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A moose at Easter

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Happy Easter!!!

After a day of non-stop rain the sun is actually shining for National Egg Hunting Day. I was hunting the last few days for a Chocolate Buttons Easter Egg, but no joy! So I settled for a Smarties one instead – its a calfhood thing. Of course, egg rolling is a big thing too; the little darlings spend hours with tongues sticking out in concentration as they paint mini-masterpieces on eggs only to smash them to smithereens on a local hillside. Arthur’s Seat and every other slope in Holyrood Park will be liberally covered with bits of brilliantly coloured eggshell and hard boiled egg remains by late afternoon. The local wildlife must enjoy a slap-up Easter Sunday tea! I do enjoy a walk round the park late in the day – after all the little darlings have left.

As I said, it was a wet day yesterday so I stayed in with the Gotham box set series 1-3, oh yayyyy!!! It is bloody magnificent! That’s series 1 recapped now, but I’m tempted to slip in Peaky Blinders series 2 before I go back to Gotham, I do have tomorrow off as well and I have until a week Tuesday to watch the rest. Gotham is truly outstanding tv, Marvel may make the better films but DC totally win the tv battle with this.

I also have GoT7 to watch, but I definitely want to watch GoT6 again before moving on. Yes, I haven’t seen it yet, I’ve been busy, and right now it’s way more important to rewatch all of previous Gotham!

Hope you all have a great Easter whether you be bingeing on chocolate or viewing, or both!

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Bruce goes to London Town

bruceonthefringe Cider, London, Theatre, Uncategorized Tags: , , , 3 Comments

Oh yes, I’ve popped up to Lahndahn Tahn, not to see the queen but to drink copious amounts of cider. Today starts the last ever London Drinkers Beer & Cider Festival.  I was down for it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it (so many ciders I’ve bever tried before) so here I am again for the last one.

Last night I went to the theatre, as one does when up in Lahndahn, I saw The Birthday Party. It was a stellar cast and brilliant performances but I have not a scoobies what was going on!? I did really enjoy it, sometimes understanding is not necessary, like when watching a David Lynch film!

So I shall make steps towards the sweet (medium or dry) nectar. I may not be up to any more blogs for a few days!! If you’re there do watch out for me though I may be difficult to see as I am an SEP as Douglas Adams termed it. More on that later.

Toodle pip!

On the fringe of the Beast

bruceonthefringe Edinburgh, Pubs, snow, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

It’s been an odd month, what with Scotland actually beating England at the rugby and snow that’s actually lasted more than half a day. Yes, this may be Scotland but don’t assume it’s all covered in snow in winter, many winters Edinburgh will get one covering of snow, usually a weekday morning, that’ll be gone by lunchtime. I think the last decent snowfall was 2010, that lasted weeks and now the Beast From the East has dumped an almighty load on us. Yay. Today was a snow day off work,  so where better to head than Holyrood Park, the home of Arthur’s Seat, and today also home to sledgers, snowboarders and even a few skiers. All sorts were out to enjoy this rare occurrence, quite a convivial atmosphere helped to take the bitterness out of the cold.

2018-03-01 13.03.57.jpgThese two were just taking a break when I moisied over. I did wonder if I would be able have a go sitting in the middle of a board, there is room between their legs after all, but my nerve failed me. Downhill, at speed, maybe not.

I took my life in my hands quite enough last weekend, trying to get a drink at the Doctors. The pubs in Edinburgh are all heaving during the Six Nations rugby, especially the Scotland v England match, circumstances meant that for the first time in years I would not be out in the scrum. That was until the end of the first half, like, huh? Scotland were actually doing rather well, I’d reached a natural break in my diy and decided such a game warranted a drink in a crowded pub – so off to Doctors I toddled. Haven’t actually been there in some time, used to be in fairly regularly but the last “refurbishment” rather spoilt it and the prices had become ridiculous. So why did I pick there? Couldn’t say, but a great choice by me, it really was packed to the gunnels, I found a place at the bar and stayed there! What a game, see Scotland can play when they want; the pub, the town went wild, Flower of Scotland snippets floating in the air everywhere. It was like hogmanay in Tesco’s with the amount of alcohol being bought. Scotland had one mass collective hangover on Sunday morning!

Wonder what fun March will bring, and how many storms, and what will they be called? And so, I bid you goodnight, I think it will unfortunately be back to work tomorrow. I shall leave you with another pic of me in Holyrood Park.

Stay warm and safe, peeps.

