Cathie Dunn writes...

... for another year! I'm talking about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival , of course. Four weeks of late nights, several missed afternoon sessions (thanks, Work!), a little - but sadly not enough - time spent with a visiting friend, hot dogs of different kinds at every venue for lack of choice, and joining hundreds of people queuing patiently. Most shows I managed to get to were fantastic, some were ok, and only a couple were a little underwhelming. I won't mention those as the official reviewers have already left their no doubt harsh mark. Sooo, you want names, I hear? Right. Here come the most memorable ones. In early August we went back to an 'old' favourite of ours - a sketch show of a different kind. Intelligent. All-female. And very funny. Hat off to Ladygarden . Quirky, hilarious, quick, sarcastic, not afraid to take the mickey. A fantastic show second year running. 4.5* Another memorable act was Russell Kane - who now won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for best act 2...

Edinburgh’s heaving. Yes, it’s festival time again. The time when clever locals run for the hills. Or Spain. So when better to face the crowds than a sunny if breezy Saturday afternoon in August? Well, our day started well – with a Radio 4 show being recorded at the Pleasance. Nice and light entertainment. Once the show was done, we had to cross the city to get to the place we’d decided to have lunch. Walking along bustling streets, people walked in the middle of the pavement, bumping into us. Some made way, just as we did, walking in line. Others – or rather, most – didn’t. Walking 3 or 4 abreast, chatting and completely ignorant of other pedestrians coming towards them, they obviously expected us to happily jump off the pavement onto the street. No, hon. The pavement doesn’t have a one-way system. So out came the elbow! In extreme cases, I just stopped, making one of them swerve around me. Pokey poke went the elbow. Hellooo!!! Funnily enough I didn’t get any abuse. Just strang...

All the paperwork's now with my editor at TWRP so we're all set to go. Can't wait to start editing HA now. There are a few bits where I made Rory a bit of a nasty piece of work and didn't know at the time how to change him to someone more sympathetic as it would have spoilt the scenes. So I'm looking forward to my editor's suggestions & comments. Exciting! Just uploaded new pics on my website at www.cathiedunn.com/locations. Go check them out! The latest three pics are shots from Normandy, two of Falaise Castle (or what little is left of it - though the internal exhibition tour is amazing!) and the third is the Tour Marguerite - the only remaining city tower of Argentan from the 12th century. Just standing outside it was an amazing moment. Digging out those pics makes me want to go back to Normandy. Fingers crossed I'll make it next year... ;-)