Sunday, 27 August 2017
26-27 August
Last show at the Fringe - "1 Woman, a High Flyer and a Flat Bottom". That about sums up the Fringe - slightly crazy. Was a one woman show by a UK comedian called Samantha Baines. Was good fun. The show was about 3 "lost" women noone has heard of despite their achievements. So slightly feminist show. Interspersed with funny personal tales and poetry readings. Was pleased that for last show was first in line - very me. Samantha Baines was apparently UK Pun Championship Finalist 2017 so Will would have appreciated the puns. Coffee at Printworks - wonder if should hand in coffee card tomorrow?!. Picked up sausages for dinner from local butcher - sausage and veg to use up left overs. Also bought The Weekend Guardian for me. The last of a few things then. Now to pack or artfully re-arrange things between 4 bags and 3-4 pieces of hand luggage to ensure come under weight limits. Should be fine..... Stephen getting portable weighing machine out and nervously weighing bags. Very early start tomorrow. Been great fun. Not sure quite ready to return but better get back before Will is tempted to change the locks. Mmm can hear rustling noises in bedroom - better check bags not completely full of fishing gear - may have bought a few things will need to squeeze in. Cheers (as I have learnt is popular send off - at least in Leith).
Saturday, 26 August 2017
22-25 August
The season seems to be slowly turning as we are down to our last few days. Leith Links is now full of football fields and much training on those fields in the afternoon and evening. The sun is also rising later and setting earlier suddenly. I almost put on fur-lined boots one day. Winter is coming as I un-originally say. Would be interesting in some ways to see the city turn into Winter but suspect I would struggle with the dark days for any length of time. Not sure I want to be walking to the gym at 7am in the dark and freezing cold.
We have been seeing a few more shows/exhibitions in the dying days of the Festivals. Decided am not too keen anymore on sitting in bad stand-up comedy pretending to laugh at young men and women in their 20's and early 30's attempting stand up. I am also sure they don't want me in their audiences staring at them trying to work out their jokes. Then again when you have an audience of 5, you probably can't be too picky. Saw some show called Green Bananas at the Counting House where comedians who perform very late at night are pitching their shows at 12 noon. Poor programming I fear. Aside from the poor comedians only having had about 2 hours sleep; the demographic for audiences attending stand up at 1 am is somewhat different from those attending at 12 noon. Quite funny actually and felt pretty sorry for the comedians.
Did see a fantastic Korean drumming group called Tago. Gigantic drums, martial arts, percussion, dance, singing and some humour. Delightful young men who were all very talented. Very high energy and upbeat show. We both loved it. Actually also sparked an interest in Korean culture although I fear given the situation with North Korea, South Korea may not be on our list of places to visit at present.
Spoilt ourselves and had lunch at one of the Michelin Star restaurants in Leith - Martin Wishart. Food and service were very very good. Probably my favourite restaurant meal of the trip. I had a lovely squid ink risotto and Stephen a pork terrine followed by sea bream for me and rabbit for Stephen. A cherry dessert and delicious coffee and petite forts ended the meal. Also a lovely light '"pre-entree"" including a beetroot macaroon infused with wasabi. Sounds bizarre but was delicious. Shared a bottle of some red wine (Sigh can't remember if was Italian or French - think French). Half a bottle for lunch is a lot for me so ""rested"" after lunch with book and TV on lounge. Ambitious plans to head into town after lunch came to nought. Stephen packed one bag - 2 whisky bottles and lots of soft clothing cradling both.
Made the most of sun shining one day and took lots of photos around Leith - especially the pubs as are definitely a significant part of Leith. Saw Sue Perkins - UK comedian, as well. She was delightful. Like a female Stephen Fry. Someone you would love to have over for dinner to hear her talk more. Very smart lady. Very wide demographic for her audience - from Bake Off to Game of Thrones. She handled it well. Interesting contrast with Hannah Gadsby. Sue Perkins is more comfortable in her skin. Suspect she had a much easier upbringing.
Cider and ale in our front courtyard on sunny day. Very Scottish - rush outside whenever sun is shining. Met local little black cat. Managed a head rub and she deigned to sit alongside us to join in the conversation. Gather from phone call with Will, our cat has been leaving ""presents"" in our room. Typical. Will like to see the look on her face when we walk in Tuesday night.
Saw AC Grayling at Book Festival. Talked about democracy and what is going wrong. Very interesting - talk ranged from Plato to Brexit to Trump. Audience middle aged to elderly. Hope demographic was just because was on a Friday morning and didn't reflect a lack of interest in the subject by younger people. Focus largely on Brexit (such a devisive issue here) and Trump and use of a group called Cambridge Analytica - big data group that apparently helped swing referendum and US election. Grayling seems to think Brexit won't happen and may be a second referendum. He is not a fan of referenda. Can imagine what he would think of our non-binding postal vote. Cambridge Analytica sounds like a scary bunch. Partly owned by US family that supports politically conservative causes. Just read about their role and impact on Brexit and the US election. Calls itself a ""global election management agent"". Yikes.
On a lighter note - saw International Photography Exhibition. Loved some of the wildlife photos in particular. Then went to St Cuthberts to hear the RAF Symphonic Brass Band. Two great pieces - Saint-Saens Symphony (with organ) - ""If I Had Words.."" symphony and a Spanish piece from the 1600's. Had to listen to 2 dirges from a modern composer before those but was worth the wait. He popped up and conducted both.
