Edinburgh japes
I think that just about all of the pics from the Bank Holiday weekend we spent at the Fringe have now emerged, so I feel sufficiently stocked with photographic reminders to do a little memoir on the weekend.
Our weekend started exceedingly early, with Em, Kimmers and I heading off to Cardiff airport on Thursday at stupid o'clock in the morning (also known as 5.15am). We landed in Edinburgh feeling a little bleary and managed to be in Edinburgh city centre before most people had started work. A little mooching about, a reviving Chai Latte and then off to meet our landlady and see our abode for the weekend.
The flat was awesome, right in the heart of everything and no more than 15 minutes walk away from even the furthest-flung venues. It had three bedrooms [I plumped immediately to bunk in a double with lilmissbunshine got in from London, and with the addition of Kath later in the afternoon the crew was all set.
The first night, we got glammed up and headed over to the Underbelly to see Richard Herring. HIs show, "The Headmaster's Son", was hillarious, and also quite touching. He can sometimes cut a bit close to the bone, but in this one I came away feeling like I'd seen something of the vulnerable little boy inside the man. That did have something to do with the fact that the show is about him going through his teenage diaries and putting to rest some of his insecurities about his upbringing and how he felt he was seen by others child, but some of it actually rang really true for me and I almost let a tear slip down my cheek when he was determining to stop blaming his parents for his upbringing and just get over it. But to compensate for the poinancy, I left with a mental picture of the 41 year old Herring going back to the past and trying to wank off his 16 year old self. Disturbing, and yet strangely arousing...
Before we headed off to the next show, we had a drink in the bar, where I exchanged a few words with Mr Herring and lilmissbunshine pointed at him with her tongue...
Then off to The Stand to see the Honourable Men of Art, chaired by the fabulous Daniel Kitson and featuring 2008 If.Comedy award winner David O'Docherty. We got half drowned in the torrential downpour on the way there, but it was totally worth it. They entertained us for nearly three solid hours, Andy Zaltzman chipping in witty asides, David O'Docherty serenading us with tunes about his very mild superpowers and Kitson brought the whole thing to a thundering climax by challenging an audience member to a pants-down sprint spelling bee, waddling around the perimeter of the audience with his trousers around his ankles showing off rather fetching baggy green briefs, spelling words challenged to him at the appointed places on the lap before returning to the stage. I was at least three-quarters dead by that point, but I still laughed until I nearly cried. We left and squelched back across a very soggy Edinburgh at after 3am before falling into bed nearly 24 hours after getting up, exhausted by happy.
Saturday was totally the highlight of the weekend. Em, Kath, lilmissbunshine and I were up at the crack of dawn [well, 11am at least] to go and get ourselves a dose of high culture. We wandered through some slight drizzle to Grassmarket to see "Oleana", a play by David Mamet, performed by a theatre group to which a friend-of-a-friend of lilmissbunshine belongs. It was, quite simply, breathtaking. It's a duologue in three acts and shows a shift in power across the three acts from one party to the other, culminating at the end in a very intense and dramatic scene. They performed in a very intimate space within a conference suite in a hotel, and I think that made it an even more visceral experience as I had adrenalin flooding my bloodstream by the end of act three.
We left the theatre and headed back over for a wander down the Royal Mile. It's just not the Fringe if you don't run the flyering gauntlet at least once! We decided to stop and get something to eat in a cafe and lilmissbunshine spotted three members of the Midnight Juggernauts which caused much squeeing and a photo opportunity. We headed out onto Hunter Square just as street performer/comedian Stuart Goldsmith was starting his pitch and got sucked into watching that for at least half an hour. He was very slick with the performance and very good with the patter, so we found ourselves lured like mirth-seeking rats by his comedy Pied Piper back to the Canon's Gait to watch his free sketch show for an hour with his comedy partner Richard Sandling.
