The brown, brown grass of home is in need of some rain at last
It always seems to me in the week following the end of the Fringe that the entire city of Edinburgh is suffering from an almighty hangover.
This might be explained away by the fact that I myself have been hungover for a large part of the past five days, which could be skewing my perception somewhat. Time for me to dry out. However, the city itself is looking seriously dehydrated. It needs a good drink.
For some, the Fringe is all about hard work and long hours, for many others it’s a 24-day bender. Either way, it’s time to rest.
The venues were taken down on Monday and Tuesday, the circus leaving town for another 11 months. Some out-of-date posters are still attached to lamp posts, advertising shows that ended last Sunday. Bemused tourists study these and then the penny drops: that’s why they could get a cheap deal to Edinburgh this week.
No sooner had the carnival packed up than the rain began to fall. This is a good thing. August has been far too dry. It’s the first Fringe where I have never used my brolly once. While revellers were partying the month away in the sunshine, the city was already drying out.
People in Scotland are continuously moaning about the weather, It only took a few days of the heatwave to start some of us bleating “aw man, this is too hot. I don’t mind a couple of days but a whole week is too much to take”. Yet it’s very seldom that you hear anyone complaining about the lack of rain.
Taking a bus up The Mound on Monday, I looked down at Princes Street Gardens and it was a pale yellow-grey rather than its normal green. Out for my run, Inverleith Park almost resembled the Australian outback, so dry had it become.
It’s strange to think that one short week ago, the Grassmarket resembled one enormous beer garden, as sun-drenched drinkers sat outside in glorious summer weather which seemed to go on forever.
So the city’s gardeners and park-keepers will be welcoming this week’s rainfall. Of course, we don’t want it to last too long. You can have too much of a good thing.