18 August

5.15pm 'Truckstop', The Zoo Southside, £5.

Rain. All. Day. Miserable. It's supposed to be high summer! My arse. Spend the whole day relaxing with Noni, we are all bundled up in jackets, scarves, hats and hoods. Coffee and tea breaks are long and plentiful, think we had morning tea and afternoon tea! We buy tickets to see a piece of theatre called Truckstop which was originally written in Dutch and has been translated, yet the characters are Dutch but speak English and the music is Dutch. Crazy, amateur theatre. The acter's performances are okay, a little stock standard raise my voice here, double take there, cough, fake cry. The play deals with disability, loneliness, relationships, trust and death. By the end of the play, all 3 characters are dead. Not exactly uplifting, life affirming theatre. The funniest thing was seeing the muck out afterward, I think they were running a bit late which meant they had less time to pack up and they needed to vacate the space so the next lot of performers could set up. They couldn't even wait for the audience to finish clapping before starting to pack up the set with a worried look on their faces, made funnier by one costumed in a fluffy dressing gown and flannelette pyjamas.


23.15 Stephen K. Amos - Weekend Chat Show, Gilded Balloon £5

Go home to dry off and relax before heading back out into the wet night. We have to lineup for this in the rain and the show is running late. This is Amos' blatent attempt at trying to pitch himself as an ace television variety show host and, as much as I love him, he fails. It was plain as day to see he had absolutely no interest in the guests that were on which got painful at the end. He should stick with stand up, that's for sure. Tripod were the house band, solid as always. Guests that I can remember were Faith Brown, kind of like an english Joan Rivers, but with a Dolly Partonesque figure. Her Fringe show is 'Boys in the Buff' and they performed a song from it which did indeed have boys in the buff. It was hilarious seeing Amos trying not to look interested in the bums on stage right in front of him. Next was a reviewer from one of the loal rags. She swore too much and was very brash but did have some good stories. She absolutely panned Christina Davies' stand up show (remember Christina Ballerina from Big Brother 1?) which made briony and I absolutely crack up.

17 August

11.15pm, Mitch Benn Music Club, Udderbelly Pasture, £10.
http://www.mitchbenn.com/

The poster for this looks fantastic and sraws me right in fromt Day1 of the festival. The special guests they get on the show are really good as I see the lineup on the boards at Bristo Square daily. I must admit I have high hopes. When I finally make time for this show, it's a really nerdy radio dj who has his own band and does musical parodies, click on the link to hear the kind of stuff I'm talking about. His voice is good, it's just all a bit too polished and sometimes seem forced. He knows when the funny lines come up and just expects the audience to double over. I end up leaving before the performance ends, it goes on far too long. My first walkout!

16 August

No shows today, but hanging out at Speigelgardens all night.

Thursday was my colleague Steinunn's last day working at the RCN. The following day her and her parnter Nick were driving to London to live and work their for just under a year before moving back to Steinunn's homeland, Iceland. We had a lovely afternoon tea for her in the office with lots of yummy scones and brownies from Lynda who does RCN's catering. After work, a good group of us walked up the Meadows and got a plum spot in the Speigelgarden. I nipped back home to get a warmer jacket before starting to indulge in ridiculously overpriced beer. We also saw Jilly for the first time in a few weeks since her wedding. She'd been on her honeymoon in the Dominican Republic and came back so tanned I just stared in awe for an hour or two! Steinunn will be much missed in the office, I think all of us would one day love to go and visit her in Iceland! In a strange twist, her leaving means I get to stay at the RCN for longer, as I was temping here while she took some leave. We ended up kicking on until after midnight, not bad considering almost all of us had work the next day!

15 August

10.00pm Ali McGregor's Midnite Lullabies, The Famous Spiegeltent, £8.
http://www.alimcgregor.com/images/Press_Release_Midnight_Lullabies_ED07.pdf

Back at work today, it's been a great little holiday. Finally, this is my first time in the Spiegeltent here in Edinburgh. It's not the same one that comes to Adelaide, it's much smaller. I think there are 11 or so of these little flat-packed beauties travelling the world.

This show was based around the notion of 'midnight lullabies'. Ali McGregor has a great knack for storytelling and introduces each song and why she likens it to a midnight lullaby. She sang opera, rock, folk, and Radiohead, all in her classically trained beautiful voice, often with her harpischord in hand. Ben Hendry accompanied on percussion and the pair worked really well on stage. For those of you who think she sounds familiar, she performed as part of 'La Clique' in 2006 Adelaide Fringe and also did her own show in Adelaide this year. Think she also guests on ABC's 'Spicks and Specks' every now and again. Adam Hills was the special guest at this performance and he came on and read the poem 'Clancy of the Overflow' and it all got rather patriotic and nostalgic in the Spiegel for awhile. Until Ali sang a version of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River". Funk!

