Once a year Kirkcaldy Prom gets taken over for just over a week by what is known as the Links Market. It’s a name that’s now inappropriate. While it was once apparently a market, with stalls selling clothes and such, now it’s nothing more than a travelling fair.

The locals seem to think it’s a big thing. (Well it does claim the distinction of being Europe’s longest street fair.) Local children apparently save up all year for the opportunity to splurge all their cash within an hour or so. The football authorities also make sure Raith Rovers do not have a home game on the relevant Saturday. (Policing implications, doncha know. And Stark’s Park is only a long stone’s throw from the south end of the Prom.)

It even attracts interest from folks who live in Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline – “Ur ye goin’ tae the Links, sur?” – and probably Methil and Leven for all I know.

It’s actually a bit of a nuisance. Quite apart from the phenomenon known as market weather (or bucketing down as it is also called – mercifully suspended for this year, although it did rain overnight and earlier today) the road along the prom is closed off for the duration – plus a few days either side for setting up and taking down the rides – which leads to congestion on neighbouring streets, not to mention the fact that right now the air outside my house is thick with the amplified sounds of the fairground (even though the Prom is a few hundred metres away and they’re supposed to turn the volume down on Sundays.)

I’ve said before how boring Kirkcaldy prom usually is. This is a picture taken from the south end on a dreich day.

Here’s a photo taken today from near the same spot.

“The Market” might be a relatively big travelling fair but the fuss the locals make anyone would think no other town ever had a “Shows” (as we used to call them in Dumbarton – two a year, April and August, held on Dumbarton Common) turn up on their doorstep. Hell, Burntisland – only 4 miles from Kirkcaldy – has a permanent fairground site – at least during the summer months.

Still it’s only up and running Wednesday to Monday. Everything’ll be back to normal in a couple of days.

A minor piece of deco this one. I think it used to be a bank at one time. It’s mainly the upper story styling that marks it out.

The windows are typical of the thirties. They might even not have been replaced though there is a hint of plastic about them. If they have it’s been done sympathetically.

Nice deco fanlight, too.

A while back I mentioned the Coptic Church in Kirkcaldy.

It’s in Links Street, in a part of the burgh known as Linktown, which used to be a separate entity but in 1876 was amalgamated into the Lang Toun along with three other burghs and, subsequently, Dysart.

The building is now known as St Mark’s. I suppose it was previously a Church of Scotland kirk of some description.

Further along Links Street are some newly built houses on one of which is a mural.

There is also an explanatory panel whose photo I have expanded to make it readable.

Still on Links Street, but nearer Kirkcaldy proper, is another church which has had its usage changed. It’s now a play centre for young children; birthday parties and such.

Well, not that one anyway.

The Woolies store in Kirkcaldy was L-shaped. The back part was the first to be taken over: by clothes retailer Peacocks – now looking like they’re in administration themselves what with the 70% off signs for their January sales. They moved in a few months ago.

Relatively recently the other part of the Woolies shop – which had originally been a Tesco’s before they took over William Low’s and moved their operation to the Low’s site in the Postings shopping area – morphed into something called Home Bargains, which is best described as Woolies with added food.

The half-price sale sign on the right edge of the picture is actually for a JJB Sports shop which is up some stairs and in which I’ve not set foot.

The Mercat is an indoor mall, hence the darkness of the photos, taken as they were around 5pm on a winter’s evening.

Edited to add:- Peacock’s isn’t in administration, just having a sale.

I came downstairs yesterday morning to a sparser covering of snow in the garden and streets almost clear of snow and ice.

Despite some patches of overlying water that had not been there on Saturday the pond in the park was still almost compleletely frozen, though, and skaters and hockeyists were still plying their skills.

This may not be true for much longer.

Well, a snow that lies more than a day or so is a rarity in these parts. It’s getting on for three weeks now and a further covering arrived this morning.

I finally got to the park today, to see the goings on.

A nice tribute to the human spirit that so much activity was taking place and fun being had in the face of what others were moaning about.

It wasn’t worth the council’s time erecting this sign.

Not quite a bonspiel but the local curlers were enjoying themselves.

An ice hockey game with a goal cobbled together from bits of wood.

The last saloon in town. The inlet to the pond has kept enough water moving to stop it freezing here. The gulls were making a nuisance of themselves.

There were lots of skaters about too. All the revellers had had to brush the snow off the ice to get started.

This is the fountain further into the park. There was still water flowing from it despite the cold.

I know Christmas starts in about August for some shops (especially with the Children’s Annuals coming out then) but most nowadays have the decency to get at least Halloween, if not Bonfire Night, out of the way before setting out the bunting and the baubles.

