Looking down Edinburgh's High Street one August day
The same area at a less pressured time
For many people around the world Edinburgh is virtually synonymous with festivals. The main festival started in 1947; an attempt to bring in some tourist trade at the end of the season by offering international high culture. The 'Fringe Festival' started in the same year with eight uninvited companies presenting their contributions, that number now runs past 3,500. These two have been joined by a range of other festivals: books, jazz, film, art and, of course, the tattoo.
The takeover of the Old Town, Mound area, and neighbouring streets is complete for three weeks each summer. This page has pictures from the Royal Mile (High Street) which forms the spine of the Old Town, and from the National Gallery area adjacent to it. Here vehicles are absent and anyone who wishes to make a show of themselves may do so. The result is a no-go quarter for many residents; good money is made by letting your flat and going on holiday!
Red robe climbs on friend's back...
Also watched over, a couple discussing whether the bagpiper would...
...and is passed a poster to affix on the 'Fringe' version of a Parisian Morris Column, on the Royal Mile by Parliament Square. Watching the proceedings from the safety of his column is Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, the 5th Duke of Buccleuch, the family that at one time claimed it could walk from the Border to Edinburgh on their own land.
...mind having his photograph taken, surely not, for the instrument's case lies invitingly open to receive donations
Yoda floating on Edinburgh's High Street
Star Wars' Yoda: foot free and fancy loose
While across the road David Hume's feet are very present as they look up the High Street
Able to interact with his audience, if not go anywhere, the performer makes a good living from his/her ingenuity - the mat covers the metal plate holding the staff that supports the stand
A more conventional performance is dressing up as, yet another, statue to add to the array Edinburgh already boasts
A common local quip is the transmogrification of anything into
...a Fringe Event, and sometimes it does get hard to work out what is ...
...a performance and what is not. These tourists seem to have decided
Music of all sorts abounds. Here minimal staging
A simple drum kit from throw-outs
And a more orthodox performance
Moving down from the Parliament Square area on the Royal Mile, to the spaces beside the galleries.
(Craving tolerance, included here are some rather shaky old - 30 to 40 years - grab shots.)
The area beside the Royal Scottish Academy offers impromptu performances and performers an ideal space...
...with room for substantial numbers to gather, often to witness the antics of entertainers such as this guy...
...hijacking a passing motorbike
...to climb a lamp-post, with the Castle as backdrop...
...playing with fire...
...and in this case doing so while riding a monocycle
'Woolly hat' in 1991
It's the interaction with audiences that can make a performance. Sometimes there is plenty of material to work with
'Woolly hat' in 1989
And goodbye from the High Street; dancing us out, a troupe working its way
down the Royal Mile Trailers...
The next page
in Picture Posting goes up from the town to Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh's very own volcano (extinct).
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Hope'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
Maybe not a festival, but constant entertainment in Hà Nội's Night Market
Get away from people? To rural Iceland
...guide to this site