14 August

1.30pm Eleanor Tiernan - "Help!", Gilded Balloon, Complimentary ticket.
http://www.chortle.co.uk/shows/edinburgh_fringe_festival_2007/e/15861/eleanor_tiernan:_help/review/

I still had an unused ticket for this performance from last week so decided to try my luck being cheeky and using for today - it worked! They never look at the ticket stub anyway...I really enjoyed this play, starring two sisters and dealing with inner demons and self doubt when performing. Honest and earnest acting. I think the play was written by these two sisters as well as their brother Tommy who is a standup comedian. Gorgeous Irish accents, too!


4.00pm Tom Tom Club, £10, Udderbelly.
http://www.abc.net.au/centralvic/stories/s1886599.htm
This site has some good photos from the show when it toured in Victoria

I bought Cheryl a ticket for this as a thankyou for doing my hair the day before. I met up with her and some of her flatmate's friends at the Udderbelly Bar beforehand. The lineup for this show had started 45 minutes before so about 30 minutes to go we left our primo bar seats to join the line. Despite not being at the front of the line we managed to score 3 seats front row and centre. Cheryl is very much into hip hop and high energy stuff so I knew Tom Tom Club would be a great show for us to see. The act is made up of a whole heap of Australian guys, all graduated from the Fruit Fly Circus. Each had his own special niche or trick. There was a drummer, DJ/MC, beatboxer, breakdancer and four guys who did acrobatics. They had the right mix of theatricals and loads of natural talent. I felt like a kid at a circus - the tricks these acrobats were doing were amazing and it was also bery nice that they were shirtless (way to trivialise the situation, eh?). Tom Tom Club is very much into getting the audience into the performance, not up on stage but through keeping the energy up, clapping, making lots of noise and being vocal during tricks and acts. Everyone walked out of that show with a huge smile on their face, including me. Great fun.

13 August

Cheryl cut and coloured my hair this afternoon, was nice to not have to go anywhere to have it done but the downside was having to clean up all the hair! We had a sheet down but it musn't have been big enough, I was cleaning hair out of the cracks of the floorboards for days after...ick! We went out for coffee at Hula on Victoria Street afterward, then Stephan met up with us and we went for a pint to escape the rain which had descended on us.


10.30pm Simon Amstell "No Self", £9.50, Pleasance Courtyard

Sold out Fringe run, very popular comedian here in UK. We were lucky to nab these tickets the week before from the venue box office, most tickets had sold out way in advance. The lineup to get in snaked completely around the large courtyard space and once we were in the venue we had to squish up on the end of a bench seat. This meant we were absolutely packed in like sardines, no personal space between you and the person next to you. When Simon Amstell finally came on thank God he was funny as it took my mind off the non-laughing wriggler next to me. A really good set that I can't remember any of the jokes to now tell you that it was worth it.

www.simonamstell.co.uk

August 12

http://www.edfringe.com/story.html?id=2002&area_id=31

Fringe Sunday is a big free event put on by the Fringe organisers in the Meadows. Unfortunately when we got down there the weather had gotten really festy and I was in thongs (flip flops). We stayed for an hour or so, checked out the markets and got handed about 10 million flyers. The ground was too muddy and the free entertainment tents were too packed so we ended up going on a giant loop walk around the city to look for lunch. Every place we went to either had a waiting list, no places to sit or didn't have anything we felt like! After an hour of walking we arrived at Bruntsfield, just next to the Meadows where we ended up sitting outside at the Golf Tavern, outside the Bruntsfield Links, a small golf course. We were told they'd be a wait for the meals but we still ordered up an entree to share and a main each. An hour later I went inside to see what was going on and they had gotten so busy with orders they actually had to stop taking new ones just after we ordered. They were very apologetic and offered a round of free drinks - pity we'd had plenty of cocktails the night before and could only muster enough strength for Diet Cokes. 10 minutes later they brought out our entrees and mains at the same time, we were still sitting outside and the weather had gotten windy, so our food went cold quickly. It was nice but it would have been even nicer to taken time to savour instead of scoffing it all down quickly instead of it getting cold. Also quite strange to end up having lunch at 4pm.