Dinner at favourite noodle restaurant and listened to some Irish music at Malones - pub on Princes Street. Good fun. More Fringe tomorrow and slowly starting to throw out various bits and pieces from flat that are not returning home with us.
We have been seeing a few more shows/exhibitions in the dying days of the Festivals. Decided am not too keen anymore on sitting in bad stand-up comedy pretending to laugh at young men and women in their 20's and early 30's attempting stand up. I am also sure they don't want me in their audiences staring at them trying to work out their jokes. Then again when you have an audience of 5, you probably can't be too picky. Saw some show called Green Bananas at the Counting House where comedians who perform very late at night are pitching their shows at 12 noon. Poor programming I fear. Aside from the poor comedians only having had about 2 hours sleep; the demographic for audiences attending stand up at 1 am is somewhat different from those attending at 12 noon. Quite funny actually and felt pretty sorry for the comedians.
Did see a fantastic Korean drumming group called Tago. Gigantic drums, martial arts, percussion, dance, singing and some humour. Delightful young men who were all very talented. Very high energy and upbeat show. We both loved it. Actually also sparked an interest in Korean culture although I fear given the situation with North Korea, South Korea may not be on our list of places to visit at present.
Spoilt ourselves and had lunch at one of the Michelin Star restaurants in Leith - Martin Wishart. Food and service were very very good. Probably my favourite restaurant meal of the trip. I had a lovely squid ink risotto and Stephen a pork terrine followed by sea bream for me and rabbit for Stephen. A cherry dessert and delicious coffee and petite forts ended the meal. Also a lovely light '"pre-entree"" including a beetroot macaroon infused with wasabi. Sounds bizarre but was delicious. Shared a bottle of some red wine (Sigh can't remember if was Italian or French - think French). Half a bottle for lunch is a lot for me so ""rested"" after lunch with book and TV on lounge. Ambitious plans to head into town after lunch came to nought. Stephen packed one bag - 2 whisky bottles and lots of soft clothing cradling both.
Made the most of sun shining one day and took lots of photos around Leith - especially the pubs as are definitely a significant part of Leith. Saw Sue Perkins - UK comedian, as well. She was delightful. Like a female Stephen Fry. Someone you would love to have over for dinner to hear her talk more. Very smart lady. Very wide demographic for her audience - from Bake Off to Game of Thrones. She handled it well. Interesting contrast with Hannah Gadsby. Sue Perkins is more comfortable in her skin. Suspect she had a much easier upbringing.
Cider and ale in our front courtyard on sunny day. Very Scottish - rush outside whenever sun is shining. Met local little black cat. Managed a head rub and she deigned to sit alongside us to join in the conversation. Gather from phone call with Will, our cat has been leaving ""presents"" in our room. Typical. Will like to see the look on her face when we walk in Tuesday night.
Saw AC Grayling at Book Festival. Talked about democracy and what is going wrong. Very interesting - talk ranged from Plato to Brexit to Trump. Audience middle aged to elderly. Hope demographic was just because was on a Friday morning and didn't reflect a lack of interest in the subject by younger people. Focus largely on Brexit (such a devisive issue here) and Trump and use of a group called Cambridge Analytica - big data group that apparently helped swing referendum and US election. Grayling seems to think Brexit won't happen and may be a second referendum. He is not a fan of referenda. Can imagine what he would think of our non-binding postal vote. Cambridge Analytica sounds like a scary bunch. Partly owned by US family that supports politically conservative causes. Just read about their role and impact on Brexit and the US election. Calls itself a ""global election management agent"". Yikes.
On a lighter note - saw International Photography Exhibition. Loved some of the wildlife photos in particular. Then went to St Cuthberts to hear the RAF Symphonic Brass Band. Two great pieces - Saint-Saens Symphony (with organ) - ""If I Had Words.."" symphony and a Spanish piece from the 1600's. Had to listen to 2 dirges from a modern composer before those but was worth the wait. He popped up and conducted both.
Dinner at favourite noodle restaurant and listened to some Irish music at Malones - pub on Princes Street. Good fun. More Fringe tomorrow and slowly starting to throw out various bits and pieces from flat that are not returning home with us.
Monday, 21 August 2017
17-21 August
Back from Berlin. Forgotten how much we enjoy the place. I actually prefer it to Paris. Possibly in part because it is so organised and that is me but it is just a very interesting, sophisticated city as well. The shops are very impressive. Just as well we only had carry on baggage and were only there for a couple of days with friends. I think I could have done a lot of shopping. Lots of things we don't see in Sydney. I believe the shops are better than in Paris. The restaurants are also great and I could just happily stay for a month to visit the museums and galleries alone.
The hotel was in the Mitte district which is in the old East Berlin part and was right on the river Spree. Very good location. Also had a very good tapas restaurant which we tried one night. The city looks and feels very prosperous. We got to one museum which was the "Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe". It is new since we were last there and as well as an information centre, which contains many very sad bits about the holocaust, there is an outdoor part which consists of 2711 concrete blocks of various sizes (The Field of Stelae). It is open to interpretation as to what it means. A guide told me that to her it seems like an empty city. I thought they looked like tombstones, while one of the friends we went to Berlin with thought they were the barracks from the camps. Anyway was quite eerie. There is also an information centre that has various parts to it but is all very personalised eg diary entries of camp victims, scraps of postcards, letters and last notes. The number of victims for each European country appears on the walls in one room. There is a Room of Families where various Jewish lifestyles are shown using examples of 15 families with photos etc before the War; also a Room of Names (names of all murdered and missing European Jews) and a Room of Sites (showing where the camps all were). Stephen and I thought we have now done enough Holocaust history this holiday.
