Festival again

Despite a bad night with neither of us getting more than 4 hours’ sleep, we managed to get down the road for the 9.30 train. It was a gorgeous warm sunny day again.

We walked up to the book festival for Tan Wang Eng. He was a no-show, being still in Cape Town, and the interview by Stuart Kelly was done remotely. It was stimulating and certainly confirmed my intention to read “House of Doors” which is long-listed of the Booker.

We happened to run into Mary so had a coffee together before we headed down to the Royal Scottish Academy for the Grayson Perry exhibition. When #1 daughter lived in London we saw the Turner Prize show which he won with his pots about 20 years ago. Since then he has achieved celebrity status. He concentrates now on designing large tapestries on a computer, then having them manufactured. Mainly they were semi-autobiographical, highlighting the situations in UK that he finds distressing. I’m a bit sceptical about very popular artists who seem over-hyped but we really enjoyed the exhibition and admired his knowledge and work.

We had a cup of tea then a wander to John Lewis in the hope of finding suitable foot ware but with no success - everything seems to be white.

Sustenance was achieved at Dishroom where we had some delicious dishes. However it was very crowded and noisy.

Then it was a slog all the way along Princes Street and up to the Usher Hall. It’s a bit of a utilitarian venue. A quick glass of wine kept up our enthusiasm for our last event of the festival. Despite being squashed into deeply uncomfortable seats in the gods they were around £50 - I saw Ruth Wishart scuttling into the Dress Circle. Can’t imagine what those seats cost - the Simon Bolivar Orchestra was a sell-out. It was Beethoven, culminating with the 9th symphony conducted by Rafael Payare. There was a choir of about 130. It was fabulously energetic, rousing and uplifting.

Another late train back and 6.5 miles walking. Hopefully we’ll sleep tonight!