This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

There are businesses on my street still living with the aftershock of what the tramworks meant for them, as well as others, residents as well as business owners, who left the area.

But for me, much of the pain has evaporated. The years of Heras fencing and wall-shaking works outside my door feels like a distant childbirth, conveniently lost in a cloud of amnesia.

I like using this childbirth metaphor with regard to the trams - though I realise it only stretches so far and I’m well aware that, with childbirth as with tram birth, some experiences are more traumatic than others. To understand the reactions to the current City of Edinburgh Council proposals, you have to take on board the city’s 'hell on wheels' tram building past.

Many felt, you could say, let down by the midwives and obstetricians - especially Transport Initiatives Edinburgh.

What they were crying out for, and needed, was a little more gas and air - or for the whole ordeal........

© Herald Scotland