Pete

A bit of festival activity with the family today. One a free show and the other a 2for1, it is possible to do the fringe without making yourself bankrupt for the rest of the year after all. Helps if you're local obviously and you're not paying for your accommodation and all your meals. When I see those groups of soggy tourists trudging around town sometimes I mentally tot up how many thousands of pounds it's costing them for the privilege. Entertainment round these parts don't come cheap for a lot of folk, that's for sure.

OK, on with the, erm, shows -

Huggers at the City Cafe, free family-friendly comedy with different guests each day. Very enjoyable, hosts were good and the guests were a bit more varied. The material wasn't offensive, no swearing obviously for the kids, but a lot of it just sailed straight over their heads. My 8 yr old had no idea what Josh Howie was on about when he asked her if she was Jewish for instance, (in reference to why she wouldn't want the spinning round bar-stool she was sitting on for Christmas.) Decent entertainment in a proper little venue and when the bucket got jingled for any spare change at the end we were happy to make a wee contribution.

Potted Potter at the Pleasance was a bit of a safe bet, as we'd seend their previous show, Potted Panto, last year. Very funny, very silly and even though these two guys are seasoned professionals and have done this show many many times already there were several occasions when they managed to surprise each other and were reduced to giggling at each other like a couple of cheeky schoolboys.

Finally, met up with Pete, a pal I lived with at Sheffield University in 1990, and haven't seen since my aforementioned 8 yr old was only a few months old, when he happened to be around the Pleasance just as were coming out of our show. The stuff in my daughter's glass is lemonade, my solitary pint of lovely, teatime Guinness is just out of shot.

An evening of babysitting and watching riot coverage whilst my friends enjoyed some fringe activity of their own and their son slept soundly in his bed, oblivious to all the chaos down south. We were staying about a mile from Tottenham Hale last weekend when we were down there, think our holiday would have definitely been cut short given these circumstances. My friend and her two small boys are there now - if they fancy coming North and taking in a bit of comedy and theatre and the like then, really, it may well be the safest option. Thinking of you all.

Music