On the Fringe in Edinburgh

The Megabus
Originally uploaded by Mark Turner.

Now that I am officially unemployed, I celebrated my new-found lifestyle by mingling with the masses in Edinburgh.

Patronising the cheap megabus system, AB and I powered up the motorway late on Saturday morning, and arrived early afternoon in our nation's capital.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city and we were really lucky to see it in the sunshine while it was besieged by Fringe Festival Fans. The atmosphere was truly great and so reminiscent of Adelaide. I don't care what anyone says, Ed may be a bigger Fringe, but Adelaide's rocks and always will.

But I digress.

AB and I hastily bought some tickets to see two productions staged by the same University theatre company. The first play, a musical, was called 'Fame Game'. Dicko would have had a field day with this lot - only the minority of the cast could sing well. But the second play was by a different cast and was a dramatic piece. It was about convicts transported to Australia and the idea of the soldiers to start a theatre group amongst the convicts to keep them out of mischief. Both AB and I really enjoyed the latter production.

I particularly enjoyed the Indian dinner afterwards - Cobra beer beats Kingfisher any day. Just an aside.

The next day we braved the drizzle to tour around Edinburgh Castle, along with about 4 billion other people. The views across the City are stunning, but the Castle is not so great. Just very big really. I can't see what all the fuss is about. There sure are a lot of gift shops though. I bought small bottles of Glayva and Drambuie and AB and I indulged later on. Warming and delicious they were.

Had drinks at an ultra trendy club that Nat took us to on Sunday night and we felt very cool. Got some pics too, but they will follow later.

Yesterday we sat at a cafe called 'Biblos' and had - wait for it -an Aberdeen Angus Steak Hamburger (there you go J!) and it was delicious. The crisp, cold French rose helped to wash it down I think.

So all in all, I had a fantastic weekend and lots of good memories. We didn't see a lot of shows for the Fringe, but wandered down the Royal Mile enough times to witness some dodgy street performances and have enough pamphlets thrust into our hands to wallpaper Betty's house!

Will be laying low until next Thursday when I jet off to Italy - a trip that has been a long time coming indeed.