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On the fringe of St Valentine’s Day

bruceonthefringe Edinburgh, Films, Sci-fi, Uncategorized Tags: , , , 2 Comments

Well I’ve had quite an interesting day, one that reminded me how cheerful and cheery life can be. I’m currently having my lounge decorated (I did strip it myself but the ceiling is quite high for a moose to do a decent job of papering and painting) and this morning I also had an electrician in to replace my old fuse box with a new flickswitch one; a decent chap, he observed that it must be busy in my neighbourhood during the Fringe, ahha a fellow fringer? Indeed, how nice to have an unexpected chat with another enthusiast.

The decorating is coming along nicely and though the telly had to come off the wall for it, I managed to reattach its table stand so each evening I’ve kept up with Babylon 5, just as well, it’s just got to the Whatever Happened to Babylon 4? bit, how great was that tonight? Ok, you’re probably wondering why I don’t just record it all then binge, well, I quite like the old-fashioned way of watching a programme when it’s on and looking forward to the next episode.

And on old-fashioned, I took myself off to the cinema late afternoon to see Early Man, the latest Nick Park creation, another quintessentially British feelgood, hurrah for the plucky underdog, movie. Yes, okay so it’s not on a par with the Wallace and Gromit films, but that’s a very steep peak to scale and they have the advantage of the Pedestal of Nostalgia. I did notice myself making the comparison in the first ten minutes but then, sometime later I realised I’d been well and truly sucked in by it’s humour; the characters all brilliantly voiced, including Hognob (by Nick Park!), a very dog-like wild boar; and a wonderfully daft storyline, but you think back to the Ealing Comedy plotlines, they didn’t much let commonsense stand in the way of a bit of fun! It’s not a film of great belly laughs, but you will chuckle, smile, nod in recognition, guffaw in surprise and leave with a warm, fussy glow – useful in these baltic temperatures just now.

Indeed, even mid afternoon in the bright sunlight it was a cold day. I had plenty of time so took a long detour to the cinema round the redeveloped canal basin area. I rather quite like what they’ve done there, which is not how I often feel about modern developments in Edinburgh!

Well, its now rather late and I am back in work tomorrow, so I’ll bid you good night and sweet dreams,

💘 Bruce x

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I ❤ Bab Pants

bruceonthefringe Sci-fi, Television shows, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Yes, really, watching Babylon 5 again on the telly, still one of my favourite sci-fi shows. And that story arc! So looking forward to later in season 3 with Zathras and that mindf**k of a story arc of the fate of Babylon 4. I remember going round to a friend’s flat a few days after it first showed on tv, he was still in a dazed blown-away state from the sheer audacity of it. Who knew it would be picked up (pun intended) and shown on tv again?

Sad to say, a number of the top cast are no longer with us. The aforementioned Zathras, played (all of them) by Tim Choate died in 2004, aged only 49. Michael O’Hare, the original Babylon 5 Commander, Jeffrey Sinclair died in 2012. Security has lost Michael Garibaldi and Zack Allan, aka Jerry Doyle and Jeff Conway. Medical has lost Richard Biggs, who played Dr Steven Franklin, aged only 44. As the sane small voice of reason and conscience that was Vir Coto, Stephen Furst won many hearts again (I’d say Vir and Flounder weren’t that dissimilar, loveable, well-meaning, rabbits-in-headlights), sadly died last year. And, of course, Andreas Katsulus who blew me away as the magnificent G’Kar, died in 2006. Do they have Comic Cons in heaven?

Ah, G’Kar and Londo Mollari, the best double act in sci-fi, ever! It was like a Shakespearean epic between the pair, I’m really enjoying seeing those two again. Gotta admit, the Sheridan-Delenn romance really started to grate on me, watching it all on video some years ago I did fast forward at times! Bab Pants also had one of the best villains, Alfred Bester, played to the max by Walter Koenig, always a cheer when Bester turned up!

Ok, so I did watch Star Trek as a calf but it never really got me, never Trekified me. Babylon 5 wasn’t Star Trek, it was grubby, sarcastic, mean, humorous, personal agendas, and it had Ivanova!! Oh boy, she coulda taken on all the Trek women and come out on top! Finally a woman who wasn’t bland and dull, yes she showed her vulnerable side, but hey, don’t we all? And she had an accent, they all did, not the blandness of Trek voices. Oo, am I getting a bit ranty, perhaps?! Umm, at the time I did have some serious Trekky friends who could never quite agree that Bab Pants (or the also brilliant Farscape) could measure up to Star Trek – not even after that mindf**k Babylon 4 stunt!!

I do have a old SFX somewhere that has a Babylon 5 feature in it, there’s a picture of Ivanova that a dear friend of mine had signed by Claudia Christian for me. More on that later!

 

Paddington: The Fringe Show.

