Fest Blog: Julian Fox's Fest Blog
Julian Fox
Posted 9 months ago by Julian Fox
Thursday 9th August. 8.05pm, Pleasance Courtyard.
I'm sitting in the courtyard at the Pleasance and I'm writing this on my new phone. It's amazing, all this new technology, what it allows. It's a Nokia N-something. I’ve just been upgraded. My old phone was about 6 years old and could only do calls and texts. I did like the simplicity of it, but this phone can do everything. It’s fantastic. It’s got a camera, internet, MP3 player, even GPS. I’ve never had an MP3 player before. I’ve always said that I wouldn’t get one because I want to keep supporting the Discman. But now I love being able to listen to music anytime I want, without having to lug my collection of CD’s with me. I’ve got it on now, though it’s difficult to hear, what with the noise of the Courtyard crowd.
Anyway, it's nice weather again today. The weather last Sunday, Fringe Sunday, was lousy. Rained all day. It’s amazing how much nicer this city is when the sun comes out. Last Saturday, after I’d done my show, I discovered Marchmont. It’s an area just south of the Meadows. I’d driven through there a few years ago and I remember seeing a café that I’d read about in my Rough Guide called Kaffe Politik. Looked great. So I thought I’d try and find it again and have a coffee. I went on my bike and tried to use the GPS thing on my phone to guide me. But it all got a bit confusing. Still, intuition got me there in the end. Kaffe Politik seems to have gone but I found another one called Café Arista. I sat outside; the sun was shining brightly and had a cappuccino and a panini with parma ham and mozzarella. I felt like I could have been in Naples.
I think that I’m enjoying doing my show early in the day, rather than the evening, and being able to partake in this whole Fringe experience. I have to be in bed by half one-ish if I want to get my eight hours sleep but I seem to be managing it. I met a critic today who said she’d been going to bed at seven in the morning for the last three days, getting up an hour later and then writing her reviews. I don’t know how she does it. I’ve seen a few shows. The most amazing one was called ‘Story of a Rabbit’. It was beautiful. But I haven’t been up Arthur’s Seat yet – which I always think is the best show in town. This year I also want to go down to Leith and have a look around Britannia, the Queens boat. You have to pass through the Ocean Terminal shopping mall down there to get to it. So I could pop into Dagenham’s beforehand.
Yesterday I had a day off and went over to Glasgow, had a quick look round there, and then went up to Loch Lomond. I really liked Glasgow, but Loch Lomond was spectacular. I got the train from Queens Street up to Balloch and then cycled sixteen miles on the west side of the loch up to Tarbet. It was amazing. I kept stopping and taking photos on my phone. I’ve now got one as my screensaver. And I stopped in a village called Luss, where Take the High Road is filmed, and had a pot of tea and a piece of chocolate and toffee cake with cream. It was great getting away from all the hullabaloo of this place. Switching off from it all for a few minutes. It’s a little weird being back. Worrying about things again. Today I had four people in the audience, two of which I knew. I like being listed under theatre and not comedy this year, but maybe it does mean I have smaller audiences. Still, I hope tomorrow is better.
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