Day 8 -  Edinburgh - Gloriously sunny day and very mild T shirt weather.  Wandered into town and stopped for coffee at local cafe - Stockbridge cafe I think. Anyway coffee was slightly better than average but they do seem to like weak coffee.  Went to a place called Bibis as Will had a parcel for me to pick up.  The 'parcel' was 4 cupcakes he had ordered for me for my birthday.  3 of them had one word on each of them  - 'Happy Birthday Mum' and the 4th was a flower.  He had also left a lovely cream cashmere scarf for me and a block of chocolate in the flat we are staying in as he was here in mid-August for a few days.  Pretty good birthday.  Unfortunately Stephen is still not well so birthday celebrations with him have had to have been postponed- good grief he has managed to catch a heavy duty virus.  So left him resting this morning.  I came back for lunch and heated up some soup -soup always helps.  Edinburgh is full of the sound of bags being wheeled over cobblestones - many people leaving as today is the last official day for the various festivals. The locals must breathe a sigh of relief to some extent as it is packed in August.  Tomorrow is very early start with an early flight to Geneva to catch up with my cousin Stephanie.  Will wrap Stephen in cottonwood and pile him onto the plane I fear.  Hopefully 10 days of fresh French mountain air will rid him of this bug.

Day 7 - Edinburgh - Had a domestic morning catching up on washing. Went and saw a show at the Pleasance courtyard leaving the ailing one in charge. The city was absolutely packed - last weekend of the Fringe.  Went to a brilliant play called Run.  Hopefully Will did not see it as was about 4 investment bank interns chasing a career in the city.  No surprises - the woman sitting next to me commented that they may as well have said it was a documentary.  The actors were all excellent - apparently the play was inspired by a true story of a 21 year old intern who died after reportedly working 72 hours straight. Makes you think.  Got chatting to the lady standing next to me in the queue for the show and this is her 17th Fringe.  Admittedly she lives in Aberdeen so somewhat closer for her - lucky person.

Stunning day weather-wise - warm and sunny.  Caught a very crowded bus to the Pleasance but decided to walk back and just enjoy the crowds. Inverleith Park was full of kids tearing around, waving kites, dogs tearing around etc etc.  There was even a little market at Stockbridge   selling the usual market things - huge hunks of home made soap, home made slices, oils, organic this and that.  Could have been at the Crows Nest Fair.  Also saw a gallery called Mrs Doubtfire and thought ah hah after finding out yesterday she was a real person. Ailing one unfortunately slept most of the day. We did both get out in the evening to see Nish Kumar- English comedian/social commentator whose show was called: long word…long word…Blah Blah Blah…I'm so clever. He was excellent ( must stop saying that about Fringe shows). Very funny and clever.

Day 6 - Edinburgh  - My travelling companion is still unwell so ventured out on my own today. David and Barbara left me with a birthday card and bottle of champagne before they took off for Troon where Barbara lives and David visits on weekends. Very nice of them. Generally sunny day today so walked through Inverleith Park to the shops in Stockbridge and enjoyed a coffee in the sunshine and watched the passing parade.  It is a Saturday so strikingly similar to home, with many frantic parents ferrying children around clothed in sports gear.  As part of the Fringe there is an International Photographic Exhibition showcasing a selection of photos received from around the world. Decided this would be a good thing to see. The exhibition was housed in a lovely Georgian house near the Royal Circus which is very similar to the Royal Crescent in Bath. I loved the Exhibition - huge variety of subject matter from wildlife to people to inanimate objects. Some of the images from China I found particularly striking - the countryside shots were stunning but the poverty was quite confronting as well.  I left the Exhibition inspired to take some of my own photos so started waving my phone around taking shots of scenic buildings - not hard to do in Edinburgh.

I managed to navigate my way to St Andrews Square to buy a present for the wedding we are going to and a Waterstone bookshop to buy some more reading material.  On the way I stopped to listen to a great band in St Andrews Square - very rowdy Scottish rock band essentially. Reminded me of a band from a movie we saw years ago that was about a… Scottish band.  Can't for the life of me remember what it was called but do remember one of their songs - Mustang Sally - which this band also played rather well. According to the show yesterday about the brain, I should not try and remember what the movie was called and it will just come to me when I least expect it.  We'll see.

Still lots of people around.  Meandered back home mid-afternoon to see how the invalid was doing. Invalid is not too good but managed to get him out for short walk and played peek a boo with one of the resident squirrels in the complex we are staying in.  Decided to do a bit of reading today (for some reason) on Stockbridge (where we are staying) while watching gameshows with the sick one. Apparently it was a separate village until a wooden bridge was built over the waters of Leith and eventually this was replaced by the present day stone bridge.  This area is 'only' about 200 years old (!) and was a pretty poor area until relatively recently.  Also a Mrs Doubtfire lived here - a book was written called Mrs Doubtfire based on this woman and apparently the Robin Williams movie was based on this character but the movie bears little relationship to the real Mrs Doubtfire. Relatively useless fact I admit.

