Edinburgh Fringe day one (for us)

And we're off to Edinburgh Fringe, a 40th birthday present from Clare. Flying out from Gatwick, Harry knows we're leaving him for a few days, but thinks we're getting a helicopter for some reason. Yesterday he said "don't leave yet Daddy, don't get the helicopter", bless, I thought he was worried about me going. No, just "don't leave without mummy", he wanted to make sure we were both going. We've left him at home (at our house, with Granny and Grandpa) and we're off.

*Airport parking details moved to the bottom as it is boring... Straight to Edinburgh!

Our hotel is a cheap option, the Travelodge, it's not perfect but not as bad as we were expecting from the rating on Trip Advisor. We're on the fourth floor right above a load of roadworks, a new tramway for Edinburgh. We stopped for a quick drink in The Rutland Bar round the corner (I must take note of where we are) and unpacked in the room. It's nearly half three now and we have seen NO COMEDY YET! We will resolve this asap.

Seen comedy now, Alan Davies and then a comedy gala with lots of names, nearly all were great. We had a good look around, absorbed the atmosphere of Edinburgh and stopped in Nando's and The Frankenstein pub and The Blue Blazer, then on to the shows, both luckily at the same venue. Alan Davies was a full hour show. He was not the buffoon from from QI, but nor was he the thoughtful chap from that documentary I saw, he was abit rambling and shouty, and mostly confused. Some of it did seem a bit dated - fine he was talking mostly about Essex in the 1980s, but I was not clear why he was talking about the 1980s. Also he was talking about how confusing he found the modern world, modern being stuff from the late 1990s really. I did not once connect him with Jonathon Creek which I love - I am beginning to think he was just acting in that. I did like this show (the comedy and Jonathan Creek.

The Big C comedy gala was really good, lots of people, so got a taste of lots of different shows. Best stuff was at the beginning and then it tailed a bit for me. It was introduced by Norm from Cheers George Wendt, then we got some stuff from Roy Walker. His jokes were pretty old. Really good to see some more caberet type stuff which we might not otherwise have looked out Frisky and Mannish were good singing, so were Fascinating Aida, who we are going to seek out again. Lots of good stuff in between whose names I can't remember, someone funny from South Shields who I have seen on TV and a lesbian ex lawyer who I have heard on the radio. Josie Long was brilliant. Roy Walker was the host so he came back inbetween the other acts. He did a bit at the end with a slideshow of his photos and then some clips of Catchphrase off you tube that was a bit weird. I think it must have been cropped from another show he's done, like most of the acts were tonight. The headliner (or last act on) was The Boy With Tape On His Face which I didn't like much. Mime.

Headed home about midnight. Only two shows on the first day, no more energy to go to a "late and live" type show, not even the live scottish music next to the hotel. Maybe tomorrow (today as I write this)...


Back to the boring airport details from earlier: Got meet and greet parking through work, drop the car off outside the terminal and someone takes it away. Ideally they're going to bring it back to us after the holiday. Hectic at the airport, olympic busses all over the place, we have seen representatives of the Chinese, Canadian, and Spanish teams. No recognisable celebs at this point though.

At the airport we missed an opportunity to stop for a more glamourous coffee break in Jamie Oliver's restaurant (as we're going from the North terminal), just a quick Caffe Nero, then through to the gate and on the plane.

It's meant to be a BA flight but instead we are with Air Titan instead, never heard of them. They won't let Clare sit in the seat we have booked as it's close to the emergency exit - we checked this in advance, pregnants are allowed to sit there although disableds are not. But they're not having it "it's the law" apparently, wonder if we might complain and get some money back. Flight was a bit delayed, but we're only ten minutes late landing. Man I hate flying.

More write up later. We have internets in the hotel.

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