Letters from the Home Front – Edinburgh Diary Day 5

The day of Sunday the 5th of August was no ordinary day. Sunday the 5th of August was in fact a very special occasion: our lovely Tim’s 30th birthday! Naturally much of the day was spent celebrating and compensating for the fact that we’ve made him ring in his 30th with that… interesting moustache. The morning started with cups of tea and Freddos in bed, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a healthy and age-appropriate breakfast.

Despite the fact that birthdays are meant to be fun, Tim decided to go for a run. I know, I’m not sure what that is or why anyone would want to do it either, but different strokes for different folks! Never one to miss an opportunity to promote the show, the birthday boy embarked on his torture trip run with our lovely Greyhounds poster pinned proudly to his top. Isn’t he just the best?

Tim’s jaunt around Edinburgh gave Jacob, Catherine, and Laura the perfect opportunity to complete their Top Secret mission, revolving around cakes and party paraphernalia. Bibi’s bakery had made us some beautiful cupcakes, which Catherine and Jacob managed to sneak back to the apartment. The next stage of the mission was to get Tim back into town so the rest of team Greyhounds could set up secret party central. Thankfully the promise of eating some gelato from Mary’s Milk Bar whilst sitting in the shade of the castle did the trick, leaving Paul, Jac, Jacob, Catherine and me enough time to transform the apartment into party paradise. I did my best to blow up some balloons, but apparently this is not something that I’m very good at. My excuse is that I have asthma and that, just like people, balloons also come in all shapes and sizes. Variety is the spice of life after all, and I happen to think that small balloons are cute, OK?

Tim and Laura returned to the apartment to the sound of classic party banger ‘Celebration’ and the somewhat less tune sound of party blowers. The cupcakes were adorned with Spitfire toppers (always got to be on brand) and sparklers. They were almost too pretty to eat, but somehow we overcame this and not a crumb was left. Life is hard sometimes.

Party hats were donned, presents and cards were opened, and delicious pancakes were also eaten. Following this, we whipped out the ukulele and all sat around for a good sing-song. Festive as it was, it had an ulterior motive. Monday sees our first performance on the street stage on the Royal Mile. We practised a selection of wartime songs: Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Hey Mr Miller. By the end of the rehearsal we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, and I secretly felt a bit like a Puppini Sister, only slightly less glamourous.

Our Sunday performance was a ‘Secret Show’ because of a printing error in the Fringe Programme which meant that it appeared that we did not have a performance that night. In the spirit of Keeping Calm and Carrying On, we flyered our socks off and lured people in with the promise of a free show if they used our code word. Another slick get in commenced at exactly ten past eight, an experience which was enhanced by seeing the audience already queuing up for the play. We were over half full, and it was a jolly good show!

After the show we went for some food in Byron, just down the road from our venue, chosen by the birthday boy. There was a slight drama over the delayed appearance of my cheese fries as I am afraid to say that I was getting rather hangry by this point and hadn’t yet had my daily ration of cheese. Thankfully they eventually arrived and were delicious, so I decided against flipping the table over Hulk-fashion and storming out. A few drinks followed at the Pleasance, which is fast becoming one of our favourite Fringe spots. A spilt pomegranate gin almost rained on our parade but we just hit the prosecco bar instead. The night ended with tea and biscuits in the apartment, the perfect finish to a special Fringe-based 30th.

Happy birthday, Tim – we hope it was every bit as splendid as you are!