A quick sprint back to the flat for a spruce-up and off out again, this time all of us together to the Baby Belly to see Rob Deering. Rob knew that I was going to that show, but because I'm me I never actually thought that he'd be bothered or he'd remember me. I presume sometimes that people humour me online because there's no way to judge how people are really feeling when they have that much time to edit. Anyways, it seems that I was wrong. Not only did he let on to me when he clocked me in the front row at the start of what was a fantastic set with lots of silliness, top musicality, funny faces and some really incisive wit, but came down to pull me out on to the stage to join him for the finale of his show. I was embarrassed, flattered and really chuffed. I had a riot up there with him playing Meg White to his Jack as we played through "Seven Nation Army". There now follows a photomontage that plays out some of the events...
So yes, anyway, after the show was finished we all piled outside and I tried to cool down. Then behind me came a breathless Rob who grabbed me by the arm to spin me around and said "I normally have a rule that I don't use people I know in the show but I knew you'd be brilliant! You are staying for a drink, aren't you? I'll just pack up my guitar and I'll see you in the bar..." I then got a little bit giddy that he actually referred to me as someone he knows (how sad am I?!) and then we repaired to the bar.
Rob spent some time chatting to friends whilst we got our drink on before he came over to join us. He was drinking pints of gin and tonic (how fucking rock and roll is that?!) and we chatted for a bit about stuff, films, things. Erm. I can't really remember if I'm honest. But he was funny and charming and I think all the girlies fell a little bit in love with how sweet he was.
[^I'm keeping that one in to remind myself that he might actually be interested in something I have to say. Heh)
We skipped off into cabs letting Rob wander off into the night and headed for the late night club at The Stand. You never know what you're going to get when you're going there, but we really lucked in. We got, amongst other top acts, Rich Hall (who almost caused a tsunami of squee when his arrival was announced) and Ed Byrne, who is totally in my good books for saying I didn't look old enough to be married. Well, it was very dim in there...
Saturday came around all to quickly, and after heading out together for breakfast (which turned out to be more like lunch, not even brunch) we wandered off our separate ways for a bit.
licklepickle , disturbiakiss and I went shopping on Cockburn Street before going to meet up with the rest of the girls for drinkies at The Pleasance. Before we'd even sat down we spotted Danny Wallace (I almost had to be restrained. GOD, that man is even hotter in the flesh than on TV) with Richard Bacon, then as we queued up to see Pappy's Fun Club we saw Nicholas Parsons. Pleasance Courtyard is always a good place for the slebspot...
Pappy's were really good. I didn't really know what to expect, but it's part sketch comedy, part sitcom. I can't even describe it, but suffice to say they were very polished and I did a lot of laughing.
We had a good couple of hours before the next show at the Pleasance, so we decided to go back to the apartment and make a dent in the copious amounts of wine drink that we'd got. Then lilmissbunshine , licklepickle , disturbiakiss and I headed back to the Baby Grand for Old Rope.
It was probably the weakest show we went to overall, but the headliner (whos name escapes me now) was very good indeed. He was American, black and told lots off good gags about the UK and about the Olympics.
From there, the three of us headed over to the Speigeltent, which was rammed, so we quickly decided against it and headed back to the Gilded Balloon instead where we sat in the cool evening air and got elegantly wasted. Well, spectacularly twatted at any rate...
After much giggling, silliness and inciting complete strangers to pull faces for the camera, we decided to head home, but did it in style. In rickshaws!
Sunday happened way too quickly. We were all a little sad to be leaving, but we sucked it up, got up relatively early and went out to get the tourist bus. I think that licklepickle and I were the only ones who opted for "Horrible HIstories" rather than the regular tourguide. Proud to be be big kids. Oh yeah!
We rounded off our trip in the best way we knew how. With a trip to Chocolate Soup. The hot chocolate there is amazing, and whilst the service was crappy this year we still had a giggle scarfing down about two days worth of calorific intake in one sitting. Bliss.
After we'd had the soup de chocolat, people started to drift off to get their respective transports. Kimmers, Em, Kath and I kept it real to the end by scarfing down the last bottle of Pinot Grigio on the bus to the airport. We know how to live on the edge! And then done for another year.
