Edinburgh Book Festival

The day started with a fringe disaster. After my shower I tried to dry my hair into the same shape as yesterday, and no matter what I did, the front of my hair sprang back into its pre-fringe shape; parted slightly to the side and springing upwards! I headed into Queen Street station to meet Heather and I kept my fringe curled round my finger the whole way but it made little difference! We jumped on the train to Edinburgh and had a good chat on the way. It was a lovely sunny day and I had to buy sunglasses which I had neglected to bring. We had time for a coffee outside in the sunshine at the tented Edinburgh book festival in Charlotte Square; it was nice to be back, there is something very pleasant about its setting with its grassy area surrounded by tents, including the venues where the authors give their talks and book shops and coffee shops. I first took Heather and all of our five children to the book festival more than ten years ago; I had already visited it several times with my school so I thought they would all enjoy it too - and we all did, it has a great atmosphere. By coincidence we met Catherine who was going to the same event so the three of us sat together. The event was the author Pat Barker speaking about her new book set during the First World War "Toby's Room". She was a good speaker, prompted by the intelligent questions of a BBC journalist whose name I can't remember. She gave a good long reading from the book which left me wanting to read more. She also talked about how "the glorious dead" are easier for the British public to cope with than disfigured survivors, both then and now. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Heather was going on holiday later in the day so after a browse in the book shop - I'm a Kindle girl now but I still love browsing - we had lunch and then headed back home on the train. We lunched at a place that Heather knows on George Street called "The Dome". The lunch was very nice and in a gorgeous setting beneath the high domed glass roof, the spacious room was full of potted palms and opulently decorated. I must add that the toilets were magnificent too! We chatted all the way home about Pat Barker's talk, books and life in general. It was a lovely day.