The weather was getting yuckier by the second so we walked up to Alphabet Video in Marchmont and got Family Guy DVDs. 20 minutes into the first episode and we were both out cold around 7pm. All the late nights had started to catch up with us!

August 11

7.30pm, The Edinburgh Military Tattoo, £40 (ticket given to me), Edinburgh Castle.

http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/

Saturday and my turn to go to the tattoo had arrived! Briony, Cheryl and Stefan had gotten last minute tickets and went the night before. We invited Cheryl and Stefan up to our place for some drinks and a late lunch. they came armed with cocktail ingredients and made a potent drink with lime juice, sugar, ice and vodka. That's it! Went down very nicely but I had to pace myself as I had to sit through the tattoo soon. At 7pm I walked up the street to join the lineup, just a huge mass of people filling the street. This is only part of the crowd behind me:


I got through the crowd and entered just as it was starting at 7.30pm. Those who were behind me would have missed the first 15-20 minutes of the show as they start dead on time. The lady who offered me her free spare ticket, Christine, arrived 2 minutes after me. She was a lovely lady and I hoped she liked the little gift I bought her to say thankyou. We had great seats, and on the aisle as well so we weren't piled up on top of each other if we were in the middle of an aisle - they really do pack you in like sardines. I'm so glad I got to see the tattoo as it was a real show. A lot of the acts I'd seen in the Festivals Cavalcade so they weren't a surprise, but what they did in their acts was. the backdrop of the castle was stunning. This is a photo from the final part of the performance, where all the acts were on stage together:


After the tattoo I met up with everybody again for a bit of a night out on the town. Tried to get into Spiegeltent but the lineup was huge. Ended down in Broughton Street with all the housemates except Noni, who'd wandered off the wrong way to what we were going. Crazy dancing at CC's, a dodgy gay place with mirrored walls and way too much glass on the floor. We left Lawrence to enjoy it while the rest of us caught a taxi home as it was pouring down with rain!

August 10

Today was another day for doing various tasks. I strapped on my backpack and walked up to work where Mum had sent my new mp3 player all loaded up with my songs courtesy of Cara and Mike. Also scored two new tops Mum had bought on sale at Myer. I felt very spoilt! Chatted to the girls at work for awhile about the shows I had been to, then walked into Morningside to grab a sandwich from Marks & Spencer for lunch. I sat outside people watching while munching away. I had a stack of old timesheets to give to my recruitment company so I wander back into town to catch up with everybody there. I see what Nic is up to, she's going to see a few bands at Henry's Bar later that night and invites me along. Done deal. I wander into Princes Street to use the toilet in House of Fraser (department store) where I lose a charm Cara had given me before I left on my trip. The padlock from my bracelet popped open and it fell off. I looked like a crazy woman in the toilets for 10 minutes searching for this charm but I couldn't find it. A lady who came in and saw me looking for something offered to help me and thinks I'm American - Quickly correct that situation and resign myself to the fact that I've lost my heart (charm). Sorry Cara, at least I've still got a couple more left, eh? Wander up George Street and am just in time to see a show as part of the Free Fringe, non ticketed events as part of the Fringe. The show was called Kerplunsky and the Pope and it was like watching your mates mucking around in drama class. Good fun but I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

August 9

11.50am Early Edition, £6, Udderbelly.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4429

My latest show yet followed by my earliest show yet. Lucky this one offered free croissants and coffee (served in a plastic cup, they'd run out of styrofoam ones...hello Occ Health and Safety!) Basically a panel show discussing the days papers, quite funny. Ran by Marcus Brigstoke and one of the guests was comedian Andrew Maxwell, whose off-topic meanderings were often funnier than the proper stuff.


2.30pm Frank and Dolly, Gilded Balloon, Complimentary ticket.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4589

I knew this was going to be pretty average but a free ticket is a free ticket and the girl who gave it to me starred in the show so points for trying. Two women playing dancing partners at a ballroom competition and the events that follow after one throws up of the other's dress. Through the play I cleverly thought how well the woman was playing a man, but all the reviews since said they playing a lesbian couple. I didn't see that, but whatever. Good acting in a crappy play.


7pm Angus and Julia Stone + The Magic Numbers at Liquid Rooms, £20.
http://www.themagicnumbers.net/
http://www.angusandjuliastone.com/a_book_like_this/index.htm

Another big ticket to see this band, but so worth it. Our first trip to Liquid Rooms and I almost fainted as the sold out crowd made the venue so sweaty and hot. I squealed on entry as the opening band were (unbeknowest to me) Angus and Julia Stone, who I'd last seen at Caberet Voltaire a few months back. This Aussie brother and sister duo had a full band with them this time and played my favourite 'Mango Tree'. They went down so well the Magic Numbers themselves urged them to play longer than their set time, which you could see spun them out. Must have been nervous as they completely mucked the song up. The two of them have so much charm however it wasn't a problem.

