Did someone have a bad case of insomnia in the early hours?! Why do I ask? First off, I’ll level with you, this blog doesn’t have a big following, to describe it as small would be generous, hey ho, I’m hardly doing it for fame and fortune! If I brighten up someone’s day, give a little light insight into Edinburgh and it’s Fringe, I’m good with that. Anyways, when I checked in on my blog this morning the stats page showed that one person (in the UK) read twenty posts in the time since midnight. If you’ve come back for more, hello there, and if that insomnia is chronic, there are another 280 posts for you during those long, sleepless hours, maybe some of the duller ones will help you nod off.

I said the numbers involved because this happens to be my 300th blog post!! Yup, hang out the bunting, bake a cake, call a psychiatrist, that’s a lot of musings. Maybe I should pop out, get a few more pears and make that cake that I tried out last week (no, I didn’t freeze any of it, it all got guzzled down); doesn’t everyone keep a supply of eggs, marg, caster sugar and flour in? Kitchen necessities, don’t you know. 300 is an odd number, there are noughts involved so that’s like a landmark, but it’s not as standout as 100 or 500, know what I mean? At least it shows I’ve stuck with it, I don’t think my family and friends thought it would last long, just a daft bit of nonsense.

A little investigation showed that my reader read through all my posts from last August, hmmm. A Fringe fan? Or they randomly came across my first post of last year’s Fringe and carried on reading? A performer having a read how last year went? A Fringer checking me out, they like my style and now want to give me a free ticket so that I’ll review their show! Hey, it could be, don’t laugh there. Just last month I was offered a free ticket in order to get a show reviewed, yes, me! I felt quite flattered, then I read the contact form again. It was obviously a standard letter sent to any number of reviewers at the Edinburgh Fringe, hey, at least they’d picked up on me, that’s something.

Did i take them up on it? No, why? It’s a free ticket! Look I really umm-ed and ahh-ed about it. First off, it’s a play in that venue, the venue that really sucks, the venue I’ve never seen anything half decent in, St Augustine’s or as it’s called in August Paradise in Augustine’s (it really isn’t). That was almost enough right there, then I read the play description again and well, it’s obviously a very serious drama, a social commentary, sounds really earnest, not really my bag. Okay, so I’d be there to review it, but that little inner voice niggled and jabbed away at me. They’re only doing a short run, anyway, what difference would a review by me have made? I almost took up the offer just to put two fingers up to my negative fish.

All this is not to say I would turn down any other offers of free tickets, I’m available for reviews after Saturday 6th, just saying. I’m seeing sixteen shows up until then, Sunday may need to be spent chilling somewhere quiet if I’m not stuck at a keyboard typing furiously. I do wonder whether I’d feel slightly obligated on a free ticket, could I be a hard-nosed hack telling it like it is? (my nose is actually soft and squishy) I’m up for finding out.

Now I must pop out for some fruit, toodle pip!