Festival Town

Couldn't let August go by without musing over the Edinburgh Festivals. Apart from not being able to walk down the street because of the hoards rushing to fringe venues in the strangest locations, it is an amazing place to be at this time of year. From the classically sublime to the extremely ridiculous, and everything in between, all aspects of the arts are on offer. Reassuringly (I think) for book welfare of the future, I was able to get a ticket to see Ian Rankin (last night, fantastic) but could not on the first day of booking get tickets to take my 3 year old to see "Spot the Dog". In an environment where for a short while most of the rules seem to go out the window, there does seem some form of coexistence between emerging artists, celebrities, corporate sponsorship and control. Walking around the Book Festival you could feel creative inspiration buzzing away. Perhaps some lessons for the rest of the year?