Not so much a magpie than a squirrel

This, right now, is my favourite time of year. I like the summer because I can wear fewer layers of clothing, and winter when it's snowy, but this particular stage of autumn (or 'fall' for all you foreigners) is beautiful.

I love the pinkish-grey light that overlays everything just after the sun sets...
the slight chill in the air that makes me think of snuggling up under a fleecy throw with a good book...
seeing the leaves change colour, and the way that different types of trees go different colours...
watching the fallen leaves drift on the canal and the loch, on a day when the air is almost completely still...
the smell of damp, trampled leaves and grass, and the frosty crunch underfoot in the mornings...

I always start hoarding at this time of year. Even though I know that I don't really need to stock up on supplies for the winter, I love the feeling of satisfaction that I get from filling the cupboards with tins of soup, baked beans and other comfort foods. I also get rather excited about 3-for-2 offers on other things I use, and on things I don't use, to be honest. I even spent a while this morning collecting conkers to dry and scatter round the house, as their scent repels moths, and that was the most fun I've had for ages.
I suppose it isn't really all that long since we did have to lay in supplies for the winter, so I'm going to blame all this on instinct - if I was a squirrel, I'd be behaving perfectly rationally.

Mouse's Fringe Review Part 3 - 'Return Of The Mouse'

First of all, apologies for my procrastination. It's been a ridiculously long time since I last posted.

Ok, so here's that photo of the Space Cowboy that I promised you last time...



My memory of the shows may be a little vague, but here goes.

Monday 21st

That night, we went to see Bill Bailey's punk tribute band, Beergut 100. It was a great show, and I really enjoyed it, even though I was ill. While we were waiting to get in, I was feeling like I was going to fall over, but as soon as Bill came on stage I forgot all about it. The band were much better musicians than I had thought they would be, and to make the whole thing even better, they opened with 'Das Hokey-Kokey' - Bill's Kraftwerk tribute.
(Oh, and when we were on the way in, Boo spotted Rich Hall in the bar of the venue, so we went and got his autograph. He was very nice...and very tall.)

Wednesday 23rd

Not actually Fringe-related, but it was my birthday and I went out to dinner with quite a lot of my family. We went to International Starters, where we ordered lots of different things and tried bits of everything. It was all yummy.

Friday 25th

Boo, Chris and I went to see The World Stands Up - a stand-up comedy show compered by Fred Macauley. We saw Kitty Flanagan, who was very funny (as usual), and got her autograph afterwards, also Steve McGrew, who was fairly funny. The highlight of the night, for me at least, was Mitch Benn. He sings satirical and generally mocking songs and I think he's very funny. After the show, he was selling copies of one of his CDs in the foyer. I was glad that it wasn't the one we've already got. We had quite a long chat with him and got our CDs signed too.

I spent the next two days having bouts of being all star-struck and giggly. Chris has a lot to put up with.

Sunday 27th

The last show we saw this Festival was Jump - describing itself as 'martial arts comedy'. Chris was very keen to see this, but I wasn't so sure that I'd like it. As it turned out, though, it was brilliant. It was really funny and the moves that the performers can do are amazing.

I'm sure I could have written more about the shows, had I got round to writing this a bit sooner. Sorry...