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Blog: Edinburgh: Day 7

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I didn't get much sleep on my last night in Edinburgh, as I was all EXCITED - about everything that would happen, about the possibilities of doing it all again, and about getting HOME! I drifted off just before my ALARM went, so had a wash, got packed up, watched MOST of the Big Olympic Bike Ride, then had our final MAN HUG of VICTORY before trundling off to the bus stop.

My bag was a LOT lighter than it had been on the way up, mostly because it DIDN'T contain about 1,500 flyers - most of which we'd taken to the recycling centre the day before! Still, it was a bit of a struggle on the bus with EVERYTHING, especially as a lot of people seemed to prefer to stand next to me and TUT rather than GO UPSTAIRS WHERE THERE WERE SEATS. PAH!

I got to the station with plenty of time, and as the train came in early was pleasantly SETTLED well in advance of setting off. Nearby was an Annoying Couple who'd booked tickets seperately so had reservations in different parts of the train, but kept trying to turf other people out so they could sit together. A succession of NICE PEOPLE allowed them, only to have the seats THEY'D moved to claimed by other people, and move back. It was like MUSICAL CHAIRS.

When that finished a lady got on who was... shall we say TRADITIONALLY BUILT. "Please don't sit next to me", I thought... just as she DID, bringing with her a small, cute, but EXTREMELY STINKY little dog. I was TRAPPED, and it was not a very pleasant second half of the journey home!

It passed quickly enough though, and eventually I was HOME, RELIEVED and somewhat SURPRISED that it was finally over, and VERY pleased to be back.

So, what have we learnt? Here's some HIGHLIGHTS:
  • A SHOW is not like a GIG, especially at The Fringe where people dash STRAIGHT off to see other shows. THUS you really really don't need to bring 100s of CDs with you, and especially not a huge back full of t-shirts.
  • You also don't need 100 posters and 3,000 flyers!!
  • It really does get better as it goes along, and with the first week (we now discover) being Traditionall Quiet, it would DEFINITELY be worth doing another week, though if we did that I'd PACE myself a bit more!
  • Edinburgh is FANTASTIC - always a beautiful place, but everybody there was SO friendly. Maybe it's because we look like Grown-Ups rather than Students, but the much spoken of antipathy towards the Fringe was nowhere to be seen, everyone was AMAZINGLY nice!
  • Getting up at midday every day is FANTASTIC. Why aren't comedians and students gleefull ALL the time?!?
  • For effective busking, you need more than ONE crowd pleaser - next time i will learn up a SUITE of cover versions!
  • Also, learning to play them on UKELELE is a GRATE idea - a uke is a LOT easier to lug round pubs than a guitar!

  • The final conclusion though is that it was GRATE - that fact that I've already emailed several OTHER comedy festivals shows how KEEN I am to get out and do it again. That was BRILLIANT!

    posted 11/8/2008 by MJ Hibbett

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