Portobello Beach Edinburgh Day 345

Grandfather and grandson enjoying their ice creams on the promenade this breezy warm Friday afternoon. I suspect they may have had to pool all their pocket money from both those purses to purchase their "traditional" seaside treats. I am not surprised that for most of the time I was sitting on the promenade, writing up my longhand daily journal, that the nearby ice cream van, despite the warmth of the sun, had no punters at all. Of course, they could all be in town for The Festival which begins today having allowed its raucous Fringe sibling to have had free rein for the last week. And free was the order of the night last night as we sampled some of The Edinburgh Fringe Free Festival events. I find this a refreshing antidote to the hefty toll the multi centred Fringe venues are now demanding. That is usually compounded by the annual Edinburgh Festivals conundra that if it is really good you cannot get tickets for the entire run and if there are tickets you may be lucky or maybe not - but then, again, that is part of the artistic kaleidoscopic roulette that makes Edinburgh an irresistible place for so many to be at this time of the year. The 26 bus home was so full of Festival punters that I thought it was going to fall over at one point!