Competition time! (Honest!)

Ok,

I'm not sure what the prize will be - think amusing trinket rather than an item of great worth...

I was pondering on the way back from the Edinburgh Fringe, what do I do in the hills...

Fell Running implies a skimpiness of shorts that others wouldn't feel comfortable with, and a speed I may never muster

Fell Walking implies a cloth cap and a ferret, and an excess of ale...

Rambling? Hmmm, my companions thought that was not active enough...

So we chewed the cud...

Fell Jogging - do gaiters count as ankle warmers?

Mad Bugger (Extreme) - I like the link to my gong, but extreme for some reason it suggests that I'm doing assault courses...

So, the competition is open until I get an name that is moderately amusing;-)

Anyway, the Fringe...

None of my shows were truly bad... Which sounds like an odd place to start, but the Fringe can be a bit hit and miss... Newsrevue was it's usual caustic self - no one is safe...  Bonk, the show of the science of sex, based on the book with the same name and theme was patchy... But included the best 5 minutes of acting I've seen for a while (the solo on being beaten for being thought of as gay, rather than the orgasm scene - though that was good as well).  The Forbidden Planet was good, especially as it was put on by High School Kids... Though the Captain needed to really ham it up, no half shatners!  Jamie Andrew was excellent - http://www.jamieandrew.com/ - though the disability activist in me snarled as he as introduced as showing how despite everything you can have a meaningful life... However, his talk was much more matter of fact, and based on his real experience of having his hands and feet amputated following being frozen on a mountain for 5 days.

Then dance - a dancer who uses crutches, using dance and excellent sets to explore her relationship with them - the tango will live long in my minds eye. 

A session learning to play the drums, with 250 others, rounded off the afternoon, before an evening at the museum - with a harpist, Japanese physical theatre, the Mary Queen of Scots exhibition, booze and no kids! 

Sunday morning I had a few hours free, and a large volcano to run up...



Followed by Mitch Benn doing his thing, brilliantly as ever.  A steampunk, musical, version of Faustus should not have worked, but it did - and Helen of Troy was magnificent... Then Titus Andronicus, by the Smooth Faced Gentlemen - of you get the chance go and see it, Shakespeare with the wit and brutality left in...

Throw in the Doig exhibition, the art fair (only bought two prints!), the best coffee house in Edinburgh (my opinion - Castello Coffee, go!!!) and some very good baked spuds with McSween's veggie haggis on (just off the Royal Mile, seems to be always open!).

So mini-reviews and a competition... what more could blog readers want? ;-)

TTFN

Paul

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