiny friends.
See also the Snowflake Wrap-Up Post with a poll.
Names I go by:
ysabetwordsmith, YsabetOther Places I Can Be Found:
Livejournal: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/
My Websites: http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/
http://greenhaventradition.weebly.com/
The fannish platform(s) I am most active on is/are: Dreamwidth, LiveJournal, Weebly
The ways I find my Fandom Joy are: (writing, reading, reccing, betaing, cheerleading/prereading, art, podficcing, mixing, modding, graphics, fanvids, commenting, meta, filk, picspams, etc.)
writing, reading, reccing, reviewing, modding, commenting, meta
Link(s) to my Masterlist(s):
Articles and Essays
Books Written
Love Is For Children landing page
Serial Poetry page
Shared Worlds page
Note that my author site on Weebly is currently being updated, so new landing pages for series and threads are appearing.
I also put a lot of energy into communities. I make lists of active communities for
followfriday. One of my recurring posts this year is Community Thursdays. I also run multiple communities:allbingo hosts a new bingo fest each month. All formats and lengths, all fandoms and original works are welcome. Join us for the Valentines Bingo in February!birdfeeding is all about birds. If you're into feeding, watching, photographing, drawing, or talking about birds then drop by. Some of us are also into fictional birds ("Crebain, from out of Dunland!") so there's already a tag for that.crowdfunding is mainly for original work, but some folks welcome fannish prompts because they can use those for freebies. It runs a Creative Jam on the third weekend of each month. The February theme will be "Not Giving Up."goals_on_dw supports New Year's resolutions and other goals. Currently the most popular is Fannish 50 with 52 participants, so check there to find links to fannish content. Do you post your fannish content here? Sign up for Full Content on Dreamwidth to grow your audience. The tag for signup posts has some for reading, writing, art, and nature goals along with Community Thursdays and other stuff. Additional masterlists appear in the sidebar.newcomers offers many resources on how to use Dreamwidth and where to find things here. It helps new people get the hang of this platform in hopes that they'll stick around. Established users are welcome to join for supporting newcomers, so if you like making new friends and helping folks, come check it out. Have you written materials that explain how to use DW? You can link or repost them in this community. Do you want to help new users? Sign up for the Dreamwidth Welcommittee.I'm also an administrator for some of The Freaks Club family of communities including
thefreaksclub, tfc_musicianships, and first_nations_freaks.Fandom(s) I enjoy: The Avengers, Dragon Prince, Good Omens, Harry Potter, High Potential, Jurassic Park, Lucifer, Magnificent 7, Nimona, The Sentinel, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tolkien, X-Men.
My favorite people/characters in this/these fandom(s) are: I am pretty flexible about pairings and often like multiple characters per fandom.
Pairing(s)/grouping(s) I ship within this/these fandom(s) is/are: I particularly like teamfamily.
The type(s) of fanwork(s) I consume the most is/are:
(fic/podfic/art/mixes/graphics/fanvids/meta/filk/picspams/etc.)
Fiction, art, and meta. I like poetry when I can get it, too.
Fanwork tropes/clichés I enjoy are:
I listed a few favorite tropes here. I also enjoy afterlife, alien sex/gender dynamics, alpha / beta / omega, amnesia, anthropomorphic, asexuality / aromance, canon divergence / fork in the road, disabilities, enemies to friends/lovers, fixit, fluff, gen, hurt/comfort, genderbending, kink, mpreg, racebending, relationship repair, sedoretu, sex, skin hunger / touch aversion, soulmates / soulbonds, time travel, trauma and recovery, troll romance / quadrants, wingfic, and xenolinguistics.
Recs on Dreamwidth or sites other than AO3 are welcome for any of these: canon, fanwork, original, yours or anyone else's.
If you are into these things, a lot of them appear in my fanwork and original work.
The type(s) of fanwork(s) I consume the most is/are: (fic/podfic/art/mixes/graphics/fanvids/meta/filk/picspams/etc…)
Fanwork tropes/clichés I enjoy are:
Non-fandom things I enjoy: (hobbies, interests, job, etc.)
I am a professional wordsmith with writing, reviewing, editing, and other activities.
I enjoy activism, birdwatching, cooking, crafts, ethnic studies, gardening, gender studies, history, intentional community / neighboring, linguistics, magic, Paganism, science, spirituality, thinking, tikkun olam, and worldbuilding.
I love talking about big-picture issues and deep topics. I care about S-risks and X-risks. I never stopped asking "Why?" and "How does that work?"
I post/want to post mostly about:
* Reading (22,659 posts)
* Writing (21,144)
* Cyberfunded creativity (18,816)
* Poetry (16,722)
* Networking (14,504)
* Fishbowl (13,153)
* Fantasy (11,644)
* Weblit (8,006)
* News (7,948)
* Personal (7,486)
* Poem (7,358)
* Nature (7,252)
* Science fiction (6,686)
Other things I want to share about myself:
One thing I am good at: Language. I have a linguistic coprocessor in my head. It takes up space normally devoted to other stuff like facial recognition. But I can learn new sounds, hack any language I can hear or read, pick up words without half trying, write poetry in languages I don't actually speak, and build model languages for fun. I am linguistic SillyPutty.
