Jessie Kesson. These new houses were built in the 1980's on the site of one of Elgin's former slum areas. The author Jessie Kesson (1916-1994) spent part of her childhood here. Her life in this crowded street is vividly described in her novel The White Bird Passes. "Life was: eating when there was food, Fighting when there was drink, and All along a dirtiness, All along a mess, All along a finding out rather-more-than-less"