On Recent Festival Activities

I have been Festivalling in with my family.

Some good, some bad, some middling experiences to report so far.
( Read more...about my experiences of the Festival this weekend. )

On The Festival.

I’ve been asked a few times in the last week how I, as a citizen of Edinburgh, find the Festival. 

The conventional wisdom seems to be that Edinburghers are oppressed by the Festival and largely ignore it.

I really like it and I’m right in the firing line.  I work on the Royal Mile and my son’s nursery is also on the Royal Mile. I live on the Meadows which hosts several Fringe venues.  The are has lots of student flats which get rented out during the Festival so there are lots of late night comings and goings. During August I pretty much live my life in the middle of the Festival.  I still like it.

Sure, getting from one place to another in the middle of town can be difficult.  Getting something to eat or drink can also be challenging. I treat this as a game. Can my accumulated local knowledge defeat the hordes of visitors and revellers?  Usually.

The world’s largest arts festival comes to my town once a year and parks itself, almost literally, on my doorstep.  What’s not to like?  The economic activity keeps bars, restaurants, theatres, community halls and public spaces that I use during the rest of the year solvent.  I get to see world class artists perform. Some of them for free.  Hell, if they are lucky I can bump into them a bar. There are nightly fireworks.

Having a huge audience in town helps my drama club put on two shows over the summer.

I go. I go and see things.  Fewer in recent years since the Captain arrived but I go.  I pick a few things I know I’ll like. I take a punt on something. I get in to conversation with people in queues or when they are flyering me. Some of the most interesting things I’ve seen have been as a result of talking to the people flyering me. There are some performers I go and see every year.  My mate M will come down for a long weekend and drag me off to see stand up and drink at unsuitable hours in less suitable place.

It’s great and I love it.