Also was musing as I do sometimes, on the comedy we have seen, where the comedians are youngish and concluded that disturbingly they were all or had been struggling with dealing with modern day life. Hopefully  this is just a reflection of a number of comedians generally being manic depressives (which of course is not of itself good) and not a reflection of the younger generation generally.

We went and saw a 5 piece a cappella group from South Africa tonight called Simply Soweta Encha. Was yet another recommendation from our London correspondent and they were brilliant.  Beautiful singing and brilliant dancing - like Diamonds on the Soles of your Shoes type African harmonies and some modern songs like 'Happy'.  The sort of show from which you walk out smiling.

Day 5 - Edinburgh - Saw a very interesting clever show today as part of the free Fringe.  I went into town with our host David's partner - Barbara as poor Stephen was not very well this morning. Left him to rest and went to find a cafe Will had recommended called Sugar House Sandwiches as it actually has  decent coffee apparently.  It was located in a street called Canongate - down one end of the very touristy Royal Mile.  Very little cafe you would easily walk past and the coffee was great.  It is roasted in Edinburgh and definitely beat the watery stuff we had been having in Stockbridge.  After refuelling we wandered past a pub called  Canons' Gait and were handed a flyer  for a show about to start in 10 minutes.  We decided to wander in -  it was a lovely pub and we decided to be brave and go to the show.  It was called Off The Top and was billed as a 'comedy about the science of improvisation with freestyle rhymes, mind bending facts and special guests.'  Essentially it was a a husband and wife team where the wife is a neuroscientist and the husband a rapper and the show was about how the brain works.  The serious bits were mixed in with rap songs and 2 comedians who came on - one of whom - an Irish guitarist was hilarious.  Completely bizarre and very clever show - and it was free! Also obviously had developed a bit of a reputation as it was packed.

After patting ourselves on our backs we saw a few performers on the Royal Mile and then went down to the Grassmarket for some sandwiches watching some people dance at a silent disco.  After stopping to watch various artists etc we walked all the way back to Stockbridge in alternating squalls of wind and rain  and blazing sunshine.  Changed plans for tonight - quiet dinner at home so poor Stephen doesn't have to go out. Enjoyed ourselves though.  Barbara and I cooked up some fresh pasta with a tomato sauce and we poured some melted chocolate over berries for dessert - pretty good I thought.

Day 4 - Edinburgh - Hard to write about Scotland without mentioning the weather.  It all comes back to me now as to why I had no idea as to what clothing to bring for Scotland.  Staring out the kitchen window debating whether to head out into cyclonic horizontal rain - decided that was not sensible to stay in just because of the weather so rug up, lock up flat, walk down 2 flights of stairs into blazing sunshine.  Peel off coats and commence walking to bus stop.

Had quieter day as the fisherman seems to have picked up a cold-like illness probably from the flight.  Did manage to see another recommended show however from our London correspondent.  It was at this funny old pub (aren't they all funny and old in Edinburgh?) called the Dragon Fly in old part of town, just past the Grassmarket.  The show was called Richard Brown: Art is Easy.  He was very excited when we told him that our son had recommended his show  as he is definitely not a headline act.  He confessed that a couple of his shows were cancelled due to noone turning up.  The show was more social/political commentary with a few jokes thrown in.  He is a clever young man who appears to be pretty annoyed with the world at present.  One of the audience members was his dad - so cute.  He was part of the free fringe - the shows that are part of the Fringe but are…free. He was definitely worth a look at however.  We also did some food shopping as have volunteered to cook dinner tonight.  Pork fillets, red cabbage and boiled potatoes.  I will actually be doing most of the preparation and possibly some cooking to avoid the unwell one spreading his germs. Will see how that goes cooking under supervision.

Day 3- Edinburgh- Had busy day. Started day attempting to get a better cup of coffee. Resorted to a chain-Costa and coffee was surprisingly better that the 'artisan roasters' of yesterday. Wandered into the city centre and dropped into fishing shop where Stephen stocked up on some blue jay feathers. I was particularly concerned that Stephen was running short of these feathers. We wandered around the city centre again particularly Rose Street which is a lovely cobbled stone street and stopped there for lunch. Thought it was time to visit the Royal Mile which we did and stopped to listen to a few of the performers who set up there during the Fringe promoting their shows. Their level of enthusiasm is infectious. We really enjoyed a lady playing an electric harp- slightly bizarre but it was a lovely sound. We then headed to more parts of the old town and strolled around the Grassmarket area. This area is so medieval- it used to be an old market area and where there were public hangings so also slightly sinister. We overcame the feelings of being in a slightly sinister place by sampling some  ice cream at a shop called Mary's Milk Bar. Our tour guide from other parts of Europe- commonly known as Will had somewhat unsurprisingly recommended this place. There was also a queue so we suspected it was going to be good ice cream. Will had also told us that the Grey Friars kirkyard nearby contained  tombstones with names used by JK Rowling so we visited the graveyard but it is huge so soon gave up attempting to locate those. Later found out via Wikipedia that there is one gravestoneTom Riddle so not surprising was hard to find. It is an ancient and quite surreally peaceful place perched above the hectic Grassmarket ( which is now full of pubs etc). It was then time for afternoon tea so we shared a Guinness which Stephen assured me was as good as food, in a cute pub called the Pear Tree and enjoyed the 80's music .