The friends we went with had not been to Berlin before so we played tour guides a bit. Saw the usual suspects - Reichstag, Tiergarten, Brandenburg Gates and Berlin Wall (bits are still there). Also took them to some of the main boulevards -Unter den Linden and Kurferstendamm. We wandered in and out of the shops including Ka De Wa (like Harrods). The Food Hall at Ka De Wa was very very impressive. I think it leaves the Harrods Food Hall for dead.
There are a lot of new buildings since we were last there (about 12 years) and I would be very happy to go back . Will add it to the never ending list.
Back in Edinburgh for final week of the Fringe. Off to see Ed Byrne tonight - crazy Irish comedian so that should be fun. Also seeing Scottish friend on Tuesday night to farewell him and hand over some wine we will not get to plus some nice wine glasses we were given by Majestic Wines. Not leaving them for the next visitors or people upstairs. Vaguely starting to consider which bits of clothing etc may be left behind and how on earth we are going to fit in 2 bottles of whisky. I'm sure we will work it out by Sunday night.
The hotel was in the Mitte district which is in the old East Berlin part and was right on the river Spree. Very good location. Also had a very good tapas restaurant which we tried one night. The city looks and feels very prosperous. We got to one museum which was the "Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe". It is new since we were last there and as well as an information centre, which contains many very sad bits about the holocaust, there is an outdoor part which consists of 2711 concrete blocks of various sizes (The Field of Stelae). It is open to interpretation as to what it means. A guide told me that to her it seems like an empty city. I thought they looked like tombstones, while one of the friends we went to Berlin with thought they were the barracks from the camps. Anyway was quite eerie. There is also an information centre that has various parts to it but is all very personalised eg diary entries of camp victims, scraps of postcards, letters and last notes. The number of victims for each European country appears on the walls in one room. There is a Room of Families where various Jewish lifestyles are shown using examples of 15 families with photos etc before the War; also a Room of Names (names of all murdered and missing European Jews) and a Room of Sites (showing where the camps all were). Stephen and I thought we have now done enough Holocaust history this holiday.
The friends we went with had not been to Berlin before so we played tour guides a bit. Saw the usual suspects - Reichstag, Tiergarten, Brandenburg Gates and Berlin Wall (bits are still there). Also took them to some of the main boulevards -Unter den Linden and Kurferstendamm. We wandered in and out of the shops including Ka De Wa (like Harrods). The Food Hall at Ka De Wa was very very impressive. I think it leaves the Harrods Food Hall for dead.
There are a lot of new buildings since we were last there (about 12 years) and I would be very happy to go back . Will add it to the never ending list.
Back in Edinburgh for final week of the Fringe. Off to see Ed Byrne tonight - crazy Irish comedian so that should be fun. Also seeing Scottish friend on Tuesday night to farewell him and hand over some wine we will not get to plus some nice wine glasses we were given by Majestic Wines. Not leaving them for the next visitors or people upstairs. Vaguely starting to consider which bits of clothing etc may be left behind and how on earth we are going to fit in 2 bottles of whisky. I'm sure we will work it out by Sunday night.
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
16 August
Well that was disappointing. Saw Part 2 of The Divide and went on much too long, poorly directed, the dialogue was often quite predictable as was story line. It should be a one 3 hour play. It even ended with a short lecture on how everyone should love one another no matter what your religious, sexual etc affiliation is. Good grief. I think Alan Ackybourn has lost the plot. The acting of the 2 leads however was superb so worth it alone to see them. The theatre itself was also amazing. It looks a bit like a mini-Palais Garnier from Paris. Given the posters of Maria Callas in the place I suspect it was once used for operas or recitals at least. The theatre was also half empty so I suspect the word has got around not to bother with Part 2. As wise Stephen says with regards to the Festival: "Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs". I think this was mostly a frog in the end.
Packing now for Berlin. Temperatures in the high 20's some days. Actual Summer clothes may be worn!! Have thrown a small number of T shirts, light jeans and a jacket in small bag as hand luggage only for this short trip. Looking forward to the change and we will then have one week still of the Festival before we head home. Going to rush around next week taking photos of favourite places in Leith. Stephen wants a collage of pubs. I agreed as long as he gets one of The Marksman (a very traditional working class Leith pub that I would not set foot in) with at least one of the locals hanging around outside puffing away. I suspect they may even pose for us if we asked. Early start with taxi pick up at 7am so will attempt an early night.
Packing now for Berlin. Temperatures in the high 20's some days. Actual Summer clothes may be worn!! Have thrown a small number of T shirts, light jeans and a jacket in small bag as hand luggage only for this short trip. Looking forward to the change and we will then have one week still of the Festival before we head home. Going to rush around next week taking photos of favourite places in Leith. Stephen wants a collage of pubs. I agreed as long as he gets one of The Marksman (a very traditional working class Leith pub that I would not set foot in) with at least one of the locals hanging around outside puffing away. I suspect they may even pose for us if we asked. Early start with taxi pick up at 7am so will attempt an early night.
