Edinburgh Fringe, day 1

Yesterday we had a day of rain rain rain, and running around in it from venue to venue, missing one another and generally not getting it quite right. Having said that, we saw some wonderful Korean gymnasts, a terrific magician called Pete someone, who hauled Lettice up on stage to help him with a trick, and who produced a beer bottle out of a hat which he then gave to Horatio ... this is what you get for queueing early to get a seat in the front row, but don't do that when it's stand-up or else the comedian will pick on you over and over and over again. That happened to Lucius last year when the boys dragged him to see a show called How to Butcher Your Loved Ones - I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to go, and from everything I've ever heard, it was a good decision.

Food not great, which is a pity in this city ... coffee at Costa, lunch at Cafe Rouge (both British chains, okay but - well, this is a food blog), supper at an indifferent Italian restaurant where I had very good spinach and a plate of mushrooms because I wanted to get back to eating lots of veg ... why is that so hard anywhere except at home?

Last show of the day was a group of young comedians, one of whom, Jack Whitehall, was at school with Horatio and then went on to the school Alfred is now at. I remember seeing him steal the show in a minor role in a school play, so I thought he'd be worth watching - he was the last of the four, and much the best. Lots of witty jokes about combatting terrorism - but perhaps you had to be there.

Today, the others have gone off to listen to some music - I'm here quietly blogging, because I didn't know what time it was, and they didn't leave enough time for me to get there - I'm footsore, and walk much more slowly than the rest of the family, and it seems to be hard for them to factor that in. Never mind. I'm going to go and look at some pictures (Raeburn, Warhol, Picasso - the choices are amazing in this city in August). I think they've planned to see hundreds of other things, but I'm not sure what, and I'm feeling a little weary, so will probably come home after seeing Nick Mohammed, who we saw last year, who we thought was very funny, whose jokes we are still laughing at - and who Alfred imitates to complete perfection. Amazing that he hasn't been on TV.

Food ... I think I'll visit Valvona and Crolla today, too. And sort out a couple of photos.