Edinburgh Diary: Day Twenty-Four

I've only a few days left in bonnie Scotland. I can't believe how fast the time has passed. I'll be sad to leave but, at the same time, I don't the front of house work is starting to become a bit boring and I'm in serious need of some of Mammy Kavanagh's home cooking if I'm to avoid developing scurvy.

Admittedly, I've spent a lot of my time (and money) partying this week. I've been out post 4am the past four nights. I even made it to the infamous 'Penny Black' one night, a pub that opens at 6am. Yes, I'm just that hardcore.

I've managed to catch a few shows as well, including 'The Mozart Question' by Michael Morpugo, which was a fantastic one-man show based on a children's book and a fairly awesome Brazilian dance and physical theatre show called 'Balé de Rua'. I've also seen a few more comedy variety shows, featuring the likes of Russell Howard, Alun Cochrane, Jason Byrne and Stuart Francis. I plan on seeing a couple more shows over the weekend, even if it means denying myself a few hours sleep.

Yesterday, I went to the Tracey Emin retrospective exhibition in The Museum of Modern Art, more out of curiousity than anything else. Emin became famous in the 1990's as part of the Young British Artist movement. Her most famous work includes 'My Bed' (an unmade, dirty bed with condoms and blood-stained underwear strewn about it) 'All The Men I've Ever Slept With 1963-1995' (a tent that was destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire of 2004) and her appliqué bedspreads, like the one below.

Emin has experienced some pretty horrific times in her life and the autobiographical and embarrassingly honest nature of her work made me feel a bit voyeuristic. It might seem a bit self-indulgent for her to make herself the main subject of the overwhelming majority of her work but there's no denying that her catalogue of work makes for interesting viewing.

I met up with my friend Marie and her boyfriend briefly on Sunday night as well, which was cool. Originally, I was hoping that a few more of my friends from home would come visit but I reckon that was sort of borne out of a concern that I wouldn't make any friends and would be bopping around by myself for the duration of the festival. Thankfully, that wasn't how things worked out.

I really think there's a lot to be said for travelling alone, under the right circumstances. The fact that I was relatively familiar with Edinburgh was obviously helpful and working in Assembly Hall allowed me to get to know people. It's all worked out very well.

A little too well if you ask me...