After the laptop got Fished, my internet access was substantially reduced (although many thanks to Tom for letting me borrow his). This meant two things:
1) Photos
There were no daily updates of photos. You can now find Day 3, Day 4, Day 6 and Day 8 in their respective places.
There were no photos taken by me on Day 5 or Day 7, for entirely different reasons. On Day 5, I spent most of the day in bed, recovering from Day 4. On Day 7 it was quite simply too wet. More on both of those days below.
2) Blogs
There were no more daily blogs after Day 4 and a half. The remainder of the week (or at least what I can remember of it!) is here:
The rest of Day 4
After finally finishing some annoying online stuff, I felt far more able to relax. Richelle had planned a bar crawl in intricate detail, and we were all very much looking forward to it. Apart from me. As a relic from last year, Pete, Richelle and Rich had devised Edinburgh bingo. Each person had a ‘star’ challenge, and mine was to sing karaoke. I just don’t do karaoke. I can’t sing, and for someone who is usually fairly confident on a stage in whatever form, I was quite frankly petrified. If you look closely at the pics from the beginning of the night you can see the fear in my eyes!
Many drinks later, I finally managed to get up there and sing ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ – very very badly. Pete, Helen and Richelle came up with me though and provided very effective support, for which I am eternally grateful.
Of course once that ordeal was over, there was little else to do but drink…. And the photos will tell the rest of the story.
Day 5
Day 5… uhh, what happened on Day 5… ummm…. Oh yeah, I stayed in bed all day pondering why on earth I drank so much! And then scared myself by looking at the 200 photos which were taken (not all of which have made it on to Flickr!). Having finally stated to feel human again, we went to see Bill Bailey. Now, I’m not usually a fan of stand up comedy (my views on it having been partly poisoned by Steve’s Eddie Izzard obsession), but Tom persuaded me to give Bill a try when he booked the tickets, and of the mind that part of the point of the Fringe Festival is seeing stuff that you usually wouldn’t.
Despite the fact that I wasn’t in the complete-row-of-seat-rocking convulsive laughter league of Pete, Rich and Richelle, I did find him very funny.
Save the invisible mouse….
Day 6
Having fully recovered from the nightmare hangover (feeling extremely thankful that it didn’t mutate into a Two-Dayer), I was back on form for Day 6, which was good, because the pace of show viewing really picked up. Following lunch at the Mussel Inn (a welcome change from deep fried creations), we saw Chanbara in the afternoon – very good action with swords and drums, and just round the corner from the flat. Then it was on to the Underbelly for We Don’t Know Shiite, starring Pete’s brother Doug.
The show was excellent, and most thought provoking. It’s attracted all sorts of attention, and it sounds like the group may be destined for bigger things in the very near future… break a leg guys!
Then, it was on to the fabulous Bar Kohl for flavoured vodka and stunningly good cocktails. We’d actually been in there on Day 4, but of course I don’t really remember it… the photos prove I was there though! So, I made the most of it the second time round and consumed lots of yummily flavoured alcoholic things.
Then, it was on to the Speigel Tent for La Clique – the tent is a marque which feels like a cabaret venue inside, complete with seating booths and stained glass windows, and the show is essentially a burlesque cabaret. It was excellent, although some of the acts were slightly on the odd side, even for us lot!
Then home…. For more drink, of course!
Day 7
Mercifully hangover free, by now we were craving some wholesome food, so Pete Helen and I had Japanese for lunch… and then joined Tom, Richelle and Rich for beer and chips. So the wholesome thing didn’t exactly last long, but at least we tried!
We then headed to the other side of the city to see Kataklo, which was an amazing acrobatic dance show. Well worth it, but we got totally soaked on the way there, and only just dried out on the way back… I was wet all the way through!
So, a slightly more subdued evening, and then prep for the journey home…
Day 8
Which was generally uneventful and therefore doesn’t really deserve much more than that!
On Edinburgh 2006 overall:
I think a good time was had by all – it was a very different trip from last year, because we weren’t doing a show. Things were much more chilled out, much more of a ‘do your own thing’ effect, and I think everyone appreciated that, I certainly did, mainly because it allowed me to do more sleeping than usual, which I seemed to need. My body is still recovering from an accumulated sleep deficit I think!
Big thanks go to Pete for organising the train travel, accommodation, and some of the shows – not a mean feat for 15 or so people! Thoughts are already turning to next year and the possibility of doing another show… but that’s all a bit beyond my thinking at the moment!
