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| Me & New Friend Pavlov @ Hendrick's Emporium... |
Yes, it's that time of year again, when I've had such a lovely time in Festival-time Edinburgh that I can't help but go on about it a bit. I make few apologies for this however as it really is the best place to be in August (unless you hate crowds, comedy, all forms of theatre, poetry, books, pop up courtyard bars and vibrancy and random happenings). I'll try to keep it brief this year so you can make it through to the end.
Firstly,
cake. Here I excelled. This year I decided to prioritise catching up with friends over trying to see everything that had good reviews (a Herculean & very expensive task anyway). Some recommendations: C
afe Angelina (London St) was visited twice, once for very fresh morning scones and spontaneous dressing up (we found a case of hats that whispered to us to try them on), then again for a delicious afternoon tea which was a thing of beauty and paid proper attention to the savoury selection
. Mimi's Bakehouse in the Royal Mile is a mini version of their main Shore place but still manages to pack in lots of gorgeous cakes in a cute, welcoming little cafe.
Lovecrumbs, is my absolute favourite (+ it's
Instagram account is the best for a fix of cake porn). It's mix of quirky furniture (sometimes you sit at a table, other times an old piano + brilliantly they present their cakes in a wardrobe), relaxed vibe and amazing cakes and flavour combinations, make it very special.
Fortitude, a chic little coffee bar handily next to The Stand Comedy Club also sell a small selection of Lovecrumbs cakes. On the last day we squeezed in the pretty
Cuckoo's Bakery (Dundas St) with it's ridiculously tempting array of cupcakes (the good kind where the cake bit isn't an afterthought to the icing). Despite all the cakey indulgence, I actually came home slightly lighter, that's the advantage of
scurrying all over town fitting in shows between all that cake.
Comedy: This year I decided to go for less comedy stand ups and more of a diverse palette of shows. Every year, there's a lot of men in their 20s & 30s telling you about their girlfriends (or lack of them) and/or how they're not very good at being a grown up (although I certainly identify with this), or much worse, stories about their kids. While this appeals in part to most of us it rarely feels like the fresh, exciting experience that I increasingly crave. With this in mind, I scaled down my stand up shows to 4 comedians:
Ed Gamble (sharp, engaging and incredibly handsome. Somehow when he talks about moving in with his girlfriend and the inevitable niggles it brings, it's hugely entertaining + he has an effective stickler for the rules agenda that results in a well constructed narrative).
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| A brilliantly niche 'museum' at Summerhall, Edinburgh |
Iain Stirling is an Edinburgh lad who's been recommended several times before, this was the year I finally bought a ticket. Funny, very personable and easy on the eyes (yes, I am that shallow, I think that's fine), I would have liked more of the political stuff as it seemed his strongest material but he veered away when it seemed to get most interesting, I got the impression he wanted to keep things more general / lighter. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed his genuinely funny hand job jokes so it's hard to say (pun not intended) whether I'm right about the politics stuff.
Paul Sinha is my hubbie's favourite (he's even started watching odd episodes of daytime quiz show The Chase in support, he seems to genuinely enjoy this) so we made time to see 'The Sinnerman'. Intelligent comedy with a strong narrative, well worth standing up at a sold out
The Stand (aptly named) for the hour. Lastly, and very much most importantly, was the wonderful
Bridget Christie. A brilliant, energetic comedian who uses her impressive talents to actually say things worth highlighting, about politics, the world and the status of women, home and abroad. She's also a delightful lunatic.
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| 'Garage', part of EdArtFest, see below for info |
Poetry: I can confidently declare that
Kate Tempest's hour long uninterrupted performance of her poetry at the Book Festival was the best show I've EVER seen in Edinburgh or anywhere else. Raw, beautiful and exhilarating. I feel lucky to have been one of the 600 witnesses to her blistering, soul twisting magnificent performance. Me & hubbie went home mostly in silence because speaking normally seemed banal and lightweight in comparison.
