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 ...

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.