(That’s the only bonus about the commercialisation of Halloween. It fends off Christmas for a bit. When I was a lad there wasn’t much “ghostly” tat, apart from perhaps paper masks or witches’ hats, on sale in the run up to All Hallows Eve. Certainly no pumpkins and none of the peculiar orange and black creations that seem to be the marker these days. We had our guising costumes made for us by the sweat of mother’s brow – or sewing fingers.)

In Kirkcaldy, Santa visits the Mercat and the town’s Christmas lights are switched on halfway through November but at least the latter has some point to it, as it brightens up the dark winter afternoons.

Yesterday, though, the 27^th of November, in my local corner shop I saw for sale not Christmas stuff, oh no, but creme eggs.

Creme eggs! In November. The leftovers from last Easter have barely cleared away.

It takes all the anticipation away.

Year round creme eggs. It’s just not right.

I took these photos on Sunday afternoon (Remembrance Day.) The wreaths from the morning’s memorial service are prominent. Among the wreaths from the local Council and councillor and various military and civilian organisations there was one from the US Marine Corps.

Kirkcaldy War Memorial on Remembrance Day 2009.
This part contains the (huge) list of names for the First World War. The War Memorial Gardens surround the memorial itself and are mostly behind from where this photo was taken.

The central memorial pillar has bronzes on it displaying soldiers, seamen and airmen, ships, aircraft, airships etc. In this respect it resembles larger memorials I have seen such as the one in Plymouth (which is mainly dedicated to naval personnel.)

The building beyond the memorial contains Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery and was built with money donated from the linoleum manufacturer family Nairn as part of the memorial to the dead of WW1.

Built after 1945, this is to the right of the WW1 memorial and lists the names for the Second World War dead.

This is to the right of the WW2 memorial and is a relatively recent addition. It provides a place for individual memorial poppies, as you can see, and also for commemoration of those who have died on active service since WW2. One time I looked there a poppy had been placed in memory of someone who had been killed in Basra.

Some years ago, when skateboarding was a newish fad and before special areas for it had been built in parks etc skateboarders used to use the tarred area in front of the memorial to do their thing. There were several letters to the local paper objecting to this as a mark of disrespect in part disguised by concern that they might be damaging the memorial itself.

I never saw it as disrespect. After all, wasn’t it precisely so that people could go about doing whatever they enjoyed within the law that those commemorated had given their lives for?

I also never noted any damage, even to the tarmac.

It’s mostly quiet these days of course.

Despite being on the North side of the Forth estuary Kirkcaldy promenade is aligned almost North-South as the coastline takes a sharp bend northwards after Kinghorn. This is a photo of the prom from the north end (looking south-westish.)

Boring isn’t it?

There is a dual carriageway road which goes along the whole frontage just to the right of this picture. Perfect for boy racers. They put in one of those “Your Speed Is …. mph” displays a few years ago. Nothing like encouraging them!

I noticed on Saturday, though, that a couple of pedestrian crossings have been erected on the first third which could break up the flow.

There is not a shop on the whole front. (Well, there’s a funeral director’s beside the car park over the road about halfway along. Also a pet shop [now closed] which used to be a sports shop, and before that an ironmonger’s, but that’s really in Tollbooth Street not on the prom.)

The sea wall was built in the 1920s to relieve unemployment. They could be doing with renewing it and for the same reason.

Here’s the plaque commemoraring it.

For a bit of relief, though, here’s proof that Kirkcaldy is, after all, a Fife seaside town.

Malcolm’s Wynd, with its steep steps, is more typical of somewhere like Pittenweem or Crail. You can imagine sailors in olden days rolling down towards the harbour to catch their sailing.

No pictures, I’m afraid. They were too far out and I didn’t have the camera with me anyway.

Yesterday myself and the good lady were strolling along the prom (prom, prom) at Kirkcaldy and our attention was attracted by raised voices and pointed arms to the Forth estuary.

Leaping and sporting out of the water some distance from shore was a pod of dolphins. It’s the first time both of us have ever seen any in real life as opposed to on TV.

The prom at Kirkcaldy, by the way, lacks anything that you might expect a prom to have. Certainly no brass bands playing (no bandstand) but also no shops selling candy floss or postcards or rock or kiss-me-quick hats. No shops period! It used to house the bus station before they moved that up into the town.

The prom is over a mile long and is more or less just a dual carriageway with a pedestrian walkway between it and the sea. A lost opportunity I’ve always thought.

Fine for a walk, though, if you don’t mind wind blown spume and seas fountaining up like fireworks from (and over) the sea-wall when the tide’s in and there’s a swell on.