A wee break and then the Magic Numbers bounded onstage. The ice in my Magners had all but melted and left a watery cider to drink. Played all the songs I knew, one after the other at the start, about 5 in a row so the beginning was awesome and set the mood for the rest of the night. It was an absolutely great live show, they really got the crowd moving and singing along. Great sound and strong vocals - really strong from all of them. Harmonies between the two girls especially worked with the lead male singer. Will have to get their albums back home I think.

August 8

Tough day for free tickets.

3.45pm, Mouse, in the Underbelly Rooms, Complimentary tickets.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=5163

Was running late for this performance but as soon as I walked in I knew I'd made a mistake. No escape! One man monologue that was billed as a comedy but was actually a really disturbing tale of this guy who worked in IT and read and intercepted colleagues emails. Ends up becoming infactuated(sp?) with one and killing another. This was made eerier with the theatre space being inside a vault.


12.45am, Phat Cave, Gilded Balloon
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=5309

Noni wanted a night off so I wandered to Bristo Square on my ownsome to catch a late show. Got a free entry (Mickey D snuck me in) to Phat Cave, which was great as I only had 40p in my purse, having paid rent that day - getting any more £££'s out of the ATM was not an option. Hung around for 20 minutes or so talking to various comedians in the Adelaide comedy scene, some nice and others are ridiculously up themselves - you are now on my blacklist Rohan Harry and Kath Dwyer! Phat Cave had good guests on, amongst the Sista She, Gamarjobat (like a funnier, Japanese version of the Umbillical Brothers), Tania Lee Donnelly (a midget standup), Fleetwood Mick and more. Luckily I didn't have to work the next day as that didn't wind down until just before 4am. Nice to live so close - I was tucked up in bed less that 10 minutes later.

August 7

Breaker Morant, 1.40pm, Udderbelly, Complimentary ticket
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4161

Although I had already been given a comp ticket to a play in the Gilded Balloon, I was being cheeky and staking out for Breaker Morant tickets. The play is something I'd never seen (nor the film) but definately have always wanted to. The play was being staged in Edinburgh by the Comedians' Theatre. Phil Nichol directed it and Adam Hills was cast as the lead character, joined by fellow Aussie comedians Brendan Burns, Heath (Ronnie Johns, Chopper) Franklin and Sammy J. I had high hopes for this play but as time went on it became more obvious it was a bunch of comics trying to be serious actors. Sammy J played the defense lawyer extremely well though. The next nhight before Phat Cave I went up to Heath Franklin and he introduced me to a whole heap of the cast and asked if I'd seen them on an 'acting' day or a 'non-acting' day. At least he could see that perhaps their acting wasn't the finest.


4pm, Jarlath Regan - Nobody Knows Jarlath Regan in the Gilded Balloon, Complimentary ticket. http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4852

Young Irish comic, very affable and great storylines. Cute, too but he doesn't let it slip he has a girlfriend until the end and then drops the bomb that after 7 years he proposed to her a month ago! Awwww. Room was so hot he had fans on each seat. Nice touch. Hope he comes to the Adelaide Fringe next year and if so, he comes highly recommended!


9.15pm Mickey D - Shame 101, in the Gilded Balloon, £7.50
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=5122

Paid for this but wished we had freebies. I love that Mickey D comes from my hometown but when it came down to it, his act was a bit crass, and not actually that funny (and I've seen him do funny before - it is possible!). Highlight was him saying how he'd worked at KFC so I dobbed Noni in saying "she did too!" They reminisced about CHAMPS, and I joined in saying I'd worked at Pizza Hut so we were all part of the Adelaide Tricon family. By the way the room was tiny and only had about 15 people in it so it wasn't that embarrassing singling Noni out!

August 6

I think I spent my first day off work sleeping most of the day and doing other mundane chores. No shows.

August 5

This afternoon we headed to watch the Festival Cavalcade, in the rain. We went to the start of the route and couldn't stand the crowds or see anything so went to the end of the route and got a plum spot! Lots of Community floats and also most of the acts from the Tattoo. Some great costumes, much flyer handing-out. Here is my favourite - this day was certainly not what it said on the banner!