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I just went back to see Paddington 2 for a second time, almost seven weeks after I first went to see it – I guess it’s a success, not many films stay on the big screen that long these days. Once back home I did that thing folk like to do these days, looked up the film on IMDb to see who’s done what where. But what! What! Tim Fitzhigham and Dan Antopolski were both in it and I missed them? Oh, and Cal McCrystal had a cameo besides being the Physical Comedy Consultant. FYI all Fringe favourites of mine.

Justin Edwards and Richard Ayoade were also in it, didn’t miss them, well it would be hard not to spot Richard Ayoade, who, incidentally, was being directed by Paul King (director of both Paddington films) in Garth Marenghi’s Netherhead the first time I saw him at the Fringe many years ago! One last tentative Fringe connection Tom Conti, well, I’ve seen him in town in August – up to see Nina?

In fact the first evening I saw Paddington 2, I saw Justin Edwards twice as he also had a part in The Death of Stalin (oh yes, two films in one evening with a trip to Nando’s sandwiched between them, well, I do have an unlimited viewings card). At the Fringe Justin Edwards had a magnificent creation the children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion, possibly one of my Desert Island Fringe Shows! More on him another time.

It is great when I see folk who I’ve seen in small, sweaty venues on the big screen, guess it reflects how long I’ve been fringing. Both Paddington films are excellent, having all the elements in the right proportions to make cinematic classics, and they came from a guy who first directed at the Fringe. What an inspiration! Crikey, I’ll be singing Circle Of Life next!

Next film I’ll go see may well be Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by Martin McDonagh, who also wrote the bloodiest play I’ve ever seen, or will probably ever see again, at the Fringe, The Lieutenant Of Inishmore. See another Fringe connection!

On the fringe of 2018

bruceonthefringe Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh traditions, Happy New Year, Places to go, Uncategorized Tags: , , , Leave a comment

2018-01-02 22.21.19.jpg20180101_125146.jpg2018-01-01 22.50.59.jpgSo here we are in a new year, another Fringe to look forward to. Who will return? Who will come up for the first time? Will Barry Ferns return to do a This Arthur’s Seat Belongs to Lionel Ritchie show? Speaking of Arthur’s Seat, besides popping up to the top in August, it is a popular tradition on New Year’s Day to climb to the summit to celebrate the New Year – often with a tot of whisky or slug of champagne, after all it is thirsty work getting up there!

Once the breath has been caught, noses blown, a toast imbibed and the view thoroughly admired, it’s time for the photographic evidence that you were there. “Excuse me, but would you mind taking a photo of us?” is the question of the day in so many different accents from around the world, for a damp hilltop it’s very cosmopolitan! I take it many hoteliers or Trip Advisor must mention it as the number one thing to do on the 1st – at least it’s free!

We even had reasonable weather for most of the day this year, though it was very muddy underfoot, almost as slip slidy as ice. While going up gets quite arduous near the top, coming back down over slippery rocks and mud is a rather scarier for those of us with a touch of vertigo. A sturdy stick does help steady the nerves, or another tot of whisky!

So hopefully you’ll get to see a photo of yours truly at the top, another looking up at the hordes from lower down and the third looking over Edinburgh with a clear view of the Castle. Do let me know if they haven’t appeared. Cheers, m’dears!

 

 

On the Fringe of Christmas

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Oh dear, I haven’t put anything on for a while, I do hope Mr Claus doesn’t warrant lapsed blogging as bad. As (hopefully) you will see I have been busy making my own christmas cake. Yes, it is all my own work, cake, almond paste and icing. When I was a young calf the christmas cake and pudding were made in October. The pudding mixture was made in the morning so that we could all have a stir of it and make a wish before noon – I have no recollection of any rhyme or reason for this tradition but we always did it so. But it was the christmas cake mixture we all loved eating, in fact I’m surprised we didn’t end up with a small cake considering how much tasting we did before it even made it into the cake tin from the mixing bowl!

And now I make the family christmas cake for the annual gathering, following my mother’s recipe, of course. Ours is not one of those dark, dry, cramped full of dried fruit affairs, no, it’s not too much darker than yours truly in colour with a nice ratio of fruit to cake and baked just enough. The almond paste is messy to make but I could never use shop-bought! Besides, the unused egg whites go to making the icing. I’m not into this fondant malarkey, good old fashioned icing is my thing. Okay, so my thing isn’t pristine smooth cakes, but it’s depicting windblown snow, that’s my excuse!

Tomorrow I head down to deepest, darkest Yorkshire, laden down with presents, cake and games to play.

Wishing you one and all, a very Merry Christmas  x

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(Yay! The picture looks to be here in my preview, hope you can admire my handiwork too!)