Had a good lie in this morning, didn’t surface until about quarter past seven. Found Mark up & shifting the damp laundry about. We keep trying to find a sunny place to put the airing rack but of course, the sun is only out for three minutes at a time & then hides behind clouds for a half hour & shows up in a different place.

After breakfast, our hosts came round for a visit. Lovely couple. I skipped church to be here when they came because I think they wanted to judge type of people to whom they’d let their house for ten days & decide if they should be worried. They answered all our questions and explained a few oddities of the house.

After they left, we headed out to the town centre, parked, and set out on a five mile walk down across the river, past the ruins of an old castle. Fabulous views. It was quite enjoyable. After, we rewarded ourselves with Tea at an old estate, the name of which escapes me as it contains two unused sylibles and four or five completely unused letters making the pronounciation that of an ENTIRELY different word. Even Garmin, Google & MapQuest can’t agree on it but it was quite nice.

Everyone is currently having a lie down (I do NOT do naps. Waking up is bad/hard enough once a day... why in hell would I want to do it again later the same day?) leaving me to do another load of laundry. We realized too late that doing it all together was not the wisest thing. We’re just going to divide the socks because we can’t remember who’s are who’s. Oh well.

At half past five, Dennis joined me & at six, we woke the boys, dressed & were out by seven on our way into Edinburgh for our first Fringe experience. Dennis did an admirable job getting us into the city centre and finding the car park. We walked a circuitous route, zigging & zagging, through the U of E, to the Meadow Big Top to see ‘The Lady Boys of Bangkok‘ which was soooooo politically incorrect it was amazing. It was not worth the entrance fee but was none the less, very entertaining in parts. We had Thai food from the pavillion and drinks from the bar & it was a marvelously lively caberet show. The ‘Lady Boys‘ were beautiful & the boys who were boys in the revue were very good dancers.

The show included Lady Gaga, Dolly, Liza, some Benny Hill, some Village People, some Celine, and lots more, ending with the boy boys in kilts performing 500 Miles (The Proclaimers) followed by You Take the High Road and the crowd, some of whom had been on their feet for a while, went wild for these two numbers. 300 people on their feet dancing & singing along. An experience for sure. I guess they're a bit sheltered here because the show was a great deal like every drag show I ever saw at The Copa in Ft Lauderdale in the 70's & 80's but with a larger cast. Bad lip-syncing et al. But a good time was had by all.

After a less hurried stroll back to the car park, Christopher did an excelent job getting us out of the city & home. Tomorrow, a bit of a lie in and then off to the borders to see the ruins of several abbeys & castles (all the good stuff’s ruined!) then home for a rest & back to town about half five to park, dine & attend the Tattoo at the Castle.

Cheers.