Day 3...

I woke up this morning afternoon to a card that said:

Yay! A gap of not a lot in a packed out schedule, so, let's kick back and relax until our evening shows. Tonight we'll need a little 'smart casual'.

AM - whenever we get up - mooching, breakfasting, browsing the free fringe shows at a leisurely pace. Hurrah!

Hurrah indeed... it's safe to say that we were in dire need of a long lie! We got to bed at around 4am.

19.10 - Piff the Magic Dragon - Comedy

This was a great little show... at first I wasn't sure whether to laugh or call the RSPCA... the comedian's dog is part of the show. A volunteer princess required from the audience and it should be noted at this point that you should always check that your top isn't see through under a spotlight before you go out. Entertaining and amusing, not side splitting but a good all rounder. Worth a watch.

21.05 - Bordello Blues - Cabaret/burlesque

This little lady sang some songs in French, a couple danced and that was pretty much it. It wasn't a bad show but I'd not rush back in a hurry to see it again. Lots of the venues appear to have pillars slap bang in the middle of the room, however, it seems that no-one rushes to sit in the front row of anything and we've always managed to get decent seats. Dinner consisted of a visit to Pizza Express and the lovely little waitress advised us that if we text 'film' to 214 (provided you're on Orange) you can have a starter and a main course on BOGOF! Hurrah for that little money saving tip! Happy to share!

00.30 - Boom Boom Club - Cabaret

It was surreal from the moment we arrived. There were some peculiar characters (staff and fellow ticket holders) and we were ushered upstairs in the Underbelly to a dark room with a bar and lights and a lot of bewildered looking people. We were moved from that room to another room where a girl ate some fire and swung some flames round on nipple tassles (tomorrow's blip if nothing else comes along!) which went on for about 5 minutes before there was another half hour to hang around wondering what was happening before a band appeared. In the meantime, unknown to us, the cabaret had started in another room which only had 60 seats and at 03.10 they weren't letting anyone else in. Had we known that we wouldn't be told when/where it was on, thus missing the headline act that we'd come to see, we probably would have gone home two hours earlier given that you really needed to be 20 and on drugs to appreciate the rest of the goings on.

This was billed as a cabaret show with Dusty Limits headlining in the Underbelly. I'm pretty sure that would have been fabulous to witness had you been in the right place at the right time. Had the organisers given any indication of times and rooms this would have been incredibly helpful. The order was all wrong and by the time it got to the cabaret, I think a whole lot of people had left. In my view, you can't sell tickets for something and only have 60 seats available when there are at least three times that number of people. This is a massive venue with lots of little rooms rather than one big room so if you put on a show such as this you need to have the timings right. Making people hang around for three hours until the headline act come on, not tell anyone where it's happening or at what time and only allowing a select number of people in to see when everyone had paid the same £14 for the ticket is a big fat scam. Gem complained to the person that was responsible and he didn't appear to have anything to say other than it was their first night. Unacceptable excuse... when you put on an event, you need to have a running order planned before you start, you shouldn't be winging it when people have paid full price. Do a preview show if you want a practice run!

So we've come home and Gem has sent off a 4am stroppy email to the event organisers requesting a refund. She's quite funny when she's cross!

All in all we've had a top day (despite the bad organisation at the end), a lazy start, a leisurely evening and more of the same tomorrow.