Post-festival fugue

This is a dangerous time for me. When I begin to get over the expense of the Edinburgh festival and, in this case, the extreme dampness. When friends ask how it was and I say “great” and when they ask me to let them know when I’m sorting out next year, I don’t say “What!? Are you mad? I have a pension and a cat to consider. Never again.” What I actually say is, ” Sure” and think to myself that maybe, when the time comes to cross that bridge I might well just do it.

The centre of festival is the Royal Mile and here is a video giving a very good feel of the frenetic nature of walking that particular walk each day. Just watching it reminded me of why I like to be there, even if only for a few days. Which can take some organising. Especially this year with the ticketing all over the place. It worked out fine for us but I do think the fringe organisers might like to consider the audiences.

It sometimes seems that the main preoccupation with fringe producers and organisers is internal power play – the Director resigned this year after only a year in the job. There are just so many venues and performances that one needs a native guide and although I’ve been for three years now, I doubt if I count as that although I do my best for friends who are festival “virgins”. It surely is a bit precious to have, in different locations, the Underbelly, The Udderbelly and the Baby Belly. And whilst it might make perfect sense for a group of venues to run as a separate unit as a Comedy Festival, it makes for increasingly complex decisions for the ordinary punter (and not all of us are aspiring, current or failed thesps).

Whatever I may or may not do when, in the middle of winter, the memory of the festival has faded, I have to admit, it’s still the greatest arts festival and Edinburgh is a great place.