Edinburgh Fringe Inspiration

The Fringe 2009 has now ended. This year, the BF and I went to see a fair amount of shows, in particular, those of the Laughing Horse Free Fringe. Here, performers pay nothing to the venues they use, but they also don’t charge the punters. It’s a win-win situation: The venue (often a pub) gets extra customers buying drinks due to ‘free entertainment’, while the performers get (hopefully) a larger, more enthusiastic audience.

But how do they get paid? The deal is that we, the audience, pay on our way out – in line with what we thought the show was worth. This keeps the performers on their toes, and allows (ideally) for a more authentic experience for everyone.

I’m mentioning the Fringe in my quest to reiterate my desire to become a writer. This blog’s function (hopefully) is to turn into some kind of scrap book, where I collect and note down all the things that will help keep the flame alive and put me onto the right path. Because, let’s face it, with a job that is sometimes ‘enjoyable’ and ‘rewarding’, I’ll be in danger of just forgetting all about it again. And waking up in 10 years’ time only to find that I haven’t contributed anything to the world.

The inspiration of the Fringe, then:

1. There is a different life out there, and people are living it
2. So can I

How To Enjoy The Edinburgh Festival

… without leaving your hoose.

I had planned to go out and about today, but for two reasons have been staying indoors all day:

1. it was pissing down all morning and well into the early afternoon. Like, proper pissing down.

2. I have pain in my lower stomach. Nothing to do with ‘The Curse’ ( :p ). I woke up this AM and my stomach was just funny, like stinging. It felt very tight. I tried to be sick down the toilet but to no avail – no food in there that might want out!

Pondering point 2. today, at first I was clueless as to the nature of this pain. Then, while lying on my bed in the afternoon, it occurred to me that it might have something to do with the fat Pole bearing down his weight on me, pushing his arm into my lower torso for over an hour as he was inking my chest.

I don’t have much fat tissue or indeed muscle in and around my stomach, so when he rest his chunky biker arm on it it just went all the way to the back of my pelvis with no resistance hehe. It must have just bruised me inside a bit (well not bruised, but you know, put pressure on over a sustained period of time).

The point is, that I stayed in all day because of this and have been watching the Edinburgh Festival via iPlayer. It’s featured in a couple of episodes of ‘The Culture Show’. I think they were broadcast on BBC2 (not sure).

The Culture Show (Edinburgh Festival)

The Culture Show Uncut (Edinburgh Festival)