You're listening to Unfiltered with James O'Brien. Thank you for downloading episode 25 of Unfiltered. It features the author

Ervin Welsh. Most famous, I don't think anyone would argue with me for saying, for train spotting, His new book, Dead Men's Trausers,

returns to those characters, but there's a hell of a lot that has gone on in between

those two books and from what I've read of Irvine's life beforeains spotting came out, there's quite a lot of ground to cover there as well.

So let's get started. I didn't know you lived in Miami. We should start with that. You just told me you got him from Miami. I thought you'd been on holiday.

Is that why you got your hat on? I feel like I've permanently been on holiday there like you know and that's too

dispelled when I get back home like yeah well you look very well on it.

Thank you let's begin at the beginning you're born in Leith which at the time we're

talking about 19 late 50s 58 yeah yeah it was it was a

throbbing dock it still yeah it was quite a kind of vibrant port and it was like it was like I mean I remember like a kid kind of sort of in the

60s it was like very it was quite seedy and kind of sort of run down but it was I mean all these bars that are now

Michelin Star restaurants for kind of sort of dockside pubs full of

of Dutch sailors and kind of fun one bar even had a kind of lion inside in a cage.

Seriously?

Just come over on one of the boats.

Yeah, it came over on one of the boats and nobody could be bothered getting rid of it.

And the junks used to put their hands in there and occasionally get mauled, you know,

if something would wake up in the morning with their fingers, like, you know.

But yeah, it was just, you know, it was one of these old school kind of, you know,

I used to sit, used to go down there and as kids in my mom, you know I used to go down there and his kids in my mom you know, he would say,

why is that painted lady in fishnet stockings standing under a street lamp and all that?

It was that kind of place back then, and then it just like you know it kind of

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