I had such an awesome time. Not a cross word was said, everyone got on brilliantly and I love those ladies so much. I just know that next year we will be able to get even more of us along and have an even greater time than this year.
Our weekend started exceedingly early, with Em, Kimmers and I heading off to Cardiff airport on Thursday at stupid o'clock in the morning (also known as 5.15am). We landed in Edinburgh feeling a little bleary and managed to be in Edinburgh city centre before most people had started work. A little mooching about, a reviving Chai Latte and then off to meet our landlady and see our abode for the weekend.
The flat was awesome, right in the heart of everything and no more than 15 minutes walk away from even the furthest-flung venues. It had three bedrooms [I plumped immediately to bunk in a double with lilmissbunshine got in from London, and with the addition of Kath later in the afternoon the crew was all set.
The first night, we got glammed up and headed over to the Underbelly to see Richard Herring. HIs show, "The Headmaster's Son", was hillarious, and also quite touching. He can sometimes cut a bit close to the bone, but in this one I came away feeling like I'd seen something of the vulnerable little boy inside the man. That did have something to do with the fact that the show is about him going through his teenage diaries and putting to rest some of his insecurities about his upbringing and how he felt he was seen by others child, but some of it actually rang really true for me and I almost let a tear slip down my cheek when he was determining to stop blaming his parents for his upbringing and just get over it. But to compensate for the poinancy, I left with a mental picture of the 41 year old Herring going back to the past and trying to wank off his 16 year old self. Disturbing, and yet strangely arousing...
Before we headed off to the next show, we had a drink in the bar, where I exchanged a few words with Mr Herring and lilmissbunshine pointed at him with her tongue...
Then off to The Stand to see the Honourable Men of Art, chaired by the fabulous Daniel Kitson and featuring 2008 If.Comedy award winner David O'Docherty. We got half drowned in the torrential downpour on the way there, but it was totally worth it. They entertained us for nearly three solid hours, Andy Zaltzman chipping in witty asides, David O'Docherty serenading us with tunes about his very mild superpowers and Kitson brought the whole thing to a thundering climax by challenging an audience member to a pants-down sprint spelling bee, waddling around the perimeter of the audience with his trousers around his ankles showing off rather fetching baggy green briefs, spelling words challenged to him at the appointed places on the lap before returning to the stage. I was at least three-quarters dead by that point, but I still laughed until I nearly cried. We left and squelched back across a very soggy Edinburgh at after 3am before falling into bed nearly 24 hours after getting up, exhausted by happy.
Saturday was totally the highlight of the weekend. Em, Kath, lilmissbunshine and I were up at the crack of dawn [well, 11am at least] to go and get ourselves a dose of high culture. We wandered through some slight drizzle to Grassmarket to see "Oleana", a play by David Mamet, performed by a theatre group to which a friend-of-a-friend of lilmissbunshine belongs. It was, quite simply, breathtaking. It's a duologue in three acts and shows a shift in power across the three acts from one party to the other, culminating at the end in a very intense and dramatic scene. They performed in a very intimate space within a conference suite in a hotel, and I think that made it an even more visceral experience as I had adrenalin flooding my bloodstream by the end of act three.
We left the theatre and headed back over for a wander down the Royal Mile. It's just not the Fringe if you don't run the flyering gauntlet at least once! We decided to stop and get something to eat in a cafe and lilmissbunshine spotted three members of the Midnight Juggernauts which caused much squeeing and a photo opportunity. We headed out onto Hunter Square just as street performer/comedian Stuart Goldsmith was starting his pitch and got sucked into watching that for at least half an hour. He was very slick with the performance and very good with the patter, so we found ourselves lured like mirth-seeking rats by his comedy Pied Piper back to the Canon's Gait to watch his free sketch show for an hour with his comedy partner Richard Sandling.
