Fringe etc

Our return to the Fringe after a 3 year absence went well. For a change we stayed in an apartment, rather than a hotel. It was located very centrally on Market St., very close to Waverley station - not that we travelled by train. Too many strikes - we just couldn't be sure the trains would be running, so we decided to drive. Due to all the roadworks etc, we had great trouble initially getting to the designated car park, but once we got there it was a great relief. We had views of the Scott monument and the Balmoral hotel from our apartment:

We had 6 shows booked - 3 each day - and the first was:

The singer was former pop star Cleopatra who we'd seen once before. She was excellent. I wish I could say the same about our 2nd show, which was another of those awful cringe-worthy shows in a tiny room that you always get at the Fringe. Mind you, it wouldn't be the Fringe without the usual proportion of stinkers.

We had a really nice meal at a Mediterranean/Middle East fast food parlour then headed off to where we thought our evening show was, only to discover that it was a completely different location in another part of the city at least 25 minutes' walk away. We had to scurry but got there just in time for the News Revue. Satire can amuse and make you smile but you don't get many belly laughs from it. It was a relatively old-fashioned Cambridge Footlights style of revue which got pass marks - just.

The following morning was a chance to stretch our legs again - a historical comedy walk round the city centre. Daniel Downie was hilarious. He greeted all his guests and interacted with them all, remembering all the names too. I would happily go back to any one of his shows next year. Next was the Political Party with Matt Forde, who we'd seen before. This time it was a one to one interview with Joanna Cherry, a controversial figure in the Scottish National Party who, during the course of the show, revealed her ambition to one day be leader of the party, a revelation that made all the papers the following day.

Now we had a few hours to spare and we'd arranged to meet up with Ross for a meal. We walked through Princes St gardens towards Haymarket:

We met Ross in a lovely little pub with excellent ale called Monty's, which, sadly, was to close down in a few days due to the landlord's huge increase in rent. An excellent steak meal followed and then we went back to Ross' work for a coffee to finish:

Our final show was How I Ruined Medicine - a one man stand-up comedy show by TV's Dr. Phil Hammond - and that was that. We got home by lunchtime on Tuesday, a little tired but otherwise fine.

It was another drive back down the road on Thursday - to Clydebank this time for Jo's cataract operation, which was scheduled for 7:45 am on Friday morning, so they put us up in the adjacent hotel for the evening - and it's a proper hotel. We had a nice meal before retiring. Jo especially enjoyed the dessert - ice cream from Porrelli's of Paisley:

Early Friday morning, I accompanied Jo to the Eye Clinic and then headed back to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant, after which I went back to our room for what I thought would be most of the rest of the morning. Imagine my surprise when Jo appeared again not long after 9 am. She said it was so quick and easy this time compared with the previous cataract op in Aberdeen. We were home by lunchtime.

This last weekend, I was golfing at Boat of Garten and Grantown-on-Spey so Gary and Luca came over on Sunday to stay overnight at Arbor Court with Jo:

Meanwhile, Barry and Helen were celebrating Barry's birthday on the west coast, near Port Appin. Not far away were Dawn and Jordon, who arrived in style:

This afternoon, I finally got a call from our doctor concerning the results of my recent knee x-ray. She told me there is some additional degradation on the bone on the inside of the knee but not enough to merit any additional surgery at this stage. That means the pain must be coming from the soft tissues. The physiotherapist had already suspected tendonitis and I am undergoing an exercise programme plus Ibuprofen just now. I was told I should see results by the end of October - if not, then I'll have to be referred to the orthopaedic hospital - probably for an MRI scan.

That's all for now.