Hands up who likes spreadsheets?
Anyone? No? Only me then..
I'll happily admit I'm an excel spreadsheet nerd enthusiast and it comes in incredibly handy planning which shows to see at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
If you've never been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before - go! it's amazing!
I've been four times before and I love it - the mayhem, the posters, the atmosphere, random famous people in the street, performers and artists all across town, all the different venues and the magical buzz in the air!
I do like Edinburgh anyway, but during festival season, it's a completely different city with theatre, comedy and music bursting out of what seems like every venue and street corner in town.
Posters on the Pleasance
I'm sure the locals must hate it, all the hoards of us tourists descending on their city making everything extra busy and crowded.
But I don't think there's anywhere else in the world quite like Edinburgh during festival season.
I'm sure the locals must hate it, all the hoards of us tourists descending on their city making everything extra busy and crowded.
But I don't think there's anywhere else in the world quite like Edinburgh during festival season.
This year I'd bookmarked 49 different shows that sounded interesting and then I got really sad by listing them all in a spreadsheet along with all the essential details - time, date, location price, etc.
This was my list as of May earlier this year...
Pretty geeky, isn't it?
In a way I'd quite like to book nothing and just turn up on the day to see a show.
The only thing is (apart from me being a bit of a control freak) a lot of the shows get booked up before the Festival has even started and if you want to see top comedians such as Russell Kane, Adam Hills or Susan Calman, you'd have a job to buy a ticket on the day.
I managed to whittle down my list from 49 to 21 shows for the 5 days we're spending in Edinburgh; mostly stand up comedy with a few theatre and music shows thrown in.
I'm looking forward to everything of course, but I think the things I'm most looking forward to are:
The Horne Section (I missed this last year and it was a 5 star sell out!)
Mrs Moneypenny's Money Clinic Live (it's her! from Superscrimpers!)
Susan Calman (just a very very funny and lovely woman)
Marcus Brigstocke (always topical and usually very accurate!)
Making News (new theatre show about BBC news starring several fab comedians)
My tickets finally arrived! I love the fact they're one long stream of ticket after ticket after ticket...
For a veritable visual feast of my Festival picks, if you want you can head on over to my Edinburgh Fringe 2013 Pinterest board.
Any Edinburgh bloggers out there? Do you love it or hate it?
Or do you love or hate us lot, the theatre-loving invading tourists?
I completely get the spreadsheet thing - we plan far too much of our life on google docs, from what we have in the freezer, making a note of which chicken laid today, or details of options for our next holiday :)
ReplyDeleteI know - I seem to have spreadsheets for everything! From Christmas and birthday present lists to budgets to holidays! :-) x
DeleteI've never heard of this festival before (probably because I don't live in the UK) but it sounds really interesting!
ReplyDeleteAbout the spreadsheet thing, I never really get how they worked and probably never will. But hey, I'm okay with that.
Is it - it's fab! It's the largest arts festival in the World with over 2500 theatre, music and comedy shows taking place throughout the whole of August. There's so many things to see and do there, it's difficult trying to fit it all in! :-) x
DeleteI'd love to go to the Festival some time but I've never quite got round to it. I love Edinburgh anyway though, its a fantastic city.
ReplyDeleteOoh, and spread sheets are awesome :) x
I agree, it is a fantastic city! You must try and get to the festival at least once in your life, the city is just transformed into some sort of theatrical living thing during August :-)
DeleteGlad there's some other spreadsheet lovers as well! :-) x
I just came across your blog when I was looking for advice about going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I have long wanted to go and finally I am going this year for 10 days! I just wondered when you booked your tickets? I expect to get some in advance, do you think waiting till the programme will be early enough or should i consider booking some now?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Yay for 10 days at the Fringe! I always book my tickets when the programme actually comes out although I plan what I want to see in advance. I put it all on a spreadsheet, and then when the final few shows are released on the programme launch day I decide for definite what I want to see and then book the tickets usually the first week of June.
DeleteIt all depends on what you want to see and how flexible you are - I'm a bit OCD with it and like having all my shows planned, plus I know some comedians will sell out round about July. If you don't mind who you want to see and/or can be flexible with shows, then you can leave it a bit.
Hope that helps a bit, feel free to email me if you have any other questions! :-) x
Hi, thanks! I ummed an ahhed about whether or not to wait and decided that I would book some tickets to see some people who I knew I would enjoy, so that I wouldnt feel disappointed, not that I'm sure thats possible. Any other shows I see I will book when there. Thanks again for the advice :)
DeleteSounds like a good plan! Have fun! :-) x
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