Carlisle Enterprise Centre

An interesting old art deco building which seems to have been a factory or something originally (did someone suggest it had been a power station?) and which has now been given a new lease of life, Carlisle Enterprise Centre stands on the banks of the River Caldew below Nelson Bridge, and is the sort of building quite easily overlooked if you don't have to go there for some reason. This is where the course I've been going to is being held. Inside it's full of corridors and fire doors and confusing corners and signs, but you gradually get the layout in your head, and stop getting lost on the trip between the classroom and the loos.

It reminds me of Portobello Pool, or at least the building at the end of it, inside which there was a big cafeteria smelling of chips and with water and detritus all over the floor. I hated going in there in my bare feet, straight out of the water, as you'd end up stepping in squashed chips or pools of spilt Coke. But from outside it looked great, and could easily pass for the long-lost brother of Carlisle Enterprise Centre.Unfortunately Edinburgh City Council didn't think this fine old edifice worth preserving, and all that's left is memories and photos like this.

I keep winning bottles of wine - well, small bottles of wine, but still. Gees. . . it's embarrassing being a smartarse . . . Mind you, if they'd had incentives like this at school I suspect a lot of people would have done a lot better than they did. We had to buy our own booze back then, for heavens' sake!