Happy Burn’s night

As it is burn’s night i’m currently wearing my Macdonald tartan skirt that Bought when was on sabbatical in Edinburgh last August. Burns night, may or may not have inspired the 6 word story prompt for tomorrow … all will be revealed at 9am GMT tomorrow.

This post I have reblogged shows examples of tartan, explains what Burns night is and some of the traditional food that is eaten. Idid try haggis whilst i was in Edinburgh.

 

What is Burns Night? Burns Night is annually celebrated across Scotland on or around the 25th of January. It is to commemorate the life of the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns who was born on the 25th of January 1759. Robert Burns is probably most well known for Auld Lang Syne which is typically played at […]

via CELEBRATING BURNS NIGHT WITH MARKS & SPENCER — holly da silva

Top 3 theatre 2018

I was incredibly lucky to see an array of Edinburgh fringe festival performances, therefore instead of 3rd place have honourable mentions for the following from the fringe: From today everything changes, Good vibes, First dates, Bottled Up, Beakers Place and Brenda’s got a baby.

2nd: Everyone is talking about Jamie, which I saw again live in London in January. This was the second time after premiere in London. Then I loved it enough to see a third time at cinema broadcast from London.

1st Mission Her which I saw at the fringe, which really spoke to me.

All of the shows mentioned, I reviewed earlier in the year.

Edinburgh bees 🐝

I’m now in Manchester to see bees after a month in Edinburgh. Edinburgh parliament has apple trees and bee hives in its garden.

Additionally I saw this bee on the floor of an Edinburgh doorway

There was bee 🐝 projections as part of Tattoo.

Au Revoir Edinburgh

I’m leaving  Edinburgh after living here for the last month, wearing my kilt. I have done so much in the city:

• Experienced lots of the fringe festival.
• Seen Ruth Jones at book festival.
• Been to the tattoo.
• Viewed visual art.
•  Eaten haggis
• Eaten Scotish oysters.
• Sampled Scotish whisky.
• Minted a coin and seen a million pounds in cancelled notes at the Museum on the mound.
• Climbed Arthur’s seat and Carlton Hill.
• Toured Scotish parliament.
• Been to the beach.
• Been underground in the city vaults during ghost tour.
• Took part in a ceilidh (Scotish dancing):
• Seen two gold post boxes.
• Been to the zoo.

There are many great points of Edinburgh yet, for me they do not combine to give that Je Nas Se Quoi factor. To be fair, August it is packed with tourists so that can be a off putting. It has got some great articheture; the magnificent castle on the hill, the Scotts memorial and lots of domes, towers and turrets. The Salisbury crags including Arthur’s seat provide a picturesque back drop from many locations. There is great views from the tops of the crags and Carlton Hills. Additionally from some points in the city centre the sea can be glimpsed. Yet some how I don’t get Edinburgh’s spirit. Bars and restaurants are quite fyk I spread out. In the very centre all shops are touristy. Clothes shops are spread along one side of Princes street, so it does not feel like a proper shopping centre where there are shops on both sides that can zig zag, between.

It is a USP that Edinburgh is a City with a beach. The beach is in an area of Edinburgh called Portabella. At points on the promenade you can see both the crags and the beach. Walking away from the beach towards the city you get views of Carlton Hill. Portabella sounds more glamorous than it is. The housing is quite ugly; lots of blocks of flats. The high street is mostly charity shops. I do love Portabella pool particularly the Turkish baths. The Turkish baths has a stream room with colour changing lights, different temperature rooms to relax in. The main room has beautiful windows in high ceiling; some white glass and some red. Best of all it only costs £7.20.

Of course, I loved the Fringe Festival so that , would draw me back again! On my return I would also like to:

• Go up Carlton hill again.
• Go back to Portabella Turkish baths.
• Visit Museum of Modern Art which did not do this time.
• Possibly, go round the whisky experience rather than just into shop.
• Go back to Loch Fyne restaurant.

A-Z Edinburgh

I was inspired by Amelia in Hull who did a Hull A-Z, to do an A-Z of Edinburgh; where I have lived for a month.

https://ameliainhull.wordpress.com/2018/08/05/a-z-of-hull/

There would be pictures but reached my storage limit for second time in 2018

😦 Instead I’m adding pictures to instragram.

https://instagram.com/p/BnCWCM2gVIt/

A is for Arthur’s seat.

Annual Comedy on Arthur’s seat

B is for Boxes. Police 👮‍♀️ boxes which Edinburgh has more of than anywhere else. They are no longer used as police boxes some acre coffee bars others ghost tour offices and some apparently are just empty.

C is for castle.

D is for dram of whiskey.

E is for Edinburgh seaside. Which is an area of the city called Portabella.

F is for fudge found in many gift shops.

G is for giant pandas 🐼 . The only giant pandas in the UK are in Edinburgh zoo.

Gaint Pandas 🐼 Edinburgh zoo

H is for Hoy. There are two gold post balloon boxes in Edinburgh to honour Edinburgh born Chris Hoy’s two 2012 Olympic medals.

I is for International  festival. The international festival was the first performing arts festival in August, but it only included 8 companies. Therefore a fringe festival spring up around it. Today the fringe is bigger than the international festival and therefore more International and Inclusive.

J is for JK Rowling. Much of Harry Potter was written in Edinburgh with it’s many towers and turrets. It is believed that Rowling got inspiration from some of the graves, for example Tom Ridley.

K is for kilts. As the traditional dress of Scotland there are many kilt shops and kilts are sold in most tourist shops. There is one remaining working kilt mill in Edinburgh, next to castle and can peek into see kilt machines.

L is for Leith lighthouse.

M is for Monument. The Scott Memorial.

Scott Memorial vs Festival Wheel

N is for National gallery.