10-15 August
More theatre and generally enjoying the crowds. Place is absolutely packed. There has been a bit of publicity in the news about smaller communities complaining about the volume of tourists being too high and airbnb pricing renters out of the market (plus removing a fair number of places from the long term rental market). This is from places as far afield as Croatia to Spain to the Island of Skye in Scotland. Having been here before the Fringe and seeing the change, I can see what the conundrum is. Tourists bring money but Edinburgh is actually quite small usually - about half a million but during the Festival it must be more than double that. The streets are often conveyor belts of people. Love the Fringe but hard to see how the place could sustain any more people. There are even tourists at our local coffee shop at Leith!! Saw a grumpy Scots wearing a kilt, plaited beard and a black T shirt saying on the front ""Get out of my way"" and on the back ""I live here"". Stephen thought he was being funny. Maybe but I am not so sure he meant it to be completely humorous.
Saw Part 1 of Alan Ayckbourn's new play - The Divide. Was in the Kings Theatre -lovely theatre in the west end with boxes on the side. Seats ridiculously uncomfortable. Spend some time at the gym at the moment uncricking my back - repairing the damage from these and similar seats. Play was very good. See Part 2 on the 16th. 3 hours with interval so was relieved was as good as expecting. Play is a re-telling of a dystopian future after the particular era has ended. The Divide refers to men and women having to live separately although probably also refers to other 'divides' within each community. Background is that women apparently have contracted a deadly disease which kills men if they come into contact with women. The women are carriers only. The women therefore are sinful and have to wear black from the age of 11 onwards. In fact they are completely encased in black including with their hair covered under bonnets. Reminded me of The Crucible type of clothing that women wear. Without overtly saying so, the play-write makes some clever comments about societies/cultures that require women to cover up their bodies and heads. There is also not a lot of fun in the women's community.
By contrast the men get to wear white from 13 (from memory) onwards as they are pure. The men's community sounds more fun - they have alcohol and nightclubs etc. However of course not as simple as that as there are divisions within each community between the ''çonservatives'', "moderates" and "progressives". The staging and use of lighting and multi-media was very effective. One memorable scene for me was very simple but effective. The main female character who is dressed all in black stands on the stage alone and is just bathed in a shimmering purple light after she has seen some colourful dresses. Acting was great. We have seen the lead female in Call the Midwife (the nurse who decides to become a nun) and the lead male was the brother in the TV show The Missing. Play was potentially 15/20 minutes too long but it is premiering here before it goes to London so there may be some changes still to be made. I gather it was even longer originally. Glad saw the slightly shorter version.
Also saw some poets at the Book Festival. Went to see 2 poets with Emma (from upstairs). Imtiaz Dharker and Daljut Nagra. Pakistan/Indian heritage respectively. Imtiaz lives in Glasgow so has a broad Glaswegian accent and she married a Welshman. Daljit is English and from Punjabi heritage. Daljit was a bit like a '"rap"" poet. Not quite that ""shouty"" but similar. He read from his latest book and one was particularly funny about his Indian Uncles demonstrating their love of Scottish words. I loved Imtiaz's poetry in particular and ended up buying her latest collection called ""Over the Moon". She also draws, so a pretty talented lady. She read out some beautiful poetry - some about dreaming about her husband who unfortunately has died. She also had some funny poems including about English/Scottish swear words.
Also went to hear John Boyne speak as just finished reading his latest book - The Heart's Invisible Furies . He was so Irish. He did a reading from the book and it was hilarious. The book came alive with his reading. He read a funny bit about Cecil attending confession and plucking up the courage to tell the priest he was gay. Did not end well as the priest fell out of the confessional in shock and died of a heart attack. This part is set in Ireland in the 1950's. The place was packed and there was an interesting discussion about the themes in the book and his take on topical issues like gay marriage (John Boyne is gay). He spoke about his relief when the Republic of Ireland voted for same sex marriage. Australia did not get mentioned.
The Book Festival is held in Charlotte Square - very elegant square towards the west end that is normally closed to the public. Nicola Sturgeon has her official residence in the square and we saw her in the morning walking across the road to attend the Book Festival. Was nice to see she did not have to be surrounded by bodyguards. That is the second time I have seen her this trip. She must be stalking me.
Lastly, saw another play from the Baxter Theatre Group from South Africa. This one was very different. It was a re-enactment of the university students protests in South Africa (starting in 2015) about the level of discrimination against blacks at the Universities including the small number of black lecturers, the syllabuses which basically ignore their history and also raised other issues of discrimination including the discrimination within the black community itself against women. The impetus was a request for the statue of Cecil Rhodes to be pulled down at Cape Town Uni. The actors were all very young and it was brilliant. Lots of singing and dancing and the script was very tight. Showed what a complicated issue it was and the divisions even within the black and "coloured" communities themselves. The human race can be interesting at times. Reference was made to the selective and biased reporting by the world media which Stephen and I were not surprised about as we do not recall hearing much if anything about this. They got a standing ovation.
Finished the night at a favourite noodle restaurant called Yacoco. Lovely fresh Asian noodle dishes. We do miss the variety of Asian food that we get at home.
Tomorrow we get to see Part 2 of The Divide. Have been doing my stretches at the gym to get in shape for the seats.
