Residing in our wee shop in Edinburgh's Old Town is a lucky dog known as 'West Bow Sheba'. Trained to stay deathly still at all times, Sheba -- resplendent with four small modest wheels and a scary mask to protect her anonymity -- is presently employed as our in-house guard dog.
Sheba is a very (very!) lucky dog, as she was saved from certain doom in the city landfill some twenty years ago. Balanced forlornly on top of a black bag at the kerbside in Inverleith Row, Sheba was saved from the clutches of Edinburgh's bin men by our eagle-eyed co-founder Robin Mitchell. Whilst assuring us that he doesn't make a habit of stopping his car at night to rummage through stranger's rubbish bins, Robin says Sheba "looked so sad on the side of the pavement, I had to do something."
Since then Sheba has lived a charmed life, travelling far and wide by road, rail and plane attending a variety of Cadies & Witchery Tours events. Perhaps her most exciting excursion was to Dublin's Waterstones in 1999, to help launch Robin Mitchell's novel, Grave Robbers.
With her travelling days now a distant memory (the old girl's a martyr to her rusty wheels these days), Sheba today stands motionless in our shop, guarding the entrance to the fabled Monk's Close (a portal most generously conjured up for us some years ago by our very own Dave Martin) with the equally impassive help of a full-sized cut-out of yours truly (big-headed? Moi?).
Rumour has it that if you tap Sheba on the head three times, this will bring you good luck. Well, if rubbing Greyfriars Bobby's nose and David Hume's toe brings you good luck, tapping Sheba's head is equally as valid. We expect her napper to soon sport a glowing bronze sheen like those other "lucky" Old Town fixtures (see picture).
With my shop minions having told Sheba's fortuitous story to thousands of visitors over the past decade, she's lately become something of a visitor attraction in her own right with a number of tourists making the pilgrimage to our Edinburgh store to tap her lucky head.
So next time you're passing by our West Bow shop, do drop in to see 'West Bow Sheba'.