Dell Directory April 2021

April 2021

THE DELL DIRECTORY

WINE TASTING:

THE SEASONAL TOUCH:

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES OF THE

BIG

PLUS: the new normal, LYNNE'S COLUMN, health, Puzzles, and much more inside!

THE DELL DIRECTORY

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he magazine has spring-like feel this month – here’s hoping that the feeling of spring, new life and hope all translate into our real-life experience now as we gradually head back to normality. Lynn’s Seasonal Touch column looks at the whys and wherefores of our big spring clean traditions.

For some, the pandemic means financial hardship, but help is on hand – an article from CAP Edinburgh West Debt Centre on page 8 gives information on where you can find help if you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed by debt. It’s a free service.

Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled are looking for help and have informaton on page 31 on how you can help just via some of your everyday activities. Suzanne’s New Normal will make you smile, although with hairdressers opening again this month (yay!) this particular aspect of the new normal may become just a fond memory!

Wishing all readers and customers a happy Easter – make sure you check out the wine recommendation column on page 24 before you do your shopping for Easter lunch!

Thanks for reading The Dell Directory and supporting local businesses and organisations.

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THIS ISSUE Charity: Debt Counselling, always hope................................................................. 8 Health: Shoulder Pain – Is it your Rotator Cuff?.................................................10 Ask Your Pharmacist: Stress Awareness.................................................... 11 Interiors: The whys and wherefores of the big spring clean................................18 Wine Tasting: Lamb and wine at Easter time....................................................24 Local Environment: Common Frogs.........26 Lynne’s column: Easing Back...................33 The New Normal: When things get hairy!..............................................................34 Puzzles..........................................................38

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Debt Counselling The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to push many more people into financial difficulty. If you, or anyone you know, is experiencing the pressure of unmanageable debt, free help is available.

Help is available please give CAP a call and let them help you get your life back on track.

Book an appointment with CAP by calling Freephone 0800 328 0006 or visit capscotland.org You can also contact Melanie by email: melaniekilburn@capuk.org

The CAP Edinburgh West Debt Centre is run by Holy Trinity Church, serving people in the west side of the city and West Lothian. Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a UK debt counselling charity and is passionate about helping people from all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and faiths.

CAP Debt Centre Manager Melanie Kilburn explains “Sometimes people feel they have made mistakes but very often they have been driven into debt by suffering from job loss, relationship breakdown or coping with illness in the family or a bereavement – situations that are often difficult, emotional and have a financial impact.”

TV’s Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has described CAP as “unsurpassed” in its in-depth service which encourages and supports each household to repay what they owe - or go through an insolvency until the day they are debt free.

The local debt centre works with each person until they become debt free.

Meanwhile CAP’s head office specialists negotiate with creditors, create a budget and provide ongoing technical support.

If you know things are out of control and you’re stressed, missing meals or sleep, 8 | THE DELL

Lifting the weight of debt in Scotland Free debt advice and personal support in Edinburgh & West Lothian.

Book your free appointment

0800 328 0006 capscotland.org

In partnership with Holy Trinity Church, Wester Hailes and supported by funding from the Scottish Government. Charity Registered No: 1097217 (England & Wales), SC038776 (Scotland).

CAP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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HEALTH

Meet Colinton Village Pharmacy's new Prescription Collection Point,TAM

The latest pharmacy team member is our ‘Pharmaself24’. That’s quite a mouthful so we call him TAM for short (Truly Amazing Machine). If you haven’t met him yet pop along to the pharmacy at 46a Bridge Road and take a look!

If you have a regular, or one-off, prescription taken to the pharmacy, or collected by us from your GP, the medicines, prepared in the dispensary, can be collected from TAM any time, day or night, any day of the week. As soon as your medication is loaded into TAM, you will receive a 6-digit pin code in a phone message, which will give you access to pick up from the machine. You can sign up for this service in the pharmacy or click the ‘sign up’ button on the Colinton Village Pharmacy Facebook page or on

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our website: www.colintonpharmacy.co.uk TAM was made in Italy for a UK company called Hub&Spoke Innovations.

We met them via Colinton based company Edinpharm Ltd, who share our building.

