Edinburgh Festival... Day Three

Success today as we start the day with a run round the meadows, despite all the beer yesterday. A ‘debate’ which I lose ends in us also running around the links and up towards Warrender Park Crescent. The flat I stayed in during my second stint in Edinburgh for the MSc was there, so it was nice to be running around the old stomping ground.

After the run I bump into another Shrewsbury Town fan outside tesco’s. I knew there were more than one of us. We buy picnic material from the shop, then despite the weather forecast promising rain we decide to head up Arthur’s seat. What a stupid idea. The whole time we are out of the flat it absolutely chucks it down. A bit of rain isn’t enough to stop us though, we go up the hill anyway, stand under a tree and eat our cheese sandwiches, then go home. A proper british picnic.

We manage to dry off in the flat, grab a cup of tea, then head over to The Stand comedy club for the afternoons shows. The Stand is a tiny venue, but was very full for both shows this afternoon, so there was a great atmosphere in the place. First up was Simon Munnery, with his show “Hats off for the 101ers (and other material)”, a show that started with a punk rock musical about the designers of the 101 airship, which tells you a fair amount about the type of show it was. Simon is a comedian I’ve heard a lot about but never seen, he was ace, really really funny, with some really weird material, but all of it brilliant. Quite odd, but brilliant.  Following Simon was Stewart Lee with his show “Flickwerk”. I love Stewart Lee with a passion bordering on obsessive, he’s absolutely brilliant. The show (that wasn’t really a show, just work in progress) had me in stitches all the way through. I was genuinely concerned that I may have a heart attack at points during the show. Afterwards I hung around to buy a CD off Stewart and tell him I thought it was really good. Which it was. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to tell Lisa I was going to do that, so she headed straight outside and stood in the rain waiting for me. Oops.

We headed off for an Italian, blowing the budget at quite a nice posh restaurant on a lot of food and red wine. I decided during my meal that my comedy nerves had been destroyed totally by the show and I would never laugh at anything ever again. Luckily I realised later that it wasn’t true.

The last show of the evening was at the Edinburgh College of Art: “Tales from Edgar Allan Poe”. Another amateur production, this was exceedingly odd. The audience all stood around the edge of the room while various Poe poems and stories were acted out by a cast who, when not involved in a tale, stood around in creepy masks. The performances were all really good, and we left at almost midnight feeling pretty damn creeped out.

Shows: 3
Pints: 4
Wine: loads
Comedy: TOO GOOD.