Edinburgh fringe, day 4

We've spent the last few days rushing from one thing to another. Our young seem to have an insatiable appetite for stand-up comedians, most of whom are pretty dire ... but they don't seem to mind, in fact, dire seems to be what they like - perhaps so that the jewels shine brighter.

Last night Lucius and I went to see Louis de Bernieres, the man who wrote Captain Corelli's Mandarin ... it was so dire it was good, if that makes sense - the evening had charm, if not talent. He played a lot of musical instruments rather badly (although nice pieces); read poems, some good some bad, also rather badly, because he has a rather slight voice; told terrible jokes, most of which he said had been given to him by Akker Bilk, the 60s jazz musician. And yet it was nice - mostly, I think, because he's obviously a nice man, and because he was obviously enjoying himself. But I did find it rather incredible that several members of the audience had been to last year's effort. Once was definitely enough.

We are just about to go to a musical called something like Tony the Blair Years, in which Iain Duncan Smith's son Ed (who was at school with Horatio) plays Alistair Campbell. It will, as always on the fringe, either be the best thing we've ever seen, or completely dreadful. There never seem to be half measures at Edinburgh, and the audiences are always optimistic!

In the mean time, we've been eating all sorts of delicious things at Valvona and Crolla's cafe (it's just up the road from our flat) - one unexpected delight was a pudding of good gorgonzola drizzled with honey (yes, really) and pinenuts. Fabulous.

In the absence of a kitchen, or any food to cook, I am reading a WONDERFUL cookery book (only a food blogger would read a cookery book on holiday, with no access to a kitchen!): The Scented Kitchen, by Frances Bissell. Cooking with flowers is the subtitle, and it has lots of things I can't wait to try. The trouble is that I should have been reading it in the spring. However, it will make ordering seeds easier this winter! I'll keep you posted about it in the next day or two. And finally post some more photos! I'm about to run out of time in this internet cafe ...