Edinpharm, founded by a group of independent Community Pharmacists, is a membership, non-profit group, with a big picture vision of pharmacy in the future.

It is such a fantastic addition to our services, especially for lockdown, allowing people to collect their medicines without having to come into contact with others. Or, other family members, who can’t get to the pharmacy during opening hours, can pick up meds for them later…..or earlier.

This article was contributed by Colinton Village Pharmacy

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HEALTH

Shoulder pain will affect 10% of us at some time in our life and can be caused by several things. It may be referred from an irritated nerve in the neck, may be a “Frozen shoulder” due to an adhesive capsulitis or may be what is now called Rotator Cuff Related Shoulder Pain (RCRSP).

The Rotator Cuff is the group of four muscles that surround the shoulder joint. They work together to control shoulder movement and allow us to get our hand into a huge range of different positions from reaching up to a top shelf, to scratching that irritating itch in the middle of our back. These muscles are Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Subscapularis and Teres Minor and if the tendons that attach these muscles onto the bone at the shoulder are damaged, then you have RCRSP. This damage may be an acute tear sustained in a fall or accident, it may be a degenerative tear to the tendons due to the wear and tear process of aging or it may be tendinopathy where the tendons are irritated but there is not a tear. This condition used to be called either “Impingement Syndrome” or “Sub-Acromial Pain Syndrome” but has been changed to better reflect what we now know about shoulder function.

RCRSP can occur at any age but is most common between 40 - 64 and it is generally considered to be an overuse injury – the tendons are irritated by a sudden increase in load that they are not used to. Something to remember when you suddenly decide to tackle the Spring Cleaning or tidy the garden. You are best to spread the new load over several days, or even a week depending on your fitness levels, to help prevent your tendons from becoming irritated.

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Occupations such as painters and window cleaners with a job that demands lots of overhead arm use are at risk of this condition.

However, we also know that being less physically active can be an issue too as weak shoulder muscles cannot control movement properly leading to irritated tendons.

RCRSP is managed by simple things such as changing day-to-day activities to help pain settle. Pain medication from your Pharmacist or GP can help while the tendon heals.

Physiotherapy has an important role to play in the diagnosis and management of shoulder pain. Your therapist will work with you to take a full history, carry out a detailed examination to determine the tendons affected and set a targeted rehabilitation programme to get your shoulder back to full strength. We Physios would expect to see better function and reduced pain in about 12 weeks with rehab but we also know that other health conditions such as Diabetes may slow this down.

Our shoulders are wonderful joints that allow us to move in so many different ways. If you think that your Rotator Cuff muscles and tendons are letting you down, do seek advice.

You do not need to put up with the pain.

The health column is contributed by McNaughton Physiogrange, Edinburgh www.physiogrange.co.uk @KonectMagazines

ASK YOUR PHARMACIST

Although we won’t be venturing far from home this Easter, it’s a good time to take stock of your family’s health and who better to help than your friendly community pharmacy team at Lindsay & Gilmour?

Whether you want to talk to someone about managing seasonal allergies, stock up your medicine cupboard as the children go back to school or just discuss your prescriptions with one of our highly trained Pharmacists, we are always here for you.

Did you know that April is Stress Awareness Month? We don’t need to look too far to see how stress can affect us all just now so why not chat to one of our team for some simple steps to help you cope. We have safe, friendly private consultation rooms available in most of our pharmacies and operate all our premises strictly in line with COVID regulations.

Please remember our expert team are on hand

to support with treatment for many minor illnesses and common health complaints without the need for a GP appointment. This is thanks to the recently introduced NHS Scotland Pharmacy First service at all of Lindsay & Gilmour’s central Edinburgh branches.

We can also help you take any stress out of ordering your repeat prescriptions. Our free online app makes it quick and easy to order and track repeat prescriptions at the touch of a button. We can also delivery them to your door, free of charge. Just visit our website for more details: lindsayandgilmour.co.uk For more information on Stress Awareness Month please visit: nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/stress Please note: Our pharmacy opening hours are NOT affected by the current government restrictions. You will find details of our opening hours here lindsayandgilmour.co.uk/location Your nearest branch and Pharmacists: 18-20 Comiston Road, 0131 447 2336

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After many months of winter, the earth finally tilts towards the sun again.