Saw Part 1 of Alan Ayckbourn's new play - The Divide. Was in the Kings Theatre -lovely theatre in the west end with boxes on the side. Seats ridiculously uncomfortable. Spend some time at the gym at the moment uncricking my back - repairing the damage from these and similar seats. Play was very good. See Part 2 on the 16th. 3 hours with interval so was relieved was as good as expecting. Play is a re-telling of a dystopian future after the particular era has ended. The Divide refers to men and women having to live separately although probably also refers to other 'divides' within each community. Background is that women apparently have contracted a deadly disease which kills men if they come into contact with women. The women are carriers only. The women therefore are sinful and have to wear black from the age of 11 onwards. In fact they are completely encased in black including with their hair covered under bonnets. Reminded me of The Crucible type of clothing that women wear. Without overtly saying so, the play-write makes some clever comments about societies/cultures that require women to cover up their bodies and heads. There is also not a lot of fun in the women's community.
By contrast the men get to wear white from 13 (from memory) onwards as they are pure. The men's community sounds more fun - they have alcohol and nightclubs etc. However of course not as simple as that as there are divisions within each community between the ''çonservatives'', "moderates" and "progressives". The staging and use of lighting and multi-media was very effective. One memorable scene for me was very simple but effective. The main female character who is dressed all in black stands on the stage alone and is just bathed in a shimmering purple light after she has seen some colourful dresses. Acting was great. We have seen the lead female in Call the Midwife (the nurse who decides to become a nun) and the lead male was the brother in the TV show The Missing. Play was potentially 15/20 minutes too long but it is premiering here before it goes to London so there may be some changes still to be made. I gather it was even longer originally. Glad saw the slightly shorter version.
Also saw some poets at the Book Festival. Went to see 2 poets with Emma (from upstairs). Imtiaz Dharker and Daljut Nagra. Pakistan/Indian heritage respectively. Imtiaz lives in Glasgow so has a broad Glaswegian accent and she married a Welshman. Daljit is English and from Punjabi heritage. Daljit was a bit like a '"rap"" poet. Not quite that ""shouty"" but similar. He read from his latest book and one was particularly funny about his Indian Uncles demonstrating their love of Scottish words. I loved Imtiaz's poetry in particular and ended up buying her latest collection called ""Over the Moon". She also draws, so a pretty talented lady. She read out some beautiful poetry - some about dreaming about her husband who unfortunately has died. She also had some funny poems including about English/Scottish swear words.
Also went to hear John Boyne speak as just finished reading his latest book - The Heart's Invisible Furies . He was so Irish. He did a reading from the book and it was hilarious. The book came alive with his reading. He read a funny bit about Cecil attending confession and plucking up the courage to tell the priest he was gay. Did not end well as the priest fell out of the confessional in shock and died of a heart attack. This part is set in Ireland in the 1950's. The place was packed and there was an interesting discussion about the themes in the book and his take on topical issues like gay marriage (John Boyne is gay). He spoke about his relief when the Republic of Ireland voted for same sex marriage. Australia did not get mentioned.
The Book Festival is held in Charlotte Square - very elegant square towards the west end that is normally closed to the public. Nicola Sturgeon has her official residence in the square and we saw her in the morning walking across the road to attend the Book Festival. Was nice to see she did not have to be surrounded by bodyguards. That is the second time I have seen her this trip. She must be stalking me.
Lastly, saw another play from the Baxter Theatre Group from South Africa. This one was very different. It was a re-enactment of the university students protests in South Africa (starting in 2015) about the level of discrimination against blacks at the Universities including the small number of black lecturers, the syllabuses which basically ignore their history and also raised other issues of discrimination including the discrimination within the black community itself against women. The impetus was a request for the statue of Cecil Rhodes to be pulled down at Cape Town Uni. The actors were all very young and it was brilliant. Lots of singing and dancing and the script was very tight. Showed what a complicated issue it was and the divisions even within the black and "coloured" communities themselves. The human race can be interesting at times. Reference was made to the selective and biased reporting by the world media which Stephen and I were not surprised about as we do not recall hearing much if anything about this. They got a standing ovation.
Finished the night at a favourite noodle restaurant called Yacoco. Lovely fresh Asian noodle dishes. We do miss the variety of Asian food that we get at home.
Tomorrow we get to see Part 2 of The Divide. Have been doing my stretches at the gym to get in shape for the seats.
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
6-9 August
6 Aug - Today we enjoyed particularly good coffee at Printworks as owner was the barista (got to start the day properly) and saw 2 Fringe shows plus some good guitar and drum music at The Arches. Also walked up the Royal Mile enjoying the general mayhem. Again 2 people thought we were locals. One an American and one another local. I guess Stephen can stop wearing the kilt now.
Saw a brilliant play called Tobacco by a South African theatre company called Baxter Theatre. A one man show with an actor called Andrew Buckland. Recording the names in case I ever read that they are to perform in Sydney. Unlikely but you never know. Afterwards read that is an adaptation of a Chekhov play called "Tobacco & the Harmful effects thereof". The theatre company are putting on 5 plays and we have booked to see another one called The Fall which is about South Africa and the end of apartheid.
The other show was really story telling rather than a play. It was called The Duke and was performed by a Welsh actor called Shon Dale-Jones. The story centres on a week of his life and loosely around a porcelain figure of the Duke of Wellington but is really about what we value in the world including the current refugee crisis. He is performing for free and the Fringe gave him the venue at a substantially reduced price plus his show is half price although you are asked to donate to Save the Children afterwards. Had a number of interesting themes including the role of the artist, moral principles versus the artistic work and the refugee crisis. We had no idea what to expect but was very good. Entertaining and funny but with some thought provoking material in there as well.
