Shifting Sands.


Today’s show was the most fun one yet.

For the first time, the thing as a whole started to make sense, which was a pain when I had press in yesterday. That said, there was an industry presence today too, so at least they got to see it when I was going at it a fair lick.

(That sounds inappropriate, so I’ll leave that image there.)

Today's audience were very on-board with what I was doing, which was great. It was noticeable how different their approach was, compared to the last two 2for1 days. It may be a coincidence, but I felt the people who were there today were on the same page as me, and knew what they’d come to see - or maybe the wind was just blowing in the right direction; you can never tell with the Edinburgh Fringe; it’s a changeable beast.

There was some concern before we kicked off, as only one of the PA speakers was working. The in-house technician was still trying to fix it minutes before we were due to kick off, which made me a little tense, as I didn’t want a late start on a day when industry were in. Thankfully, we made the executive decision to leave it as it was for my show, and he'd try to fix it later. Ironically, it sounded better than it did yesterday, when my voice was starting to wear thin.

After the show, I went back to my digs to make some lunch and catch up with my family (by phone; they’re not here). I then rushed to the Gilded Balloon Teviot to see my friend Katie Pritchard emceeing the excellent improvised musical 'Notflix' by the improv troupe Waiting For the Call. I met her boyfriend Jon outside and headed into the building for the first time this year; strange, as we have a history (*cough* The Balloon Debate *cough*). The best thing of all was the fact the show was in the Wee Room; the venue where me and Glyn made our Edinburgh Début, back in 2008. It was the first time I’d been in the room since, so it brought back a lot of memories. I’m glad they saw sense and flipped the room around, as it used to be the case that latecomers would have to walk past the stage to get to there seats, which would only ramp up the awkwardness.

Afterwards, I popped to Tesco, then to the Fringe Participants’ Centre to pick up some lanyards for my flyerers, so they can look more official, before rushing back to my digs and then out again to tech Fraser’s show. I was tempted to go out tonight as well, to celebrate a good day's work, but decided against it, as I have a late gig tomorrow and I still want to keep myself in check; as soon as everything feels more settled, I’ll be more sociable. Instead I made some leek, bean and potato soup while listening to some music, and FaceTimed my wife; all in all, a soothing low-key end to the day.

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