Spring is definitely in the air and our thoughts may well turn towards a bit of spring cleaning.

The urge to freshen things up just now is the natural way of things. During long, dark, winter months, our bodies produce more of the sleep hormone, melatonin, and energy levels are low. Now, as daylight hours increase, lethargy lessens. Spring flowers bloom and we feel the urge to inject that same fresh feeling into our homes.

History, along with religious and cultural festivals around the Easter period, all play their part in the big spring clean too. One theory harks back to Jewish customs around Passover (which marks the exodus of Jews from Egypt). Egyptian slaves, which included many Jews, were fed yeast-free bread.

Subsequently, this type of bread came to symbolise the struggle they had overcome and it was seen as ungrateful to have any trace of bread made with yeast in the home during passover. It was customary to clean the home from top to bottom, scouring out every last crumb.

Here in the UK the big spring clean probably has much more practical origins. Until modern day, winter months saw a continuous build-up of soot and grime from coal fires and gas lamps. Children playing in unpaved, muddy streets plus family members working in factories and down mines, all trekked dirt 18 | THE DELL

into homes. When spring came, so too did the ‘deep clean’. Doors and windows would be flung open allowing the fresh breezes to blow through.

Spring’s arrival is undoubtedly a chance to rejoice in rebirth and revival, not least in Persian culture where it marks the official start of the new year and their 13 day ‘Nowruz’ or ‘New Day’ celebrations. There’s feasting, a focus on renewing bonds with family and friends, the buying of new clothes (this one I like!) and cleaning. They embrace a tradition called ‘Khane Tekani’ which literally translated means ‘shaking the house’. With roots in religious beliefs around the importance of cleanliness, Khane Tekani sees all manner of decluttering, carpet cleaning, painting, decorating and general ‘shaking up’ the place. It’s also their way of following the ancient Feng Shui principal of releasing negativity and generating fresh energy - and who doesn’t need some of that right now?

The Seasonal Touch column is contributed by Lynn McMurray, Balerno resident and enthusiast of all things ‘home,’ serving the local community and beyond with her home & gift business The Seasonal Touch. www.theseasonaltouch.co.uk @KonectMagazines

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WINE TASTING

LAMB AND WINE AT

Easter Time

Lamb is an Easter lunch tradition in our family and an opportunity to open a beautiful bottle of wine. Thought and effort goes into the selection, preparation and presentation of the meal and your wine pairing deserves some consideration.

Don’t grab the first bottle of wine you find! The right wine can complement your cooking and elevate a dining experience. The question is, how do you select the right wine?

The cut of meat and method of cooking influence the flavour and texture of the meal. Roast shoulder of lamb with rosemary, garlic and a crust of seasoning requires a very different wine to delicate, rare, tender lamb cutlets with spring greens. The key to selecting the right wine

is to consider the weight of the food and pair it with a similar weighted wine.

For tender, delicate Spring lamb served rare, I recommend pairing with a young, light to medium bodied Pinot Noir. Bright cherry and fresh berry fruit, a subtle touch of oak and hint of spice. The tannic structure will be gentle and not dominate the palate. I recommend Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2017, Louis Latour from Majestic Wine at £11.99.

Slow roasted leg or shoulder of lamb is a weightier, richer dish and needs an equally heavy wine to compliment it. I suggest Rioja Reserva ‘Gran Bohedal’ Bodegas Bohedal 2014 from de-burgh.com at £16.99. Look for black cherry and cassis fruit character, tobacco, leather and cedar notes from long oak aging on the nose. The nose is beautiful and complex. The tannins detected on the palate are sophisticated and provide texture that will stand up to the roast lamb. The slightly elevated acidity cuts through the fat of roast lamb. Open or decant an hour before you serve and serve at room temperature.

Remember to swirl the wine around your glass to further open and develop the character of the wine. Cheers!

How do you select the right wine?

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The monthly wine tasting column is contributed

by Joanne Frette. Joanne lives in Juniper Green with her 3 children. She is a Sommelier Wine & Spirit Specialist who runs Swirl Sip Socialise, an online wine tasting business which connects friends and family across the UK. @KonectMagazines

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LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

Common Frogs In Miracle on 34th Street, one of the children asks Santa for a “Peter Polliwog” and I never had any idea what that meant. It turns out, it’s the American word for tadpoles!

