Our Edinburgh correspondent Iain writes;
Hi Vanilla,
Well that is the festival over and
I had thought that summer had also slipped away but no, it seems to be back but,
in an Edinburgh sort of a way. That means that it is windy and the temperature
is about 19 but the sun is shining and it’s expected to do so all this coming
week. Last week we had the coldest August temperatures since records began but
happily I’ve just spent a lovely day in the garden so all is well. I say the
festival is finished but it does not do so until tonight when we have the annual
fireworks spectacular. It’s such a lovely evening I might even wander along and
watch them.
The festival has been fantastic. I
say that every year but it simply is. I pretty much ignored the fringe this
year. It’s now about seventeen pounds a ticket for the bigger venues and the
shows are generally just under an hour. Because I am so bloody ancient if I
book after August 1st,
my tickets for the international festival are half price. So I went to see the
Julliard Dance School from New York with Steve for £8.50 per ticket and it was
brilliant. Most of my shows cost me £10 or less. I splashed out for the hottest
ticket of the festival and saw the Marinsky Ballet do Cinderella last night for
£20.00 , really wonderful. I went to about 15 shows over the three weeks.All of
them were good and many of them spectacular.
I went to see the Bathshiva Dance
Company from TelAviv perform at the Playhouse and not entirely surprisingly
walked into a bigish demonstration. A big pro Palestinian demo, both outside the
theatre and inside during the performance. I have to say my sympathies tend to
be with the Palestinians and thought the demo both, understandable and
reasonable. I was handed a leaflet by, what turned out to be a pro Israel group
describing themselves as the, “Let Israel be heard”, movement. I told the polite
lady that I thought that the Israeli tanks were doing that without any help from
her. The performance itself was the least enjoyable thing I saw and could best
described as chaotic angst, although I’ve nothing against chaos nor angst I
fdear an hour and a half of it began to wear me down. Needless to say the five
interruptions of the performance ensured that the company were given a standing
ovation that otherwise might not have been forthcoming. On leaving, the
demonstrators were chanting that our tickets were soaked in Palestinian blood
which I though a little strong but it made me think.
Our choir were performing for one
night during the fringe and it was a sell out with quite a few turned away. The
venue seated 300 so that’s pretty good given that there are literally hundreds
of shows to choose from. We seem to have a pretty good following. Two shows near
Christmas so we will see just how good a following. Great fun
though.
As usual I’ve left the exhibitions
till the crowds are gone. I went to the Picasso and Modern British Art
Exhibition yesterday and it’s brilliant. Going to the Van Goth to Kandinsky next
Saturday so I’m looking forward to that. There is a big John Bellany exhibition
coming in November to celebrate his 70th birthday. Lots of good
things coming in the autumn.
I enjoyed my holiday in Esperaza.
It was great to be back and you made it a really great time. Thankyou. The time being split between Esperaza and
Bordeaux made the holiday seem more than a week. It has made me think about
holidays. I’ve decided to
take some weekend city breaks. Anywhere that has direct flights from Edinburgh.
I’ve still never been to Amsterdam and I’d love to go to the
Concertgebouw. There are plenty of cheap flights. There are
flights to Madrid, Geneva, Paris, Munich and lots more so I just need to get my
finger out. Steve seems interested in an Amsterdam break and likes the idea of
weekends away.[ATTENTION LEO AND TOBY (Ed.)]
The adverts for Christmas are
already about. Restaurants are advertising their menus and venues selling
tickets for events. Last Christmas doesn’t seem that long ago and as ever it
seems bloody early to start a countdown. Maybe we’ll get a winter like last
year. Now that would be great. Virtually no snow and no very low temperatures
with lots of sunshine. I’ve probably buggered that up now by mentioning it.
We’ll probably find ourselves up to our armpits in the white
stuff.
Are Annie and Pete in France or are
they in sunny Glasgow? It will be fun to meet up. It’s forty minutes in the
train so they won’t be far away. I dreamt about their mill. They were wanting
help to move it. Kind of odd thing to dream about but there again so is the mill
and not to mention moving it. In my dream Annie explained why she wanted to move
it and to where but could not understand a word of it. No change there then.[ATTENTION ANNIE AND PETE (Ed.)]
My fruit planting was a bit of a
damp squib. My strawberries all rotted in the ground before the fruit
ripened. Too much rain apparently.
Red currants produced about 1 ½ pounds of fruit, the gooseberries about the same
and the blackcurrants produced lots of foliage. I’ve managed to kill my rhubarb
which I’m told is quite a feat as it normally grows like a bloody weed. So no
great selection of home made jams and chutneys to pass around.
My neighbours seem to be dropping
like flies. Four have gone in the last two weeks. Fortunately the ones I know
well are flourishing.
I hope that you are all doing the
same. Flourishing seems like a good thing to do. I hope you managed to get
things sorted out with your new blog. By the way how did you manage to make me
look so butch in that picture? My name and that word are rarely in the same
sentence. Give my best to Ryan and Alicia, I really enjoyed meeting them
enjoying their company and eating their food. I think in that order. It’s good
that you don’t need to chain them up to keep them.
CHEERS IAIN! Nice to get your news
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