Good Day, Sunshine.

Today’s show was lovely, which was exactly what I needed after a day off.

I made the most of yesterday’s break by climbing Nelson’s Monument on Carlton Hill. It was perfect weather for it, with plenty of people lazing around on the hilltop, making the most of the sun. The view from the top of the Monument is impressive; Princes Street is strikingly straight, and the castle looks strangely small, considering how imposing it looks from the ground.

Princes Street from the top of the Monument.

It’s not the first time I’ve been on Carlton Hill. The last time I was there was when I went on a short break to Edinburgh with my now-wife a decade ago (in the sense that we weren’t married then; I’m planning to have another one). Somewhere amongst my collection are a handful of pictures we took that day, including one of our faces reflected in the brass plaque at the bottom of the Monument, which I tried to recreate yesterday, but couldn’t line it up right; perhaps my head’s grown too big. The writing on the wall inside the monument summed up the stage of the Fringe I'm at perfectly:

After climbing the Monument, I settled down on the hill, facing the Forth, and gave my dad a quick ring for a catch-up. He asked me if I was up Arthur’s Seat, which I wasn’t – though that could be a mission for another day.

Arthur's Seat from the top of Nelson's Monument.

In the evening, I went to see Prestwick Elvis; a play about the occasion when the King landed at Glasgow Prestwick airport briefly to change flights; the only time he stepped on UK soil. I really enjoyed it. It was well-acted by a very watchable ensemble of six,. I’d recommend checking it out, particularly if you need a break from all the stand-up, which I certainly did.

But back to today. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel after a day off, particularly when I hadn’t enjoyed my last show before it, and then watched my wife catch the train back to Hitchin afterwards, wishing I was with her. While I miss home, my morale-lowering was only brief. Today's a case in point: I could have been stung by a bad Twitter review I spotted this morning (from a person who walked in late and missed the first ten minutes), but I wasn’t. This newly-formed positivity rising from the ashes of near-defeat was bolstered by a lovely audience, who laughed throughout. It reminded me I should keep faith. Every comic gets knocked; I just sometimes feel I get more than most.