Luke Wright's 'What I Learned From Johnny Bevan' (Summerhall) is classed as theatre in the brochure but was also an energetic, thrilling piece of performance poetry. He's had great reviews for this piece looking at old friendships, political participation turned to disafectment and the divergent directions we take trying to just get on. He completely deserves them. 'Most People Aren't That Happy Anyway' , a stand up poetry reading by
John Osborne was a more gentle but still very thoughtful, engaging hour in the Free Fringe (Voodoo Rooms).
Book Festival: Aside from Kate Tempest, the other star turn was the joyous event featuring
Paul Kingsnorth, Mark Rylance & Martin Shaw (not that one, a professional storyteller). Part engaging history lecture (c. Battle of Hastings era England), part crazy story telling and a lot of laughing. We were a bit starstruck meeting the magnetic Mr Rylance (enigmatic star of Wolf Hall) and got a bit fixated watching him slowly walk around (see Wolf Hall for this reference). An intelligent and life affirming hour and a half. In contrast,
Joanna Blythman's Dark Secrets of the Food Industry event contained all too real and chilling stories of greedy food retailers buying jars of mysterious enzymes and merrily putting them in our foods. Fascinating and it will encourage me to question what I buy in the supermarkets even more. Lastly,
David Crystal, renowned linguist and massively entertaining speaker brought in his son & co-author/ actor Dan Crystal to make a hilariously insightful discussion of accents and lost dialect words.
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| Cocktails & Prosecco, an Edinburgh Selection |
Arty Stuff: my first
Museum After Hours event (the National Museum of Scotland hold occasional late evenings) was brilliant. I enjoyed the mix of performances by various gymnastic acts (men in pants doing athletic things!), dancers and musicians. The free dressing up opportunities were genuinely brilliant (four of us were photographed in pretty convincing Victorian clothes) and the prosecco bar (sadly not free) was a treat. While my aim to see lots of art fell victim to other distractions (ok, mostly cake & cocktails), I did manage to skulk around some garages in a discreet New Town mews (yes, again. No need to go into that now).
GARAGE, a staple of the Edinburgh Art Festival became Garej for one weekend with a North Wales artist takeover. Organised by
Oriel Wrecsam, this included paintings, video, the roaming
Wanderbox (where an invitation to shake some pom poms couldn't go ignored, see pic above) and the fab
Art Vend machine where mini artworks could be purchase for £1 in a specially designed vending machine. A great, fun way to spread art to a wider audience.
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| Panda & Sons bar, Edinburgh |
Afternoon Cocktails: this is a thing I've decided I love. One or two in beautiful surroundings are just enough to handle but doesn't wipe out the whole day. I have to thank my lovely friend Catriona for introducing me to two fab cocktail bars.
'Hendrick's Emporium of Sensorial Submersion' is a pop up bar taking over a George St building where tasty gin creations are served amongst amazing glamours decor and taxidermy by attentive men with hipster beards and waistcoats.
Panda & Sons (Queen St) is a subterranean speakeasy disguised as a barbers. You enter the actual bar through a bookcase, this is indeed my idea of a good time. I recommend a 'Birdcage' cocktail which is served dramatically under a glass dome with smoked dry ice. With table service and the complimentary provision of baskets of chili popcorn and glasses of water, this instantly catapulted itself into my top bars list. Last year, someone younger & cooler than me told me about
Bramble, a hip but comfortable speakeasy bar that is satisfyingly hard to find. I lured friends in at Christmas, this time I let hubbie in on the secret. He can be hard to impress when it comes to drinking dens. He loved it.
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| Tea, Cake & my Jamie Dornan Colouring Book (all yum) |
Other highlights of the ten day Edinburgh adventure were securing a new stockist for my work (details to be announced soonish, I'm thrilled with this one!) and discovering the Jamie Dornan colouring book. A work of comic genius I'll enjoy for a long time.
Ok, sorry, this clearly wasn't the short summary I intended, hope you enjoyed anyway. I'm vowing to change to brief but weekly blog posts from now on. Please return :-)
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