Other things I want to share about myself: I fly my freak flag proudly. The mainstream has never been a good fit for me and is rapidly moving farther away. If you are a fellow freak and/or the mundanes frequently say you are not human, my blog is probably a good match for you. If you like the direction the world is going at present, you probably won't like my blog.
I post daily, often multiple times. If you are frustrated by low activity on Dreamwidth, here is an area of high activity. If you are easily overwhelmed, this may not be the blog for you.
In The News.....
31 January 2026 10:10 amdisneydream06What a complete and total Asshole.
A big thank you to the owner of the Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul, Mn.
Comedian's 6 sold-out shows canceled after video of him mocking Renee Good went viral
Ben Bankas won't be performing at the Laugh Camp Comedy Club after all.
By Raechal Shewfelt
https://ew.com/comedian-ben-bankas-shows-canceled-after-viral-renee-good-jokes-11896636?tag=latestcatalog_ewk&hid=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&did=21733538-20260131&utm_campaign=ewk-dispatch_newsletter&utm_source=ewk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=013126&lctg=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&lr_input=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&utm_term=send1
A big thank you to the owner of the Laugh Camp Comedy Club in St. Paul, Mn.
Comedian's 6 sold-out shows canceled after video of him mocking Renee Good went viral
Ben Bankas won't be performing at the Laugh Camp Comedy Club after all.
By Raechal Shewfelt
https://ew.com/comedian-ben-bankas-shows-canceled-after-viral-renee-good-jokes-11896636?tag=latestcatalog_ewk&hid=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&did=21733538-20260131&utm_campaign=ewk-dispatch_newsletter&utm_source=ewk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=013126&lctg=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&lr_input=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&utm_term=send1
Interesting Links for 31-01-2026
31 January 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Council of Europe Assembly backs ban on conversion practices
- (tags:LGBT Europe rights GoodNews )
- 2. New forensic technique could be 'game changer' for solving sex crime cases (it can tell which body part DNA came from)
- (tags:dna assault forensics )
- 3. Putting solar panels on land used for biofuels would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks to go electric
- (tags:solarpower transport cars )
more spring flowers
31 January 2026 10:39 ambookscorpion posting in common_nature
my spring flowers are in full bloom now, and there's more to come still
Newcomers
31 January 2026 03:58 amysabetwordsmith posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promonewcomers is a community for people who are just getting started on Dreamwidth, in the tradition of twitter_refugees and reddit_refugees. This community supports former users of other platforms who are moving to Dreamwidth because their previous platform has become untenable or has closed. As such, it will increase activity with each wave of new users, in hopes of helping them get settled in Dreamwidth so they want to stick around. It also serves previous users returning after a long hiatus, people who want to do more with a Dreamwidth blog that was only intermittent, or anyone else who wants help connecting and figuring out how to use this venue.( Read more... )
New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals
31 January 2026 03:52 amysabetwordsmith posting in dw_community_promogoals_on_dw is a community for people who like goals and goal setting. A key focus is New Year's resolutions, that being among the most popular contexts for such activities. Although the most common time is January 1, "new year" can also refer to other calendars or cultures, whatever works for you. Alternatively, just pick a time that works for you and go for it. You can introduce yourself or make new friends here. We talk about different goal systems, pros and cons of resolutions, arts and crafts for tracking goals, human psychology, and more. You can share your resolutions or other goals. There are weekly check-in posts in January, and monthly ones in the rest of the year, for folks to talk about their accomplishments. December-January is the most active period, and it starts ramping up in November as lots of people begin thinking about their goals for the next year.
2026 Free Printable Calendars, Planners, and More is the guide post for this years goal-setting activities. For more details on relevant topics, see "Things You Can Talk About Here."
( Read more... )
Philosophical Questions: Intelligence
31 January 2026 01:27 amysabetwordsmithPeople have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.
I'm dropping in a different topic today. Recently I posted an article and a video about a cow performing versatile tool use. It turns out that cows also have prehensile tongues, and having a manipulatory appendage correlates with both tool use and intelligence. Does this information change how you feel about cows? How they should be treated? Your choices to use cow products such as milk, meat, and/or leather? Why or why not? Discuss.
I'm dropping in a different topic today. Recently I posted an article and a video about a cow performing versatile tool use. It turns out that cows also have prehensile tongues, and having a manipulatory appendage correlates with both tool use and intelligence. Does this information change how you feel about cows? How they should be treated? Your choices to use cow products such as milk, meat, and/or leather? Why or why not? Discuss.
