alert, but calm

I could blame my slight mankythroat this morning on the single beer I had in the Underbelly bar between show-visits last night but in all likelihood it was just the air in the venue and the need to speak slightly more loudly than usual in order to be heard when speaking to Nicky whilst drinking the beer (not only limed but liberally iced) and waiting in the queue. There must be something unpleasant hiding behind the damp smell in the old stones of the building which might attack the throat-pipes but I have noticed a distinctish correlation between drinking anything whatsoever and % capacity of operation the following morning even though I never drink anything like anywhere near enough for it to have any sort of effect unless my capacity to manufacture both alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases is so depleted from lack of use that a single light beer is enough to create detectable levels of the unplesant intermediary products of the breakdown process. Having had an entire whole two whole actual imperial pints of beerstuffs this evening I shall have to note any perceived systems degradation tomorrow morning, though having spent over two whole entire actual whole hours conversing is as likely to have had an effect on the way my throat feels in the morning as anything I've drunk.

Continuing yesterday's start-to-get-up-at-a-decent-hour-again theme I was up and out earlyish this morning for a walk and ended up near enough to the farmer's market on Castle Terrace for it to be worth trundling past it on the offchance that somewhere was selling nice fresh flakysoft croissants such as one might eat for a pleasant weekend-breakfast with coffee and muffins. Nothing of the sort visible though there was an interesting bread stall selling interesting breads, though charging accordingly. My speculative choice of some pumpkin-seed bread proved wise, though next time I'm making my own as there are always pumpkin seeds in the cupboard at home and the crust was far too chewy compared to the inner bread-softness.

After eating, doing a couple of loads of washing, bidding Nicky a good trip to her allotment and sitting about for a bit posting yesterday's entry and reviewing the gigs seen so far to stick on the Fringe website (in the past it's annoyed me when there have been too few non-professional reviews on the site against which to base judgements potentially costing up to three people ten pounds apiece) I thought today might be a useful day to spend wandering around the parts of the city infested with performers and gawpers; they're here for a month so they might as well be used for something useful like target practice and amateur anthropology. I've had no use for flyers for years and am seldom offered them but still had to glower a bit and adjust my path to avoid people today, even though one hand held a camera and the other was in my pocket. I found a nice spot next to one of the windbreaker-protected bins (which just has the effect of hiding the bin from people who need it) for a bit, moved along to a bollard-top when it became free then pottered along a bit (blipcarding a gentleman on the way down), eventually seeing this guy hiding behind the pillar from the other side of the road; he conveniently stayed there long enough for me to cross over and sneak a couple of arches east. Not exactly the shot I had hoped to get from the day (which also requires another photographer as a subject) but it made me relax slightly when I got it as it meant I'd not have to dither between pictures when I got home, though the others will still need processing. Now that I see it up I'm starting to change my mind but shall resist.

I wandered down to the parliament in case it was still open for the World Press Photography exhibition and the Social Justice exhibit as mentioned by Mr Rollover yesterday but it had already shut, though I'm sure it's open on Sundays at this time of year. The sun had disappeared sufficiently to make it possible to sit about for a bit with a coffee before pottering back across to the other side of town then back across again for a sit around Bristo Square to increase my tolerance to festivalness through further exposure, tempered with further coffee. I was about to call it a day when myaimistrue suddenly appeared, presumably after getting a picture of me squatting at the side of the pavement waiting for people to get out of the way of the shot opposite. After chatting and heading off I glanced behind just in case I was being photographed again to see MAIT waving and pointing westwards whence MrDavid77 and Larissa suddenly emerged. Spoke some more, eventually deciding to pop to the Pleasance courtyard to sit down and speak a yet bit more again and during the sitting-speaking process (after a rare bar-moment when I was spotted simultaneously by two free bar-people, both of whom commenced getting the drinks until their attention was next caught and half the order cancelled) were suddenly surprised by StevieFish popping up on his way past searching for someone. Pleased to meet him, and to recognise him without any sort of embarrassing name-recall delay despite his mild hair-adjustment since his most recent facial appearance. All in all, an enjoyable day.