We saw 2 shows today. One was called Thrones the Musical! It was hilarious- a send up of the Game of Thrones series so you really had to be a fan of that show. The other show was a stand up routine by a comedian called Angela Barnes. She was great- an English lady who was obviously not silly. One of those comedians who somewhat bravely  talks about her life and basically how she came to terms with the somewhat craziness of life generally ( at times). We bravely sat in the front row but she only noticed us once when Stephen nodded too enthusiastically about a story concerning sleepwalking- don't know what he was indicating as he nodded surreptitiously towards me. Otherwise fortunately there was no audience participation. Dinner was at the Potting Shed which was packed. We dragged our friend David whose place we are generously staying at, to dinner and Angela Barnes. Pretty sure I heard him laughing at parts of the act so hopefully he enjoyed himself.  Earlyish night as was a pretty full on day.

Day 2 in Edinburgh

Woke up to bright sunshine and headed down to Stockbridge to sample some coffee. Tried some 'artisan roasters' - definitely a very poor comparison to coffee places at Crows Nest but we sat at a table in brilliant sunshine admiring the lovely houses across the road so no real problem.  Caught bus into the city centre and immediately stumbled into a shop called 'Fat Face'.  Love the name and they were having a sale.  Forgot to mention was a clothing store that I was somewhat familiar with from previous visits.  Walked out with a couple of new tops and carried around a bag with a Fat Face label for the rest of the day. We then wandered into a gigantic bookshop - Waterstones and decided were dropping in for a further visit before we left for France and spent a little while in a great card shop with laugh out loud funny cards.

Then thought we had better get down to business and check out some Fringe shows.  Some of the venues have been moved around from my last visit but the set up with lists of shows everywhere and tapped up reviews is the same.  We chose a show called "The Humble Quest for Universal Genius" because primarily it had David O'Doherty in it.  However Mr O'Doherty was a no-show for no apparent reason (Grrr) and we had a substitute.  Was still pretty good - like a comedic game show with 2 contestants who had to answer questions essentially to see who was smarter interspersed with funny videos and a funny compere. We followed this with a lovely lunch at The Potting Shed and Stephen happily sampled some dark beer. We then wandered over to the Pleasance Courtyard and made note of sold out shows as some indication of what would be good to see on another day.  Ended up going to see a show called "Backstage in Biscuit Land".  Stephen saw this performer last year.  It is essentially a one woman show but she has tourettes so has a 'helper' on stage.  Very clever show - funny but also had a message about how you treat people with conditions such as hers. "Biscuit" is one of the words she says on a frequent involuntary basis along with a few others I can't really put in a G rated blog.  The 'helper' is an actress who has to do a lot of improvisation because the tourettes means she is never quite sure what is going to come out of the performers mouth. It was a great show - packed out - we got the last 2 seats. We finished the night at a favourite noodle place - lots of fresh noodle and rice dishes to choose from.  Booked a couple of shows for tomorrow and a Sunday night one that is sold out until then.  Great atmosphere at the place even with the Festival having been going for some 3 weeks - still lots of people handing out pamphlets trying to get you to go to their show, lots of people in dress up and tourists everywhere.

Day One - 23 August

Today we arrived in Edinburgh around the middle of the day. Tried a different airline and travel route this time.  Flew Qatar  - well actually flew Qantas to Perth and then Qatar to Edinburgh via Doha. Were all great flights.  Would fly Qatar again - very good food and service.  Saw many movies - most of which instantly flew from my memory as main purpose was to kill time not necessarily to be an edifying experience.  Doha airport is very glamourous.  Huge art works are on display throughout the terminals and many many shops full of luxury goods and expensive alcohol. (?)   The lounge was incredible - huge indoor water feature and huge restaurant there - pity was not hungry.

Caught tram from Edinburgh airport into the city centre - was very easy.  Met our friend David, picked up keys to his place, caught taxi with very talkative taxi driver - spent most of the time explaining how he was taking his ex-wife out for her birthday including how much he had spent on wine for the night and finishing with regaling us with a joke - most of which patter was wasted on me due to my continuing inability to decipher the scottish accent.  Stephen resisted the temptation to leave a sizeable tip - I understand his patter was pretty lame. Just back from wander around local grocery store to pick up some small bits and to keep moving so we do not fall asleep.  Just saw a squirrel in the garden - so cute I thought.  Stephen acts like a local  and dismisses its inherent cuteness immediately as it is a grey squirrel which is vermin apparently. Of course given Stephen is already speaking with a slight Scottish lilt I may have completely misinterpreted what he said and for example he may just have named our local squirrel Herman (lame I know).