A favourite new Edinburgh pastime is bemoaning the cost of a cup of coffee. Listening to complainers - who include me - is like going to an auction, with each contribution upping the ante. A once-shocking £3.60 is trounced by £3.80, which loses position swiftly to £4.20 and then – the horror! - £4.40. There are even rumours of a £6 cappuccino somewhere in the city centre, although nobody I’ve spoken to has personally encountered this, nor knows if it comes with shortbread.

If you think such a preoccupation sounds trivial you are sadly mistaken. Coffee is not just one of the keystone pleasures of an Edinburgher’s life; it is also a barometer of prices in the capital. When a shot of caffeine and a humble scone swallow up a tenner - or, as I was recently startled to find, considerably more - what must you pay for a sit-down lunch? Or a hotel bed?

Next week, when I’m festivalling, I was hoping to spend a couple of nights in my favourite New Town hostelry. It’s characterful rather than luxe, but comfortable and friendly, with a view over leafy Queen Street Gardens on one side and the Firth of Forth on the other. Having seen the rates, however, I closed my laptop and waited until my head stopped spinning. Two nights, without breakfast, on August 6 and 7, would set me back £830. I could take a taxi home to the Borders on both evenings and still be hundreds of pounds to the good.

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