This site has a whole heap of photos up from the event - can you spot us in any?
http://www.edinburghcavalcade.com/

Made up for no shows yesterday by seeing 3 shows today with Briony. All female, one woman shows and also all Australian. How very patriotic!

Kate McLennan - The Debutante Diaries, 5.15pm in the Gilded Balloon, Complimentary tickets.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4924

Earnest young Aussie performer, more of a theatre monologue than comedy (hard to pidgeonhole I suppose but the Brits like to do that). One woman show playing about 9 characters, all working towards the event of a Deb Ball. You could see she wrote the show as her performance was very passionate. I hope she did well here, I think Kate McClennan has a bright future in entertainment.


Jackie Loeb - Things I Can't Talk About , 7pm in the Gilded Balloon, Complimentary tickets.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4838

Traditional standup, ala Seinfeld "what's the deal with (insert topic/item here)?" Taboo topics, quite funny, slightly confronting. This woman swallows her pride for a laugh and gets them in spades.


Kitty Flanagan - A Festival of Me, 8.20pm in the Pleasance Dome, £6.80
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4936

One of my personal favourites, grew up with Kitty appearing on many a sketch show including Full Frontal, Micallef Programme etc etc. A delight to watch, she now lives in London. Kitty opened her show with a short film she tried to enter into the Edinburgh Film Festival but it was rejected. So she made a standup show based loosely around it to be in the fringe instead. Fair enough and I'm glad she did. The short film was a better version of Bridget Jones Diary, if you ask me.

August 4

For the life of me I can't remember what we did this day but it didn't involve any Fringe shows. Yes, remember now! We went to my workmate Jilly's wedding reception at a castle 40 minutes out of Edinburgh. Beautiful night which ended in Briony and the RCN counsellor sucking helium balloons and singing classics such as Grease Lightnin'. How odd. I bought sparkly new (flat!) shoes for the occasion which were comfy in the store but resulted in me going barefoot at the reception and bleeding red raw heels upon my return home from walking up the Mound. Intense pain. I never learn...

Here are some photos:

This is me taking a photo of my new skirt (£10 at Debenhams, was £80. It's a full skirt with a tulle underlay. Love it!). Why I've taken this photo here as the toilets were like little caravans outside the marquee at the castle, but trying to be stylish by adding carpet on the floors. If the stupid flash wasn't on you would be able to see me hair which had been done earlier that day by Cheryl, with the help of about 450 bobby pins. Glam.




















This is the Castle where Jilly, my workmate and her parnter of 13 years tied the knot. The reception was in a marquee at the front. Favourite moment was watching the kids in all their finery, roll down the grassy hills near the castle, totally wrecking their outfits but having a good time doing it.

For some reason I can't add this picture on the page, so you'll have to click on the link. Let me know if it doesn't load.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sQaJ0trZdKk/RtqO_QjlV7I/AAAAAAAAAJA/xWaWLGzxCa4/s1600-h/P8050217.JPG

August 3

Stephen K. Amos 'More of Me', 9.40pm, Pleasance Courtyard, £7.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=5622

Briony had booked this for us a few weeks before. Amos is a great UK comic who always treks to Adelaide for the Fringe. He has some great jokes about Haighs and knows the city quite intimately. Amos is great at observation so laughs come easily from that, then adds twists to make you laugh at the absurdity of some things. He was clearly still working out what works and what doesn't work in his show (Still seeing previews before the festival actually starts, the toss up of seeing a cheaper show is not seeing it quite as polished). Was slightly disturbed at how much he sweats on stage - these venues are like saunas most of the time, so standing in front of a heap of glaring lights wouldn't help. At the end of the performance he gave free tickets away to his other show 'Weekend talk show' but Noni wanted to go to bed, Piker. We slink home while the rest of Edinburgh gears up for a big Friday night.

August 2

Show: Greg Fleet and Mick Moriarty in Fleetwood Mick, 9.30 pm. £5, Gilded Balloon.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=4675

Stalwart of Aus comedy and a nod to my time spent devouring Good News Week episodes. Mick Moriarty's band the Gadflys was house band on GNW's Nite Lite. Show went really well until the end where their story goes downhill about them both lusting after a girl on a picture of a pack of cigarettes. Distasteful. Spent hald the show wondering if Greg Fleet was still a junkie. Juy's still out on that one.

PS - I've added a few photos to my post about Dublin. Go back and have a gander!

