Day 5

Waaaaaaaaaaarg.

It's amazing how quickly things become normal - like this house, this festival, an upside-down purple cow... I meant to write a lot more about the house when I first got here. SO: interview with our flat.

The House

We're living in a three story house (flat? I always thought flats were analogous to apartments) that is in a neighborhood called Tollcross. It's right near the King's Theatre, a non-Fringe venue, where the current main attraction is Alan Cumming's butt (or the Bacchae, whatever).

We've got a lion-shaped door knocker, a gate that we tend not to close. Our door is black but our neighbors have blue and yellow doors. It's not a thru-street, so there are cars parked outside, and a bowling green right across the way.

I can't help but see this house as a distant cousin of #12 Grimmauld Place - it's narrow, the kitchen is straight back, with steep hairpinning stairs... and yet! It has a Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs. Seriously! In my defense, Rowling did write the first HP in Edinburgh (Hopefully I'll visit the cafe itself before I leave)... anyway, the flavor is all around.

There's also a solarium (or conservatory, as you like) which is usually ten or fifteen degrees warmer than the rest of the house. The front room that we're using as an office has a fireplace with a beautiful metal art-nouveau cover, and the wind roars in the chimney in a way very unfamiliar to a city girl like m'self.

And there's a garden, with a frog pond that is more like a frog puddle. I swear I will spend more time out there... it just never quite happens. This morning I'm scanning paste-ups of press clippings, going to watch a first non-preview show in 1.5 hours, and tonight we talk strategy.

Tune in next time for photos!