Edinburgh Fringe Day 5

The Royal Mile 

Spent the morning in bed with Eckhart Tolle which was wonderfully peaceful. As it's all about the power of Now, I had to work with my mind telling me that it was a lovely day and I should be outside. But now, in bed, resting, won out and it was lovely.

Missed the bus to Fringe Central by two minutes (and they only run every half hour) so practiced being mindful on the bench outside the post office and even felt okay about the wasps that decided to crawl on my face. Well, for a while anyway. Then I thought that being in the Now further away from a litter bin might be a good idea.

For some reason, I've been feeling weird and dizzy a lot on the way into town but a dose of Rescue Remedy helps. It's the Clematis that I seem to need; I expect it will sort itself out and it's almost certainly the stress of the new and tiredness.

Today's event was 'Conversation with..' some professional comedians though that simply meant we got to ask some questions at the end. They were Stuart Goldsmith, Hannah Gadsby, Eddie Pepitone and Tom Shillue. I looked them up on Twitter and apart from Stuart, they seemed to specialise in pretty negative comedy (which of course is the norm) but in person they were all engaging and said a lot of stuff that I'd never have thought of but was absolutely obvious once they'd said it. But they also said that most comedy comes from tragedy which is pretty much true.

The most important message was 'just do it because you want to do it' which is coming across loud and clear with every event here. And again, that's the Power of Now. If you do it as a means to an end you'll miss the moment of enjoying doing it.

I had some food shopping to do on the way to Ryrie's so pottered up across the Royal Mile and down Princes Street, stopping off at the National Museum of Scotland for a few minutes on the way and finding a couple of hotels to drop leaflets at. I did talk to Hannah after the event at Fringe Central and asked her for a leaflet; she didn't have one and said she was rubbish at that kind of thing. We had a few moments on how it was really unproductive handing them out; I told her about the hotels and she said, 'I like your style' and took a leaflet.

Eddie too took a leaflet when I told him I'd got into comedy because of all the funny things that had happened to me when I was doing funerals. That was probably stretching the truth but I would very much one day like to do 'a funny thing happened to me on the way to the cremator' show one day.

I've been wanting a new pair of trainers for a while and, on the wander down Princes Street, found just the shop with a very neat pair at £19.99 down from £49.99. We Taureans do love a bargain. Also got a pretty pearly belt from New Look — a huge store — and it's lovely to be back in a city with cash in my hand from the donations and buying silly stuff. While I was trying the belt on, I realised too that apart from underwear and shoes, everything I was wearing had been given to me as a gift by my Bishop, David, who took me shopping for the Fringe when he last came to stay. I am a very blessed girl.

Until today, when I've been walking in the Edinburgh streets I've still been conscious of the swellings I have on the left side of my face and neck and made efforts to hide them. You can't see them when I'm stationary or indoors because my hair hides them but outside the wind blows my hair back. But today, I didn't bother. Even if people look, it's just the passing show and I'm me, not just a pretty face. This is good; my ego is becoming more accepting of me just as I am instead of as I think I should be.

Got to Ryrie's in good time to find the Tickled Pigs struggling with flashes of fear in their eyes with just four people who weren't that interested. Oddly, they over-ran. They said 'good luck' in a 'it's dreadful tonight' kind of way but I said, truly, that I was used to talking with two or three people so I'd be okay. And I was. I had six in the end ... one of whom was a very tipsy helpful heckler (the worst sort!) but who left peacefully before the end ... and one who was a Scottish Episcopalian minister (amazing! That's four ministers in two nights). He had almost the knowledge of the Bible that I had so we broke into a chat a couple of times which, luckily, the others seemed to enjoy as well.

But I wasn't as good as I wanted to be ... got things out of order and that really does matter when there's a theme going on. They still enjoyed it but I can do better than that. So it's good that tomorrow is a rest day (Celtic are playing at Murrayfield and the pub is closed to comedy for 24 hours).

Still, I've got an idea for a little something to drop into the part about who made the world... That's thanks to Eckhart Tolle. I may spend the morning in bed with him again tomorrow...