Dalkeith Park eco-warriers, tree-sitters, and anti-bypass activists are so far still sitting tight and preparing for the eviction attempt. It seemed the article from the Edinburgh Evening News spurred on visitors to bring chocolate in various forms to the camp site, being gratefully received. Also a horserider brought along supplies and the hot cheese and onion pasties were in particular appreciated. Local families do their weekend walks in the woods dropping off everything from cigars to cider and lebkuchen. Which brings me to think that mainstream newspapers/media can occassionally even do some good and bridge differences and encourage understanding of various communities of people holding different values so they can make friends with each other, instead of exagerating conflicts by balancing the most extreme views against each other. The mood and the atmosphere is quite good at the moment, despite the cold and wet weather increasing the need for tarpolines and the preparation for defying the eviction could do with more ropes ( the blue polyacrylic ones, where a roll costs about £30 in DIY stores, but it is also possible to get it by metres). In the court case on Friday, Occupiers of Dalkeith Country Park vs. the Scottish Ministers ( a bit like David vs. Goliath) tried to defy the eviction and the protesters were very brave in my opinion as the atmosphere in the court room seemed quite intimitading despite about a dozen of supporters turning up, but there wasn't any lawyer to be found for them to put their case across. At one point it seemed that the lawyer for the Scottish Executive wanted to try to reach an out-of-court agreement as he asked the protesters outside to hear their arguments. But instead, it seemed he just wanted to know so he would plan beforehand on how to respond. The activists were up in tears after their court case experience, with the knowledge that the road building scheme of the A68 is ethically wrong but not knowing how it can be prevented without a struggle, and also knowing that not only Dalkeith Country Park is at risk to make place for roads and new buildings, but also Bilston Woods and the Community Garden and the community falling into the M74 extension. Unfortunately the court case failed to delay the eviction, as the arguments of the bats moving in right now failed, but apparantly the snow and cold weather did delay the eviction. In the eviction documents it is stressed that the trees would have to be felled now, as the bats would move in end of november and then some environmental legislation would deter them from felling the trees later on - most likely even till next year's autumn. The activists hope, that if they are able to hold the protest site against any eviction attempts for some more weeks, it could defer the road building for another year. It was reported that photographers came to the camp on Friday and took pictures from a distance away, the reason for this, it is suggested, for authorities to make eviction plans beforehand. The first eviction try is now anticipated for Monday. It is very unlikely that any vehicles could make it close to the sites, so the protesters expect sheriff officer climbing teams hunting them through the Scottish trees some metres off the ground, which anticipates some scences of "Crouching Tiger, hidden dragons" in Scottish winter documentary style ( but without swords of course). It was quite cold and wet Friday night, so when I arrived saturday morning, some of the eco-warriers were hopping around in binbags around the campfire grilling their underpants and other clothes to dry. They also have built now a really nice DIY compost loo in the woods with a selfmade toilet seat. The Bilston Woods Protest Camp were eagerly preparing for the Open Day at Bilston with their Free Sunday Cafe every last sunday of the month, taking place this afternoon. Otherwise after a surprising influx of supporters on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, where it seemed about 30 more people from all corners of Scotland were zooming around, the numbers of campers seemed to have dropped a lot after the protest on Thursday at the Scottish parliament, but are hoped to increase again in the course of the weekend with a bit drier and warmer weather than Friday.