7 Aug - saw 3 shows today. Ramping it up. One was at the "Free Fringe" and is a show I saw 2 years ago and thought Stephen would enjoy. It is quite bizarre - a married couple one of whom is a neuro scientist and the other a rap artist. The show is about how the brain works and they perform various experiments (some of which using rap music) including with audience members to demonstrate the different parts of the brain you use to perform tasks. Good fun. The funniest part however was as we are queuing up we ran into some friends we know from London. Totally unplanned which is pretty impressive given the number of show that are on. After our rap/science show we went to St Pauls Church to hear the "Voices of Lions". This was a boys choir from a London school. Mainly a cappella singing. The best bits were the more traditional music - possibly suited the venue more. We finished the day with a stand up comedian - Phil Jupitus. An English comedian that Stephen particularly likes. We found ourselves in the front row in the centre. Not my favourite seating for a stand up show. Fortunately did not have to engage in banter with him but he did direct some comments at me. The show was good. He is quite wacky so was good fun. We have seen him on QI at home with Stephen Fry etc. He did some pretty funny stand up on the awfulness of Scottish fried food.
8 August - More music today interspersed with drinks at The Bow Bar with London friends -John and Jackie. Went to St Cuthberts to hear the Edinburgh City Organist play some Pachelbel, Bach and traditional Scottish and Danish (?) music. Impressive organ playing. Sounded like he had 4 hands and 4 legs at some stages given the intricacy of the melody (and the noise). Felt exceedingly young which was nice for a change as feel exceedingly old at some Fringe shows (mainly the young male stand ups shows). Also went to Usher Hall in the evening (like a smaller Carnegie Hall) to hear the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra play Schuberts "Unfinshed" symphony; a piano concerto - Schumann which was lovely and Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra - so more loud organ music in part. The orchestra was very good as was their conductor - very tightly disciplined. The conductor is Danish I think - Thomas Dausgaard and the soloist was Armenian - American (Sergei Babayan). I sat next to a very knowledgeable man from Bologna who told me all about the music we were hearing which was good as we had managed to completely forget what we were going to see and didn't buy a program. Frankly was a bit relieved neither of us dropped off to sleep as we had quite a few drinks in the afternoon with our friends - Stephen had downed 3 pints in a little over an hour so was looking pretty chilled by the time we got to the concert. Fortunately concert was excellent and in any event the seats were unbelievably uncomfortable so there was no way either of us was drifting off.'
Also saw another part of Edinburgh which I really liked. It is in the south and is called the QaurterMile - around Edinburgh University and there is a huge park behind it called the Meadows. It used to be a loch - Burgh Loch and supplied the city's drinking water. It was then drained and is now the park we saw today. Very popular on a sunny day.
9 August - Sun was shining so decided to skip the Fringe today and went for a walk up Salisbury Crags. The crags are some very high cliffs (about 46 metres) at the top of a ''subsidiary spur of Arthurs Seat'' -basically runs underneath Arthurs Seat and assume part of the same volcano/glacier land mass as Arthurs Seat. They are rocks that are the remains of a glacier and when you get to the top there are some great views of Edinburgh. Read that apparently they were chipping (or eventually dynamiting) away at the rocks from the mid 17th century until the mid-1800's to use for the street cobble stones. They stopped when people started to notice that the crags were getting substantially smaller. Anyway glad they stopped as is interesting place to walk along. One online thingy says it is a cliff face that looks down on Edinburgh like a grand fortress. I thought that about summed it up. Off to dinner tonight in the west end near Charlotte Square to a place called Wigams. This is with our friends from London. Expecting a longish night and possibly not going to get to the pool early tomorrow morning.
Saw a brilliant play called Tobacco by a South African theatre company called Baxter Theatre. A one man show with an actor called Andrew Buckland. Recording the names in case I ever read that they are to perform in Sydney. Unlikely but you never know. Afterwards read that is an adaptation of a Chekhov play called "Tobacco & the Harmful effects thereof". The theatre company are putting on 5 plays and we have booked to see another one called The Fall which is about South Africa and the end of apartheid.
The other show was really story telling rather than a play. It was called The Duke and was performed by a Welsh actor called Shon Dale-Jones. The story centres on a week of his life and loosely around a porcelain figure of the Duke of Wellington but is really about what we value in the world including the current refugee crisis. He is performing for free and the Fringe gave him the venue at a substantially reduced price plus his show is half price although you are asked to donate to Save the Children afterwards. Had a number of interesting themes including the role of the artist, moral principles versus the artistic work and the refugee crisis. We had no idea what to expect but was very good. Entertaining and funny but with some thought provoking material in there as well.
7 Aug - saw 3 shows today. Ramping it up. One was at the "Free Fringe" and is a show I saw 2 years ago and thought Stephen would enjoy. It is quite bizarre - a married couple one of whom is a neuro scientist and the other a rap artist. The show is about how the brain works and they perform various experiments (some of which using rap music) including with audience members to demonstrate the different parts of the brain you use to perform tasks. Good fun. The funniest part however was as we are queuing up we ran into some friends we know from London. Totally unplanned which is pretty impressive given the number of show that are on. After our rap/science show we went to St Pauls Church to hear the "Voices of Lions". This was a boys choir from a London school. Mainly a cappella singing. The best bits were the more traditional music - possibly suited the venue more. We finished the day with a stand up comedian - Phil Jupitus. An English comedian that Stephen particularly likes. We found ourselves in the front row in the centre. Not my favourite seating for a stand up show. Fortunately did not have to engage in banter with him but he did direct some comments at me. The show was good. He is quite wacky so was good fun. We have seen him on QI at home with Stephen Fry etc. He did some pretty funny stand up on the awfulness of Scottish fried food.
