When I first landed on this side of the globe in 1998, I spent quite a bit of time in Scotland. I kept drifting back to the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, which had a mysterious kind of hold on me. It was something to do with the gothic feel of the city, assisted by the mists which often lasted all day, clinging to the granite buildings and the cobbled Royal Mile.

When I returned for a one-day visit in October 2002, which was then these pictures were taken, the sun was out and the place seemed less oppressive than I remembered it.