Edinburgh Diary: Day Thirteen

Wow. It' hard to believe I've already been here almost two weeks. The free wireless I was picking up in my flat has mysteriously vanished so this particular entry is coming courtesy of an internet 'café' (there's not a cup of coffee or muffin in sight) down the road.

I'm not in work until nine o' clock tonight, which is probably a good thing as I was ridiculously hungover this morning. A few of us from work went to 'Silent Disco' last night, which was great drunken fun. We had to pay £10 to get in and drinks were a rip-off but I think it was sort of worth it. It's so funny when you take off the headsets and hear people singing along to the song with gusto, forgetting that sneaky people like me can hear them.

Will Young turned up at one point and I actually felt really sorry for him. People just started following him around the club and I think that was probably the reason he left after around half an hour. I ended up getting in a silly argument with somebody who claimed 'he brought this on himself by entering Pop Idol'. Those of you who know me it all, probably appreciate how stubborn I am with a few drinks on me.

I've been trying to see as many shows as I can. I saw Peter Dineen in 'St. Nicholas', written by acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson. It was a great one man show about vampires and theatre critics (I wonder what McPherson was trying to say...) but the audience consisted of about six people, which was a bit of a shame. I also saw a couple of comedy variety shows, 'Best of the Fest' and 'Adam, Jason and Friends', which seem to be a bit 'hit or miss' depending on your own idea of what's funny.

My favourite show I've seen this week was 'Clockheart Boy' which was a great play devised and performed by Dumbshow Productions. I suppose it was a kids' fairytale but sometimes the simplicity of childrens' stories can be far more affecting than 'grown up' ones. I think it's possible for productions to lose track of the main idea by getting bogged down by subtext and such. Anyway, it was a lovely little play and some of the devices they used, like shining a lamp against a blanket to make a puppet show of sorts, were really clever.

I'm hoping to catch a few of the Irish plays over the next week or so. Some of them have been getting super reviews, especially 'The Electric Ballroom' by genius Irish playwright Enda 'Disco Pigs' Walsh, which has already won a prestigious 'Fringe First' award for new writing.

Ok, I think I'm going to try and get me some dinner. Somewhere cheap preferably as my financial situation is a bit... concerning. I set up a Scottish bank account and was promised that my card wouldn't be sent to Ashbourne. Low and behold, a few days later I get a text from mammy saying that my bank card has arrived. So, I won't be able to access my wages for a few days and will have to try and survive on what I have in my AIB account, which isn't a lot.

Eek.