8 August - More music today interspersed with drinks at The Bow Bar with London friends -John and Jackie. Went to St Cuthberts to hear the Edinburgh City Organist play some Pachelbel, Bach and traditional Scottish and Danish (?) music. Impressive organ playing. Sounded like he had 4 hands and 4 legs at some stages given the intricacy of the melody (and the noise). Felt exceedingly young which was nice for a change as feel exceedingly old at some Fringe shows (mainly the young male stand ups shows). Also went to Usher Hall in the evening (like a smaller Carnegie Hall) to hear the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra play Schuberts "Unfinshed" symphony; a piano concerto - Schumann which was lovely and Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra - so more loud organ music in part. The orchestra was very good as was their conductor - very tightly disciplined. The conductor is Danish I think - Thomas Dausgaard and the soloist was Armenian - American (Sergei Babayan). I sat next to a very knowledgeable man from Bologna who told me all about the music we were hearing which was good as we had managed to completely forget what we were going to see and didn't buy a program. Frankly was a bit relieved neither of us dropped off to sleep as we had quite a few drinks in the afternoon with our friends - Stephen had downed 3 pints in a little over an hour so was looking pretty chilled by the time we got to the concert. Fortunately concert was excellent and in any event the seats were unbelievably uncomfortable so there was no way either of us was drifting off.'
Also saw another part of Edinburgh which I really liked. It is in the south and is called the QaurterMile - around Edinburgh University and there is a huge park behind it called the Meadows. It used to be a loch - Burgh Loch and supplied the city's drinking water. It was then drained and is now the park we saw today. Very popular on a sunny day.
9 August - Sun was shining so decided to skip the Fringe today and went for a walk up Salisbury Crags. The crags are some very high cliffs (about 46 metres) at the top of a ''subsidiary spur of Arthurs Seat'' -basically runs underneath Arthurs Seat and assume part of the same volcano/glacier land mass as Arthurs Seat. They are rocks that are the remains of a glacier and when you get to the top there are some great views of Edinburgh. Read that apparently they were chipping (or eventually dynamiting) away at the rocks from the mid 17th century until the mid-1800's to use for the street cobble stones. They stopped when people started to notice that the crags were getting substantially smaller. Anyway glad they stopped as is interesting place to walk along. One online thingy says it is a cliff face that looks down on Edinburgh like a grand fortress. I thought that about summed it up. Off to dinner tonight in the west end near Charlotte Square to a place called Wigams. This is with our friends from London. Expecting a longish night and possibly not going to get to the pool early tomorrow morning.
Saturday, 5 August 2017
30 July - 5 August
Well car has been returned, fishing lines, hooks and boots are carefully washed and put away and the fisherman is now looking for other things to do. Fortunately the Fringe Festival has arrived so that should not be a problem. The place is packed - people everywhere but as in previous years the atmosphere is great. Just lots of people looking to have a good time.
Trying to remember what we did in the few days before the Fringe started. We did manage to find the Floddan Wall or bits thereof from when Edinburgh used to be a walled city and had an exciting time getting to know some of the local constabulary very early one Sunday morning when upstairs' burglar alarm went off at 1 am. They are in the south of France and trustingly left us a front door key and the alarm code but we were not going to venture into their house alone at 1am with their alarm blaring so called the local police. We handed over the keys and accompanied the police upstairs where I crossed my fingers and punched in the alarm code hoping it would work. It did. Nothing untoward had occurred and we assume an errant insect landed on a sensor or something like that. There has been no re-occurrence so hopefully we are not going to have to re-aquaint ourselves with the local law enforcement again.
Caught up with Scottish friend - David at the Cafe Royal for drinks one night and then to dinner at local Italian called Giovannis. Good fun. Also met some Australians at the Cafe Royal who were looking suitably confused at the largish Fringe booklet listing all the shows. Think we steered them in the right direction. Basically told them not to panic - just pick a few shows, see what the reviews say and enjoy the atmosphere. And we also tried out another local pub called The Compass. Good drinks and atmosphere. The local pubs are pretty good places for hanging out on a rainy afternoon
(or a dry afternoon for that matter).
Most excitedly though the Fringe has started and we have got to a few shows already. Given the length of time we have, we are trying to pace ourselves although is hard to resist when people keep handing you leaflets urging you to go to the ''best show at the Fringe". We did get free tickets to a couple of shows - a trick we learnt from previous visits - they hand out free tickets at the beginning of the Fringe for unknowns performing at the Fringe. Saw a brilliant one-woman show called Replay. The actor's name is Nicola Wren and she also wrote the show. She can act and script was very clever. She alternated between being a 10 year and a woman in her late 20's just by changing her facial expressions and body movements. Sad story about a sister dealing with her much older brother's suicide. Sounds grim but was not all sad. Uplifting ending and had humour in it as well. Other freebie was something called Great British Mysteries - a spoof of documentaries on supernatural events. Neh - was OK. Also saw a very good comedian called Daniel Sloss. He does stand up and has been performing since his teens. He is good - very good. Only 27 so also interesting for Stephen and I to see what ''young folk'' find funny these days. He has performed in Sydney and Will and his friends have gone to see him. I loved the way he talked about his parents - reminded me of Will. He wasn't condescending but clearly they bamboozle him sometimes.