Spring is definitely in the air, and one of the sure signs is the appearance of common frog spawn in everything from ponds to puddles.

It takes about 4 months for tadpoles to turn in to froglets, after the female lays nearly 4000 eggs each spring!

Though common frogs don’t hibernate as such, they are starting to be seen more regularly and it creates quite the spectacle as they climb over each other trying to find the best partner.

This fancy looking frog was seen last March at Little Boghead Nature Reserve in Bathgate.

The bogs are surrounded by boardwalks, allowing you some close up views all whilst keeping the resident frogs safe.

In urban areas, it’s not uncommon to find frogs in your garden, and they’re normally lurking under rocks or in shaded areas (or 26 | THE DELL

under tarpaulin like my neighbour)! If you’re getting the garden ready for Summer, it’s important to keep your eye out for frogs who’ve sought refuge throughout the winter.

Whilst they’ll likely head for ponds or other water sources at this time of year, if you do find frog spawn please don’t move it as it can increase the risk of spreading non-native plant species or amphibian diseases and you may overload the new home with froglets.

This column is contributed by Clare Harte and Kate Stevenson, who grew up in Edinburgh and now live in West Lothian.

Together they run Scottish Sisters Photography and travel around the country to watch and photograph amazing wildlife and scenic landscapes. Follow them on Facebook @ScottishSistersPhotography

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RAVELRIG RIDING FOR THE DISABLED Life at Ravelrig has almost ground to a halt with COVID restrictions and extreme weather. The horses continue to be cared for by volunteers on a rota basis and all are in good health. With the hint of Government Restrictions being eased in the near future, we are looking forward to bringing them back into work and welcoming the return of riders.

The usual fundraising events cannot happen but there are two ways the community can support our cause if they so wish.

• The first is THE RAG BAG, a facility to donate clothing, bedding, bags and shoes by placing them in the box situated just inside our gates at 21 Ravelrig Gait or in our box in the car park at the Riccarton Arms Hotel, Currie • Alternatively call 0131 449 7994 and we would be more than happy to uplift donations • The second is the CO-OP LOCAL COMMUNITY FUND of which Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled is one of the charities of their choice this year. By signing up for a Membership Card, every time you purchase selected ‘own-brand’ products and services at the Co-op, 2p in every £1 goes back into the community. In addition, 2p in every £1 will also go into your own Co-op Membership account, for you to spend on your next visit to the store. Pennies make pounds! Please choose RDA as the local cause you wish to support. Help to distribute flyers would be welcomed

All support from the community is very much appreciated.

Registered Charity No: SC 028670

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Easing Back

April will see the very welcome, gradual return to something more like the “normal” lives we used to enjoy pre-Covid. At time of writing, the signs look promising and the plans are in place for hairdressers to re-open (yay!) along with non-essential retail, beer gardens (double yay!) and some easing of restrictions on meeting family and friends.

What a year it has been for everyone. Few could have imagined this time last year that we’d only be tentatively emerging from lockdown now. Yet what a long way we have come to be at this point, where a successful vaccination programme will be our ticket back to normality.

My own memories of this time are, rather selfishly I know, not all bad. I will be eternally grateful for having been able to work from home throughout this pandemic alongside my husband. Having teenage children meant that home-schooling was less about the burden of actually trying to teach them things but more about the anguish of endless daily wake up calls before propping laptops in front of weary, pale-skinned faces at some time that vaguely resembled morning. And we finally succumbed to our family’s relentless demands by getting a puppy in October of last year – something that would definitely not have happened had we all been going out to school and work each day.

In the early days of lockdown last year, we enjoyed family walks for the first time in what seemed like ages, much to my delight. Our enthusiasm to walk together waxed and waned a bit as time went on but we managed to pull some sort of family time together most days – a few quiz questions or the occasional board game in the evenings and a daily flopping together on the sofa to watch TV. The Mandalorian, @KonectMagazines

Atypical, Stranger Things, Sherlock, Schitt’s Creek and Still Game all became mainstays of our evening routine – latterly with an ever-growing puppy snoring on the floor or the sofa alongside us.

