So my rural French idyll is over. And I am once more on home soil; ecstatically racing up to the dizzy heights of Arthur’s Seat and breathlessly gulping in the view of the Firth.
NB. [Old habits die hard. Or rather, they are exceptionally easy to fall back in to. Although I have now renounced my former Imogène-the-intriguing-and-mysterious-foreigner identity, this does not automatically mean that I will give up my penchant for hyperbole.]
But seriously, location has now changed to home sweet home: Edinburgh.
Am I happy to be back in the land of the mountain and the flood? Well yes. Although I am still firmly of the opinion that it should be renamed the land of the midge and the chip-bap. I can’t work out whether the spots covering my body are due to the nightly invasion of buzzing-biting little creatures or the fact that I have had six battered sausages in five days.
Yet there is no doubt that it is the best time to be in the capital. We are but a few days into the Edinburgh International Festival – tourists are thronging the Royal Mile in all weathers, drinking licences are lengthened until ridiculous o’clock, top hats and are the fashion norm, and you can’t go anywhere without hearing some sort of a capella troupe. I myself am lucky enough to be working for the Edinburgh International Book Festival (check us out: www.edbookfest.co.uk) while Celyn is holding down (propping up?) the bar at the Bristo Square’s Udderbelly (Yes it is a huge upside down inflatable purple cow. No I don’t know whose idea it was, but if I met them I probably fall to my knees and call them Jesus).
Where does this leave the Grumpy Scot? With so much going on, it is less a case of finding things to write about, than a case of selecting the best reviews in order not to bore you into early mid-life crises. Already I have been lucky enough to sample some Comedy in the Dark (Guilded Balloon, Teviot: http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/comedy-in-the-dark) as well as a fantastically diverse press preview at the Pleasance, including Camille O’Sullivan, Henry Packer, Aindrias de Staic, Steven Berkoff (OH EM GEE!), and dubiously named comedian Hannibal.
Becoming a little less personal and a little more like a very low budget and soon-to-be-on-its-way-out magazine for irritatingly eager writers, watch this space for news, reviews and general goings on in the next month. Obviously objectivity is out... ceebs. So for Part II of this extremely exciting saga (take what you will... I think it is riveting), welcome once again... to the Grumpy Scot.
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