O is for oysters.

P is for parliament.

Q is for Queen’s Mother memorial garden within the botanical garden.

R is for Royal mile which connects the two former palaces in Edinburgh; the castle (C) and Holyrood palace. It is apparently a mile between them. It is now a busy tourist street with lots of tourist shops. During August it is packed with performers, performing and handing out flyers for their shows; for this reason some locals like to avoid the Royal mike in August.

S is for Scottish steps. 104 marble steps.

T is for Tattoo.

U is for Underground vaults.Due to the way Edinburgh was built there are vaults underneath parts of the city, which can be  visited on tours such as ghost 👻 tours.

V is for Volcano 🌋 Arthur’s seat is an extinct volcano.

W is for Waverley station. It is the only train station in the world named after a book. Waverley is a book by Walter Scot (see M).

X is for Xs (crosses). There is a cross on Scotish flag so there are a few Xs around.

Y is for yacht. The Royal Yacht Britainia is now a tourist attraction moored in Leith.

Z is for zoo.

Edinburgh Zoo Other Views

Wonderwall360 Careers: Edinburgh Fringe for performers

For unknown performers, Edinburgh fringe at least finically is a strange career choice. Most unknown performers, do not make money performing at the fringe. It costs thousands to put on a show with renting space to host it, time to develop, props, lighting. Then there is cost of accommodation in Edinburgh such as the accommodation. Most performers make a loss at the festival. Therefore, it is amazing that the festival keeps going. I guess the performers do it regardless of finical risk because:

• Chance may lead to bigger things.
• It is good forum to try ideas.
• The chance to showcase talents.
• The festival experience.

My tips for success (disclaimer I’m not an expert!)

• Shows starting with a number of A or even AA appear closer to front of fringe brochure so more people see.
• Be punchy with show title; do not start with The.
• Pick venue wisely where passing trade and staff who will promote show.
• Support other performers and they may return favour; it helps get word of mouth for show.
• Flyer!!!! Gimmicks when flying like half price tickets or pin badges helps get an audience.
• Get reviews from media to raise awareness.
• Use social media to get awareness.
• If newbie do not self title show; it looks egotistical.
• Be nice to people in venue to encourage them to help you. Someone was rude to me, insisting I found space for their flyers; I did put flyers out, but as rude no chance I was going to their show or highlighting show to anyone.
• Be aware probably will lose money.
• Once there try and enjoy experience, accepting as expected losing money.
• Take vitamins when at Fringe as Fringe flu not nice!

Liz v Upcastle Downcastle

These two shows are both on tonight at tomorrow night at 9.05pm at The Space on Northbridge. They both have historical settings with modern jokes thrown in.

Upcastle downcastle centres around King Arthur, Lancelot and the holy grail. It is a pantomime for adults.

Liz is centred around Elizabeth 1 it is a comedy musical. It could easily work on a bigger scale, but it was good to be so close to a musical.

Having seen both, I would recommend seeing both. Go to both prepared for a little silliness.

Rainbow 🌈 Baby (Edinburgh fringe review)

Rainbow baby is the term for a child born after a miscarriage, still birth or soon after birth. In this case the term rainbow baby also relates to the rainbow 🌈 colours used to represent gay pride. It looks at a lesbian couple’s journey towards having a baby. To add another layer of interest they are v logging their journey. Therefore the show looks at reactions to this type of vloggimg; both negative and positive. It also looks at the difficult situation of handling the loss of a pregnancy which has been widely publicised on social media when then want privacy.

Beep; a show about men beeping if tell a lie (Edinburgh fringe review)

The premise is that all men are fitted with implants that beep if they lie by government ruling. Of course got to suspend the disbelief at how quick government are able to pass and implant men. But it is a really fascinating concept. It reminded me of Patrick Ness The Knife of never letting go where men’s thoughts are audible.

In this show the focus is 6 late teens / early 20s; 4 men who get the implant and two girl’s. One of the girls is in a relationship with one of the men but, has just slept with his best mate one of the other three; so there is the pressure of keeping that secret which brings suspense to the show. There are some good performances and a cast of 6 allows different permutations of the group to be on stage at different times which adds interests. As well as drama there is also comedy.

SPOILER ALERT

Interestingly it actually the girl in the love triangle, rather than the man that is more feeling urge to blurt out the truth. When she, eventually does it has fatal consequences. The blood of the murderer pulling out his implanted chip is very realistic.

Jennifer Lack Narratively Speaking; exploration of representing mental health in arts (Edinburgh Fringe review).

Used the setting of an author giving a book tour talk,as a vehicle to discuss mental health and representing mental health in literature. For the show letters to Virgina Woolf, had been constructed to be read as extracts, from the fictional book at the centre of the show. The letters were like diary extracts, for the fictional books protagonist; a teenage girl grieving for her Grandmother her committed suicide by drowning like Virgina Woolf. The show explores how difficult, it is trying to linerase someone’s mental health. I have not said; mental health problems because everyone has mental health and like physical  health sometimes it is good and sometimes it is not. The letters were brought to life by the dramatisation, in a way that they would not have been if had just been reading a book. Interesting to think about how mental health issues can be represented in arts. During the Fringe a good representation of anxiety was Mission Her and Brawn gave an insight into male body dysmophia.

Mission Her for anyone suffering with anxiety or supporting someone suffering with anxiety…. (Edinburgh Fringe Review)

Brawn – A story of male body dismorphia (Edinburgh fringe review)

Jennifer Lack Narratively speaking is a good show to see for anyone interested in mental health or the process of book writing. It is akin to a book club, with author present to discuss book; apart from don’t bget tyo discuss during show, but it leaves you with thoughts to ponder.

It is at The Space at Jury’s inn, until Saturday.