August 1

Show: Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. Complimentary tickets, Gilded Balloon, 10.45pm.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=5502

Noni and I watched one man in a kilt behind a giant piece of tartan. 2 sock puppets. great idea for the first ten minutes, but a 50 minte performance was a bit of a stretch. however, high energy and enthusiasum for the month ahead meant laughs came easily. Helped that it was free too.

Almost August...

Fringe Festival rundown. Previews started on the 1st August, with the Fringe officially kicking off on the 5th. The 1st is when things started buzzing around here. All in all I saw over 30 shows, many free, mostly comedy, lots of Aussie acts. Scots all clear out of Edinburgh for August and the populations' accent takes a real nasal twang - the Aussies swamp the town!

Work kindly let me take a week and a half off to enjoy the festival which was great as there are so many things on during the day as well as late at night events. I really came to enjoy the long lie-in for that time. I'd wander down to a venue, usually Bristo Square where a cluster of venues are - the Gilded Balloon, Pleasance Dome and Udderbelly (a venue inside of an inflatable giant, upside down purple cow), and try to get as many free tickets to shows as possible. In the first week this was particularly easy and I saw some great neat things. It was also nice to not have to choose as the choice was so great sometimes you don't know where to start!

I think the best way to go through the shows I saw is to go through each day of August, start to finish. Better order another coffee...

Lead up to my August posts (in September)

Slightly out of date as I am writing this a week after the Fringe finished. Agata and Lawrence have gone to Connect Festival and the house is even more quiet than usual. I have actually been looking forward to a Friday night by myself as August has just been madness. Briony was going to a workmate's house to watch the Big Brother final. Not realy my cup of tea. After work finishes, I walk down to Alphabet Video to hire some dvds. The weather was so nice, I decided to walk the wrong way home up to Bruntsfield to wander the gorgeous little boutiquey shops and get some dinner. I get some pasta and some flavoured peanuts from the little Thai store which sells Asian groceries, so much cheaper than the supermarkets. Get a message from Cheryl, her and her flatmates are going out tonight. I'm all set up for a night home so sadly decline - my time with Cheryl is limited as she is leaving to go travelling at the end of the month.

Diana and Marcos join me in my room to watch Somersault. This Aussie movie has a soundtrack that i adore - I hired it purely on that basis. It was a good movie for Marcos as there wasn't much dialogue. I put Rushmore on next as I love Wes Anderson films but I've never seen this one...and fall asleep halfway through.

Saturday Morning and I get up nice and early to do a spring clean. Washing, cleaning, vacuuming. The house is spotless (for now - it never takes long for noni to leave her mark!)

During the morning I went across the road to pick up my new book from the library. Alan Alda's autobiography. I have high hopes. I also listen to my first bit of "Speak Spanish" CD, also from the library. I want to surprise Marcos and Diana, which I do. I can mimic very well but don't retain them in my old age so practice practice practice. Also used Lawrence's computer to rip the CDs I've amassed onto my new mp3 player...all 2 of them - the new Crowded House and Something for Kate albums.

It's now 3pm and I've escaped the house to go across the road to pen this long time coming blog post about the fringe (when I know it's a big one I write it on paper first). I've come to the Elephant House which is where JK Rowling supposedly wrote a bit of Harry Potter. Because of this fact during August tourists flocked to this place, taking photos and the like. I don't know why I'm here as the coffee is shocking, the service ridiculous, plus the chairs are uncomfy. Perhaps I wanted a bit of my own inspiration? I must look like a tool sitting here, jotting things down but who cares? I'm most excited about getting this ticked off the list today so I won't have to do any chores tomorrow. Father's Day will be a day of complete choice to do whatever I please. There are a few exhibitions in their last weekend here I could make time for. If it's a nice day I might go down to the Botanic Gardens. In the evening there is a fireworks spectacular on which we will hopefully be able to view from our lounge room window. If not we will wander down the Mound and watch from outside (NB. my dinner was still in the oven when fireworks started, but we say them from our bedroom window. Twas no SA-FM Skyshow!).

The fireworks mark the official end of the 'festival' and already the town has gone so quiet, it's weird not getting accosted by a flyerer or having to walk on the road as the footpaths are full of roaming tourists who just stop abruptly for no reason, right in front of you. Also, having to play umbrella wars with those that don't realise that they're walking too close to you and are poking you in the head - has stopped.

September 1 and summer is officially gone. The general concensus is that it never arrived this year. Autumn has been quite agreeable so far with mild days, not much rain and wind at all. Hope that keeps up for a few more weeks - this will be great weather while Mum and Dad are here.