The Fringe also has free shows that are part of the free Fringe. Unless however you are very hard hearted or are incredibly offended by a show, you always leave some money in a bucket at the end so at least they can eat dinner that night! We have visited a couple of free shows as well. They tend to be in very old parts of the old city - places like the Cowgate so for that alone it is interesting. One show we saw was in a place called The Attic in a building called The Counting House. Yep was in the attic of an old counting house. From past experience, these places are very warm once you are shut into the performance space (and sometimes very uncomfortable with bench seats). Favourite free show was one called Cow. Was stand up by a 53 year old woman who was making fun of how 53 year old women are meant to be ''lovely'' but she'd rather be a cow. There were parts I related to. Also saw a free show called The Bumper Blyton Improvised Adventure. Best bit was its title. OK maybe a bit harsh but did remind us how bad, bad impro shows can be. Lesson learnt.
Visited great pub between shows called The Peartree. They have live music in an open air courtyard. Poor musicians however often end up playing to themselves when the rain inevitably sweeps across at varying times and everyone runs indoors. Good beer and cider though.
We were mistaken for locals while sitting in The Pleasance Courtyard contemplating some show leaflets. A young man handing out leaflets could not believe we were Australians. Yah. Finally have a Scottish accent.....maybe.
Trying to remember what we did in the few days before the Fringe started. We did manage to find the Floddan Wall or bits thereof from when Edinburgh used to be a walled city and had an exciting time getting to know some of the local constabulary very early one Sunday morning when upstairs' burglar alarm went off at 1 am. They are in the south of France and trustingly left us a front door key and the alarm code but we were not going to venture into their house alone at 1am with their alarm blaring so called the local police. We handed over the keys and accompanied the police upstairs where I crossed my fingers and punched in the alarm code hoping it would work. It did. Nothing untoward had occurred and we assume an errant insect landed on a sensor or something like that. There has been no re-occurrence so hopefully we are not going to have to re-aquaint ourselves with the local law enforcement again.
Caught up with Scottish friend - David at the Cafe Royal for drinks one night and then to dinner at local Italian called Giovannis. Good fun. Also met some Australians at the Cafe Royal who were looking suitably confused at the largish Fringe booklet listing all the shows. Think we steered them in the right direction. Basically told them not to panic - just pick a few shows, see what the reviews say and enjoy the atmosphere. And we also tried out another local pub called The Compass. Good drinks and atmosphere. The local pubs are pretty good places for hanging out on a rainy afternoon
(or a dry afternoon for that matter).
Most excitedly though the Fringe has started and we have got to a few shows already. Given the length of time we have, we are trying to pace ourselves although is hard to resist when people keep handing you leaflets urging you to go to the ''best show at the Fringe". We did get free tickets to a couple of shows - a trick we learnt from previous visits - they hand out free tickets at the beginning of the Fringe for unknowns performing at the Fringe. Saw a brilliant one-woman show called Replay. The actor's name is Nicola Wren and she also wrote the show. She can act and script was very clever. She alternated between being a 10 year and a woman in her late 20's just by changing her facial expressions and body movements. Sad story about a sister dealing with her much older brother's suicide. Sounds grim but was not all sad. Uplifting ending and had humour in it as well. Other freebie was something called Great British Mysteries - a spoof of documentaries on supernatural events. Neh - was OK. Also saw a very good comedian called Daniel Sloss. He does stand up and has been performing since his teens. He is good - very good. Only 27 so also interesting for Stephen and I to see what ''young folk'' find funny these days. He has performed in Sydney and Will and his friends have gone to see him. I loved the way he talked about his parents - reminded me of Will. He wasn't condescending but clearly they bamboozle him sometimes.
The Fringe also has free shows that are part of the free Fringe. Unless however you are very hard hearted or are incredibly offended by a show, you always leave some money in a bucket at the end so at least they can eat dinner that night! We have visited a couple of free shows as well. They tend to be in very old parts of the old city - places like the Cowgate so for that alone it is interesting. One show we saw was in a place called The Attic in a building called The Counting House. Yep was in the attic of an old counting house. From past experience, these places are very warm once you are shut into the performance space (and sometimes very uncomfortable with bench seats). Favourite free show was one called Cow. Was stand up by a 53 year old woman who was making fun of how 53 year old women are meant to be ''lovely'' but she'd rather be a cow. There were parts I related to. Also saw a free show called The Bumper Blyton Improvised Adventure. Best bit was its title. OK maybe a bit harsh but did remind us how bad, bad impro shows can be. Lesson learnt.
Visited great pub between shows called The Peartree. They have live music in an open air courtyard. Poor musicians however often end up playing to themselves when the rain inevitably sweeps across at varying times and everyone runs indoors. Good beer and cider though.
We were mistaken for locals while sitting in The Pleasance Courtyard contemplating some show leaflets. A young man handing out leaflets could not believe we were Australians. Yah. Finally have a Scottish accent.....maybe.
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