A quick sprint back to the flat for a spruce-up and off out again, this time all of us together to the Baby Belly to see Rob Deering. Rob knew that I was going to that show, but because I'm me I never actually thought that he'd be bothered or he'd remember me. I presume sometimes that people humour me online because there's no way to judge how people are really feeling when they have that much time to edit. Anyways, it seems that I was wrong. Not only did he let on to me when he clocked me in the front row at the start of what was a fantastic set with lots of silliness, top musicality, funny faces and some really incisive wit, but came down to pull me out on to the stage to join him for the finale of his show. I was embarrassed, flattered and really chuffed. I had a riot up there with him playing Meg White to his Jack as we played through "Seven Nation Army". There now follows a photomontage that plays out some of the events...
So yes, anyway, after the show was finished we all piled outside and I tried to cool down. Then behind me came a breathless Rob who grabbed me by the arm to spin me around and said "I normally have a rule that I don't use people I know in the show but I knew you'd be brilliant! You are staying for a drink, aren't you? I'll just pack up my guitar and I'll see you in the bar..." I then got a little bit giddy that he actually referred to me as someone he knows (how sad am I?!) and then we repaired to the bar.
Rob spent some time chatting to friends whilst we got our drink on before he came over to join us. He was drinking pints of gin and tonic (how fucking rock and roll is that?!) and we chatted for a bit about stuff, films, things. Erm. I can't really remember if I'm honest. But he was funny and charming and I think all the girlies fell a little bit in love with how sweet he was.
[^I'm keeping that one in to remind myself that he might actually be interested in something I have to say. Heh)
We skipped off into cabs letting Rob wander off into the night and headed for the late night club at The Stand. You never know what you're going to get when you're going there, but we really lucked in. We got, amongst other top acts, Rich Hall (who almost caused a tsunami of squee when his arrival was announced) and Ed Byrne, who is totally in my good books for saying I didn't look old enough to be married. Well, it was very dim in there...
Saturday came around all to quickly, and after heading out together for breakfast (which turned out to be more like lunch, not even brunch) we wandered off our separate ways for a bit.
licklepickle , disturbiakiss and I went shopping on Cockburn Street before going to meet up with the rest of the girls for drinkies at The Pleasance. Before we'd even sat down we spotted Danny Wallace (I almost had to be restrained. GOD, that man is even hotter in the flesh than on TV) with Richard Bacon, then as we queued up to see Pappy's Fun Club we saw Nicholas Parsons. Pleasance Courtyard is always a good place for the slebspot...
Pappy's were really good. I didn't really know what to expect, but it's part sketch comedy, part sitcom. I can't even describe it, but suffice to say they were very polished and I did a lot of laughing.
We had a good couple of hours before the next show at the Pleasance, so we decided to go back to the apartment and make a dent in the copious amounts of wine drink that we'd got. Then lilmissbunshine , licklepickle , disturbiakiss and I headed back to the Baby Grand for Old Rope.
It was probably the weakest show we went to overall, but the headliner (whos name escapes me now) was very good indeed. He was American, black and told lots off good gags about the UK and about the Olympics.
From there, the three of us headed over to the Speigeltent, which was rammed, so we quickly decided against it and headed back to the Gilded Balloon instead where we sat in the cool evening air and got elegantly wasted. Well, spectacularly twatted at any rate...
After much giggling, silliness and inciting complete strangers to pull faces for the camera, we decided to head home, but did it in style. In rickshaws!
Sunday happened way too quickly. We were all a little sad to be leaving, but we sucked it up, got up relatively early and went out to get the tourist bus. I think that licklepickle and I were the only ones who opted for "Horrible HIstories" rather than the regular tourguide. Proud to be be big kids. Oh yeah!
We rounded off our trip in the best way we knew how. With a trip to Chocolate Soup. The hot chocolate there is amazing, and whilst the service was crappy this year we still had a giggle scarfing down about two days worth of calorific intake in one sitting. Bliss.
After we'd had the soup de chocolat, people started to drift off to get their respective transports. Kimmers, Em, Kath and I kept it real to the end by scarfing down the last bottle of Pinot Grigio on the bus to the airport. We know how to live on the edge! And then done for another year.
I had such an awesome time. Not a cross word was said, everyone got on brilliantly and I love those ladies so much. I just know that next year we will be able to get even more of us along and have an even greater time than this year.