After approx 3,000,000 years of planning, worrying and paying for stuff, Thursday morning FINALLY found me and Mr S Hewitt leaving London for the Edinburgh Fringe. We'd been AFEARED that it would all go wrong before it even began due to the Tube strike that was occurring, but as it turned out we both got to St Pancras PEASY. Every time there's a tube strike lots of lefty people say "Stop complaining, I got to work easily" and I always wonder whether that's helping The Cause. Surely if everyone says it's FINE without a tube system then Dark Forces might suggest we don't actually NEED the drivers so much?
ANYWAY we got onto our train and spent the next several hours enjoying the best that Actual Weekday First Class train travel (booked in JANUARY!) could throw at us. SOMEBODY in our party took full advantage of the free booze and drank basically a whole bottle of white wine. I am not pointing any fingers, but let's just say that all THREE of Steve looked pretty guilty to me.
Once arrived we staggered off the train and nipped into The Halfway House for the traditional "We're here!" pint then got a taxi over to Stockbridge, where our accomodation was waiting for us. The flat we've got is NICE, although for some reason the owners have plastered every available surface with pictures of themselves. Everywhere you look, there they are, looking glamorous on beaches or posed in wedding photographs or smouldering with babies. It's a bit odd.
Once settled in we strode into town to meet Dr A Thomson who had very kindly received our FLYERS for us. We then proceeded to enjoy a few drinks (including the traditional "We're Here!" trip to The Pleasance Courtyard) before getting a taxi home, followed by a swift trip out to see what the pub round the corner was like. It was nice!
The next day was meant to be Setting Up Day, when we go to the venue and, well, set it up. However, our venue Sneaky Pete's IS a venue i.e. that's what it does all year round, rather than being a cave/yurt/garage that has been specially converted, so we were not required and instead went out in search of CULTURE.
The first thing we did was go to WAITROSE round the corner, which was LOVELY - I even got my free cup of coffee and felt RIGHT at home. The first actual SHOW we saw though was The Dawn Chorus by Sad Faces. I've been to see Sad Faces EVERY time I've been Fringing because they are ACE and this show was no exception. BUOYED UP by this we went wandering (i.e. Steve did some flyering and I went to the pub) before splitting up - Steve to go and see Tom Parry, me to go and see Newsrevue. It's a topical sketch REVUE for which I have written things in the past, though there wasn't anything by me in this one (I think there MAY be a gag of mine in the Available Sketches for the run, but I'm not quite sure). It was much as it had been when I'd been to see it last year - a very old school Actual REVUE with a Professor At The Piano, pop songs with rewritten lyrics, voiceover gags during the blackouts and a lot of Tomfoolery. The audience (who made me feel very young!) LAPPED it up!
Steve and I regrouped at the Free Fringe BIG MEETING. This is where we get told what to do, and then you wander about the room saying "Ooh! Hello!" to people you know from previous occasions - for us this included the delightful Mr C Coltrane and the marvellous Mr D Munro. It was lovely!
Happy with that we popped to The Bow Bar where we met a VERY jolly Edinburgh Lady who was keen to embroil us in helping a couple of Mexican ladies find their way around ("Look it up on your phone!" she demanded of me). It was ACE - Edinburgh people may be FLEECING the rest of us out of MILLIONS in rent, but they are very nice to to talk to in pubs!
Finally we ended the day with another GRATE tradition: going to see The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Company which, as ever, was HILARIOUS. We came out full of the joys of FRINGE, joys which were only slightly dimmed by the fact that there were NO (no) taxis to be had in all of central Edinburgh. It was a LONG walk home, but we made it eventually, ready for a BIG day to follow. For lo! not only would we be Meeting The Media, but it would also be SHOWTIME!