Hypnopompic
31 January 2026 07:17 ampoliphilo Hypnagogic images are the ones that come to you when you're falling asleep and hypopompic images are the ones that come when you're waking up. I just asked Google because I can never remember which is which.
I always enjoy them.
Sometimes you get snatches of dream action or conversation. Sometimes you get a mental picture that flashes up and is gone. They're very hard to catch hold of. Try too hard and you risk kicking yourself back into a fully waking state.
This morning I saw some town in the middle East as it would have been at some time in the past- just a few square white-washed buildings in a rocky valley. Then I saw it as it would be now, with the skyline beyond the valley full of high-rises. The whole vision lasted about a second- or less. It was unconnected to anything before or after.
Where on Earth- or out of the Earth- do these things come from?
I always enjoy them.
Sometimes you get snatches of dream action or conversation. Sometimes you get a mental picture that flashes up and is gone. They're very hard to catch hold of. Try too hard and you risk kicking yourself back into a fully waking state.
This morning I saw some town in the middle East as it would have been at some time in the past- just a few square white-washed buildings in a rocky valley. Then I saw it as it would be now, with the skyline beyond the valley full of high-rises. The whole vision lasted about a second- or less. It was unconnected to anything before or after.
Where on Earth- or out of the Earth- do these things come from?
Recipe: "Thumbprint Cookies with Cornstarch"
30 January 2026 11:43 pmysabetwordsmithTonight I made thumbprint cookies. I'm still trying to find a recipe that I really like. The texture on the dough here is a bit fiddly, but they bake up well and taste good.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
New Year's Resolutions Check In
30 January 2026 05:28 pmysabetwordsmithWe have almost reached the end of January! \o/ By now, most New Year's resolutions that are going to hit roadblocks or fail completely have already done so. About 95% crash and burn before the end of January. If you're still going, you've passed the roughest part. If you're having trouble or you've given up, there are options.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Thoughts on the "Route for the third Edinburgh tram line"
30 January 2026 10:26 pmandrewduckerThere's been a bit of a fuss today about the unveiling of a third Edinburgh tram line route. And my thoughts about it aren't simple enough to stick into a link title, so I thought I'd ramble a little.
Firstly, it seems to me that this is not a council announcement of anything. The map is plastered with the repeated word "concept". It contains both Picardy Place and York Place (Picardy Place was created when York Place was removed, when the tram extension was carried out in 2023). I've seen discussions that it's based on an old version of the existing routes taken from Wikipedia.
The source is a Scotsman article, rather than a council publication. And even then the coverage is mostly taken from a speech given at the Rail in Scotland conference - where the council's transport convener said he "was excited at taking a closer look" - but it's not the main priority. Certainly there's nothing on the council's news page mentioning it.
So I'm not convinced that this is more than a "Here's an interesting possibility"
Secondly, I'm not convinced it's viable financially. Which isn't to say that trams, in general, can't be worthwhile. If Edinburgh hadn't badly botched the construction of the first tram line then it would be well in profit now. But that tram line runs from one of the most densely populated parts of the city (Leith Walk) to one of the business hubs (Gyle and Gogar), through some of the most touristy stretches (Princes Street).
Much though I love the idea of a tram that literally stops in my road and goes to both the airport and Portobello, nearly the whole route is low-density. The bus route that is closest to it is the 38, which is so low-use outside of rush hour that it's a single-decker that has to be subsidised.
Admittedly, it's cheaper to build than a new tram line, as it's mostly a question of re-using the old train line. But I'd like to see a concrete business case for it, that checked that the number of potential users would support running tram-trains along that route.
Firstly, it seems to me that this is not a council announcement of anything. The map is plastered with the repeated word "concept". It contains both Picardy Place and York Place (Picardy Place was created when York Place was removed, when the tram extension was carried out in 2023). I've seen discussions that it's based on an old version of the existing routes taken from Wikipedia.
The source is a Scotsman article, rather than a council publication. And even then the coverage is mostly taken from a speech given at the Rail in Scotland conference - where the council's transport convener said he "was excited at taking a closer look" - but it's not the main priority. Certainly there's nothing on the council's news page mentioning it.
So I'm not convinced that this is more than a "Here's an interesting possibility"
Secondly, I'm not convinced it's viable financially. Which isn't to say that trams, in general, can't be worthwhile. If Edinburgh hadn't badly botched the construction of the first tram line then it would be well in profit now. But that tram line runs from one of the most densely populated parts of the city (Leith Walk) to one of the business hubs (Gyle and Gogar), through some of the most touristy stretches (Princes Street).
Much though I love the idea of a tram that literally stops in my road and goes to both the airport and Portobello, nearly the whole route is low-density. The bus route that is closest to it is the 38, which is so low-use outside of rush hour that it's a single-decker that has to be subsidised.
Admittedly, it's cheaper to build than a new tram line, as it's mostly a question of re-using the old train line. But I'd like to see a concrete business case for it, that checked that the number of potential users would support running tram-trains along that route.