Three Off the Mile is an alternative column to the standard Empty Box Blog featuring the creative input of Lisa Castle (la voz) Liz Dapo (amo de la marioneta) and Max Ward (el escenógrafo de cartulina). In this weeks column the three discuss their initial thoughts on Edinburgh in general, the Royal Mile in specific, and anything else that strikes their fancy.
Edinburgh
Liz
Who would like to start?
Lisa
I brought some earrings in Sainsbury today. Because I didn't bring any to Edinburgh. What do you think?
Liz
Oh, they're nice.
Max
Okay ladies, lets focus here. What are general thoughts about Edinburgh as a city?
Liz
I'm quite a fan of the city so far. Not so much the hills. I'm a huge fan of the architecture actually. There are so many little corners tucked away and I think it's so charming. I prefer London for the rain though.
Max
What are my thoughts on the city? It's a bit more sun than I remember here, it's my third time returning to Edinburgh, my first time participating. I don't know. What do I say about this place? I could see enjoying a fair amount of time here were it not for the weather, but it's too fickle for me. It's sort of small enough that people have retained a certain amount of friendliness. It is not as dehumanizing as London.
Lisa
I like how when I am reading a 'Rebus' story, I can see the streets he is talking about....
Max
(Referencing his coffee cup) I left my teabag in there for too long...
Lisa
Uh, I don't know. It is a very pretty city. I want to go on one of those tours, you know, look at history and stuff where they take you underground and you see the plague
Max
Would you go on one with....
Lisa
I want the ones with BLOOD and DEATH and PLAGUE!
Max
They jump out at you here and stuff I think.
Lisa
I'd like to learn more about the history of the place. Until four years ago...
Max
Oh this is something fascinating we have learned. An ex Marine Scotsman, with his son, while we were handing out flyers told us: “By the way do you know the oldest location in UK is? “ to which we responded no he replied “It's in the lady's loo at the Bella Italia restaruant at the top of North Bridge. It's the place where Scotland and England signed the treaty that began what we know of as the United Kingdom”
Yeah.
But it would be a total shame if we didn't talk about Scudge.
Lisa
Yeah! Scottish Fudge. Fudgey goodness!
Max
We have learned that nuts are always a good addition to fudge. Whiskey is not, surprisingly.
Liz
Fruits have been good.
Lisa
They scored highly.
Max
Ginger however; maybe not. But putting more chocolate--
Lisa
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Max
It's...
Lisa
It's bad. It's so hard because you just can't differentiate...
The chocolate saturation point....to triple choc something
Max
Uh huh
Lisa
What if they did fudge with chocolate chips in it?
Max
You couldn't have a triple chocolate cookie...
Lisa
They do!
Max
No!
Lisa
They do! They have white choc........we also saw a pigeon throwing up blood
Max
...And that segues us into the mile...so now we are on the mile. The pigeon throwing up...the blood pigeon
The Mile
Lisa
That sort of scarred me for the day. Liz, you are being really quiet...
Liz
Actually as I was walking along the mile this morning I realized that I've been so jaded by theatre that nothing out there surprises me. There are all types of people out there doing all types of things and while some of it's interesting none of it is that surprising.
Max
Part of me — through the flyering experience — wanted to gain a certain level of appreciation for the job and the people who did it.
Lisa
Yeah?
Max
I haven't.
Lisa
Maybe we should say that we've seen some shows.
The Shows
Max
Yeah, why not?
Lisa
The Penny Dreadfuls were very funny – Boom!
Liz
There seems to be a lot of farm equipment lying around here.
Lisa
We can't just quote lines from the show, that'd be terrible...Frantic Assembly was very good.
Liz
I'm going to see that Friday. We still need to check out the Forest Fringe.
Lisa
That always sounds a bit rude. How much do we have to write?
Max
Well we've done a bit but Dan's still got to proof read this. Should we talk about shows we still want to see?
Liz
Aside from Norman Shadowboxer?
All
Hooray!
Liz
Hedwig and the Angry Inch?
Lisa
Hedwig! And we should see Max and Ivan.
Max
I'm gonna throw in Derevo and The River People.
Liz
Ah, I did enjoy the walk up the hill the other day to Arthur's Seat. And we still have to go see the big parthenon thingy.
Max
We've kind of wound down here at the end.
Liz
Do we have to talk about the show?
Lisa
No, that's the point of the blog. We're not supposed to talk about the show.
Liz
Really?
Lisa
Well, that's what I've decided.
Liz
Then that's us signing off.
Lisa
They're gonna hate this.
- Lisa, Liz and Max
