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.
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