And so the trip begins!

The flight was at 6.30, so I was up at 4. Not nice. As I was dropped off, the strap on my bag appeared to break. Not nice, and not a good sign. As it happened it had just slipped the fastener, but I only discovered that in Edinburgh.

I won't go into the Dublin airport experience ("Allow 5 minutes to get to your terminal", so the sign said), or the Ryanair flight (since when do seats no longer recline, and who left the door open; it was freezing!). Suffice to say I got to Edinburgh.

First things first Edinburgh is a truly fantastic city. Regardless of the festivals, it stands comparison with any European city I know. The people too right from the outset seemed to bend over backwards to help (maybe the festivals, maybe they're just good that way). Certainly Dublin is a firm second place to this city, though i am conscious I am only seeing the good parts of the city. It's just there are so many good parts (and a lot more I've yet to see!).

Arriving at my 'hotel' (university residences) at around 9, I was a wee bit early for check-in (2 o'clock).[Fireworks have just gone off in the distance.] What's more the Internet booking I made had not come through. Apparently this was commonplace and they assured me all would be well. Kindly as ever, they took my monstrosity of a rucksack and sent me off for breakfast.

The place is overrun with American kids. On my way into the restaurant one warned another against the breakfast. "Stick to the hash browns," he warned. I had no such complaints. University canteen food is university canteen food the world over, but as university canteen food goes it was good, with a good variety and plenty of it.

Finished my fry and with such time on my hands what could a self-respecting film buff do except head for the Film Festival Office to collect his tickets and see what's what. Even the walk to that office (and thank you Google Maps!) was beautiful following, as I did, Melville Drive. This long, curved road runs through the pleasantly named Meadows with a view of Arthur's Seat in the background. Arthur's Seat, by the way, is a huge mound overlooking the east of the city, I think. I say huge, but I could see people walking its sides which put it in a different perspective for me. Anyway to return to my walk, the sun was out, the way was easy and I was already comfortable with the world. Not a common experience for me.

The Festival Office, Filmhouse is a grotty, larger and far better version of Dublin's IFI. I gave my name and got 7 of my 9 ordered tickets. Once more Internet booking had gone wrong, but once again Scottish staff just set the world to rights. I bought another ticket for that day (an animation programme at lunchtime), picked up some event listings and went out to read for a while. I have never been to an opera and a Kurt Weill double bill was on ('Lindburgh's First Flight' and 'The Seven Deadly Sins'), so I thought, if I can get the cheapo tickets I'd give that a go. This required a little climb up the hill to the Hub, just below the Castle. I should point out I had a smaller haversack on my back and pathetic waster that I am, I was feeling the strain of even that after a while. I am in big, big trouble when I get to the Continent and have to start hauling around the monster. Anyhow I got to the Hub and with minimum fuss got an interview with [More fireworks, at least I hope they are. These are dangerous times.] a large, but lovely English girl. All the cheapo tickets were gone, an alternative classical concert I had my eye on was cancelled (airport trouble had meant the orchestra couldn't get here; dangerous times), but a new play by Anthony Nielson, 'Realism', was available. That was my evening sorted. The girl was not on for accompanying me.

I went back to the animation programme. Every piece was strong with the exception of the last pretentious one. Some even chimed with my times. Coming over on the plane I had whimsically thought 'What if we could bend the laws of physics and spacetime to make people small enough (in one space) to fit more of them into planes and reduce the environmental impact?' Yes, these thoughts do occasionally flit across my diseased mind. Sure, enough one of the shorts ('Delivery') kind of dealt with this; no planes, but big environmental benefits, and the same physics distorting scenario.

One thing I will say though. With one exception all shorts on the programme were computer generated. Polished though they look, there is a little of the bite, present in old cel animation, missing now (remember even the old Canadian Film Board ones, yes, those strange cartoons that didn't have Scooby in them). They still allow the animator to paint worlds and concepts that no other medium would allow (one piece was about stone cubes, for goodness sake), but it may be that some of the spontaneity possible with a line drawing is lost in the preparation needed for CGI.

I am conscious that I am going into too much detail, so I'll ease up a little.

The shorts over, I had to rest. I was knackered, so rest I did. I was loathe to get up and go to the play, but that too I did. Lucky too. Really enjoyed it. Kind of like Ulysses meets South Park the Movie with a hint of Pirandello. Some of it has been done before (the song and dance routine was already done by South Park's Terrence and Philip), and there wasn't really much to the 'clever' bit (the distinction between subjective and objective reality has been done to death a bit), but as theatre goes it's good fun. When I got back to the 'hotel' a woman in the lift asked what I'd seen. I answered, "Realism". She immediately said she didn't like it, that there wasn't much of a point. I agreed to that, but stuck to my positive take. I think it was the lesbian sex on the toilet scene that put it her off.

I could have gone on somewhere else. I want to try some of the stand-up clubs, but I need to rest (I was up at 4, you know!). Anyone who has made it this far through all two of my entries will know that me and my rest are a common thread and will prove to be. I suspect the monster will also be making more of an appearance. And so from Edinburgh Night 1, good night.

[More definite fireworks right at midnight.



I had to post this the morning after as I only got wireless this morning.]