Fringe Benefits

For the first time ever I headed into Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival yesterday to check out what all the fuss is about. However the main purpose of the visit was to meet up with old friends Jane & Col from Manchester who had been on a canal holiday from Falkirk.
The sun was out and Edinburgh was packed, so we spent a good hour sat in Princess Street Gardens people watching. Several performers were rehearsing there, but I got the impression they were sort of fringe of the fringe...maybe side burns! Apart from the Chinese Dragon lot who were teaching American tourist how to operate one, the rest looked like they needed the practice. There was a bloke doing some sort of acrobatic jumping and flipping. It just didn't quite look right...especially when he landed on his elbow. Then there were 2 swordsman. Well that is a generous description of two hairy looking blokes who would not be misplaced in a branch of Games Workshop, who were fighting each other with those wooden swords. It was like watching 2 big kids acting out the fight scene with Darth Vader & Luke Skywalker. Again, it just wasn't right in so many ways. We slowly tried to make our way up to the Royal Mile where the main activities were on offer. It took ages because at every turn there is another act to see.
Once on the Royal Mile we were spoilt for choice. Stuart and Andrew & Matthew were taken by the human statues. Stuart was particularly annoying trying to touch them, and it was amusing seeing a boy being reprimanded by a statue. We then opted for the chain saw juggler. An American who looked like a fat lookalike of Lemmy from Motorhead. He's pulled in a big crowd and his act finished with him lying on a bed of nails. By chance, one of his volunteers was a bloke off Coronation Street who happened to be passing by. We had a wander and saw a few 'arty' acts that made no sense at all and really make a strong case for those who think any funding given to the arts is wasted. In my view they were just a bunch of attention seekers rather than performers who were due any credit. There are also lots of people trying to sell tickets for shows. The most impressive of them all was one where an elderly gentleman dressed in pyjamas, slippers and a dressing gown wandered around looking lost. He really did look like he had come out of an old people's home and got lost on a day trip to Dobbie's Garden Centre. On his back was the advert for his show which read An Evening with Dementia . Very clever and had I time I might have gone to see it.
We headed back and left the Jones' to make their way back to their boat. A good afternoon indeed, and I'd recommend a trip to the festival any day.