Ten Questions: David Anson

DAVID ANSON, 57, a tour guide, lives in Stenhouse. He has retired as band secretary with The Royal Scots Association Pipe Band

1 What is your earliest memory of Edinburgh? Getting off the train, coming up Waverley Steps late at night aged about 26, and looking down Princes Street. It was between Christmas and New Year so all the lights were on, the Castle was illuminated and so was the Bank of Scotland building – it just took my breath away.

2 What are your memories of school? I was at Swanwick Hall Grammar School in Derbyshire. They were all very good memories. It was a typical 1960s grammar school, so they were very strict on things like uniforms. The headmaster who founded it had run a medium-sized public school, so the general ethos was a bit like Tom Brown's Schooldays.

3 Where is your favourite place in Edinburgh and why? The Braids, where you can look down and see the rear view of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags and away over to Fife. I love that view.

4 What are the best things about Edinburgh? I just fell in love with it when I first came here – the buildings, the history, the people.

5 What would you change about the city? I would put a stop to a lot of the abominations that people are building for money and not for quality. I can't imagine any other historic city around the world that would let people come in and mess the place about the way we do in Edinburgh.

6 Describe a perfect Edinburgh day/night out. A nice meal with my wife in one of the small restaurants in the New Town, a stroll through Edinburgh and walking down Castle Street to see the Castle floating in the sky.

7 Which sports interest you? Rugby, rugby and if I'm fed up with that, rugby.

8 What was your most embarrassing moment? I was once working in a kilt shop and a New Zealand lady walked down the shop, mistook me for a mannequin and tried to satisfy her curiosity about what people wear under their kilt. When she realised I was real, I can't say she was impressed, but she was certainly embarrassed!

9 What is your greatest achievement? Marrying Helen and having the three sons that I've got – Euan, Calum and Cameron.

10 Sum up Edinburgh in three words. Class without snobbery.