I’m still slightly envious of those people who have achieved so much more during this time. My walls remain unpainted, my cupboards are still badly in need of decluttering and my knitting bag still contains some small squares that were started but never quite made into those cute little Easter bunnies I saw on Pinterest. My house and garden actually look much worse than they did this time last year, chiefly courtesy of the giant puppy. Yet I’ve never felt quite so “at home” as I have whilst reminiscing about this time.

I’m definitely looking forward to increased freedom and having more choices in the not-too-distant future. The idea of enjoying drinks in The Spylaw and The Colinton Inn beer gardens on a Spring afternoon is more than appealing. But I also hope that the feeling of home and of enjoying the simpler pleasures in life will never leave me.

Lynne lives in Colinton with her husband and two children. She dreams of being a freelance writer when she grows up but mostly just avoids growing up!

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THE NEW NORMAL

When things get hairy When it comes to lockdown hair care, I’ve seen various responses on the ‘panic to peace’ spectrum.

Some women say the closure of hair salons gave them the push they needed to let their hair go grey. Others have been traumatised by being cut off from their stylist. They’ve hidden themselves away indoors (not difficult!) or taken to wearing a hat.

And what about haircuts? Unless you are fortunate enough to live with a stylist, my guess is that, like me, you’ve let your hair grow – with the exception of the fringe. After all, we have to be able see the folk on Zoom calls.

Men are not always happy to just let it grow.

So far, despite my fervent protests, my husband has persuaded me to cut his hair twice. It’s not that I don’t enjoy cutting – I do.

But I’ve never been trained to cut hair. I could do damage.

I still remember what my Barbie doll looked like after I gave her a trim. Because she had a rather boyish figure, I decided to cut her hair short so my other Barbie would have a boyfriend. The result was frightful, and the other doll refused to be seen with her/him!

In 2020 I dutifully sent off for haircutting scissors and watched many online tutorials, again and again, about cutting men’s hair.

But my husband’s hair never looked like that of the tutorial model. During the first haircut, I gasped when I noticed I’d removed too much hair behind his ear. Fortunately, when I let his ear flap back, the mistake was hidden. Then I alternated between cutting very, very slowly 34 | THE DELL

and happily snipping away! Meanwhile my husband told me where he planned to go on holiday, and chatted about his kids. When it was time to pay, he said I’d done a good job, but hadn’t taken enough off.

My mum-in-law doesn’t have to be coerced to give Dad a haircut. She tells him it’s happening, and he complies. Sometimes, when we’re on Zoom with them following a haircut, Dad complains about what his stylist has done to him. “Tough,” says Mum. “It will grow back.”

My youngest daughter is not afraid to cut hair.

Way before the pandemic, when she was in nursery, I was met by a staff member at the door one day. Holding a little bag of hair, she told me, “We’ve had an incident today.”

Thankfully, there were no other body parts to show me.

She explained that my daughter had given her friend a trim. Horrified, I offered to bake a pie for the girl’s mum, who was very nice about the missing patch of hair. On the way home I asked my daughter if her friend had encouraged her. “What did she say when you started cutting?”

“She said, ‘Stop, stop!’”

“So why didn’t she just walk away?” I asked.

“Because,” said my little girl, “I was sitting on her chest.

The New Normal is contributed by Suzanne Green. Suzanne, a freelance writer/editor.

She is married to Andy and they have two adult daughters. @KonectMagazines

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PUZZLES

CROSSWORD

^^^ Solution in the May edition ACROSS: 1. Jewels (4), 3. Allowed in (8), 9. Worried (7), 10. Annoy (5), 11. Fading away (12), 13. Deny (6), 15. Interfere (6), 17. Directions (12), 20. Ships load (5), 21. Vital part of healthy diet (7), 22. Enjoyed (8), 23. Repair (4).

DOWN: 1. Protecting (8), 2. Blends (5), 4. Dismiss (6), 5. Crossroad (12), 6. Taught (7), 7. Deceased (4),8. Contests (12), 12. Flavoured (8), 14. Army rank (7), 6. Flexible (6), 18. Overweight (5), 19. Mark left by wound (4)

^^^ Solution in the May edition

SUDOKU

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