Edinburgh is beautiful. It's a city unlike any other city I've visited. It's especially unlike a capital city. It's smaller and quieter - really old and lovely, everywhere you go (almost) is just breathtaking.
In the August excitement though, you pass by it all in a hurry. You're constantly in a hurry. But from time to time you have to stop and notice how absolutely amazing it all is. It is the perfect city for the Fringe and the Fringe is perfect for Edinburgh. I've visited at other times of the year and I always love it but August is something else.
My other times in Edinburgh are:
For one night with Nat, John and Deborah - lovely but we didn't see very much!
For one night with Richard and James - to see Tilly and The Wall (amazing) and meet up with Paul (lovely) - again, we didn't see much of the city!
March, 2009 with my mam (brilliant, saw Alex Horne for the first time, went to the zoo, etc)
April, 2010 with my mam (again, wonderful holiday - more comedy and nice meals)
So, I do truly appreciate Edinburgh for all itself and not just the things I see there! Anyway, we began our Sunday by seeing The Early Edition which is like The Late Edition from TV (though it hasn't been on in quite a while!!) but in the morning. Marcus Brigstocke presents with Andre Vincent. The guests (loads of them as it was its final day) were: Robin Ince, Andy Zaltzman, Nick Doody and Carrie Quinlan. At the time I didn't know who any of them were! But I really enjoyed the show - and there was a mad bit where Brendon Burns wandered on stage, having won the Comedy Award the night before! He was so happy and hadn't slept and then he was on the phone to his mum. It's the sort of spontaneous weirdness that makes the Fringe such an enjoyable place to be.
After that we did something I wouldn't recommend for Fringe time: we went to Holyrood Palace. Which is good if you like palaces, especially if you're into Mary Queen of Scots (I'm more of an Elizabeth I fan) and was really great for us as Paul got us in for free. But I'd say unless you're not likely to be in Edinburgh again or you're not into seeing millions of shows - don't bother with the touristy stuff at the Fringe. Go another time and see stuff. The zoo is the best! The tour of the vaults is ridiculously filled with ghostly bullshit (including a rapist ghost). So, the palace was good and then we must have had some food at some point - it's hard to find places to eat that aren't full!
Then we went to see The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players - one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. They're a lovely family - Jason (the dad) sings, Rachel (the daughter) drums, Tina (the mum) operates the slide projecter! They go around yard sales etc and buy old slides and make up songs about them. They're absolutely brilliant - fun, meaningful and exhilarating. Seeing them remains one of the best nights of my entire life. And, if anything, Richard liked it even more than I did! It was a really short set due to the show before overrunning (this is mercifully rare during the Fringe; in general things run to a really tight schedule!). But it began with this song "The Complicated Life" which they came onto. Then the stage was set up like an old sitcom and they did funny little skits/sketches between songs a bit. Really unusual but totally wonderful. Anyway, they played "Beautiful Dandelion", "Eggs", "Mountain Trip" - then afterwards we met them all and bought CDs and t-shirts and got the CDs signed. I'm still waiting to see them again!
Then, walking along in a happy daze, Richard saw Charlie Brooker outside a bar - smoking, trying to give up, bless him. This was in the days long long long before he married Connie Huq, he was with Al Campbell (aka Barry Shitpeas), the director of Screenwipe. Charlie was everything he is on TV: lovely but swear-y and offensive (but obviously not really offensive!). I told him I'd started watching The Wire (I had but didn't ever get very far with it, maybe one day), he said "so you fucking should" or something then Al was saying he hadn't seen it so they got in a little argument about that. I told him I had a book of cuttings of all of his columns. He said "you're fucking sick" but in an affectionate way. Al took a picture of us and then Charlie made him take another one as he didn't like the first one. He then mocked him for being a director and taking such a rubbish picture. Here is the second one:
Now in a giddy state we attempted to walk to George Street but I took us the wrong way up the Royal Mile. A huge argument ensued. At some point either Stewart Lee or Richard Herring wandered past. Oh, and on the Saturday I saw Adam Hills (as in spotted him, well Richard did as he is better at spotting people!) which was lush.
I'll not dwell on the argument too much - we got to Rich Hall on time and he was brilliant! I've seen him loads now and can't remember what stuff's from the first time but he's great!
On the Monday we went to see a mad version of Pericles because the guy flyering like Richard's velvet jacket (we do all sorts of things if people like his jacket!) and it was quite good but had a weird game show bit in it (!) and so our first Edinburgh Fringe came to an end.
Our lives had changed forever.
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