{"id":334815,"date":"2025-08-11T04:13:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T04:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/334815\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T04:13:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T04:13:16","slug":"the-edinburgh-fringe-was-making-me-feel-bleak-until-i-went-on-a-hunt-for-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/334815\/","title":{"rendered":"The Edinburgh Fringe was making me feel bleak \u2013 until I went on a hunt for joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The daytime show<\/a> is about curiosity and finding beauty when the world can seem so bleak and bullying. Trying to stock up on joy as an act of rebellion. Every morning, I walk around Edinburgh and see things that fascinate. In Lochend, the poppies have found their perches in inhospitable places. One is growing in the middle of the road and placed itself so perfectly central that it has survived and grown and offers a splash of red in the heavily potholed tarmac. <\/p>\n

I find architecture, colour, bees and people. At the 5K run in Holyrood Park, a woman sits on the verge with two wooden spoons. She plays them relentlessly, offering a supportive beat for those who stumble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I overhear an American tourist saying, \u201cThey\u2019ve been cooking meat and potatoes for two hundred years. That\u2019s why they do it so well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

I accept flyers for shows of dance and song \u2013 and even ask for them and chat a little if the flyerer looks despondent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sign the petition<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our call to Keir Starmer to pass a law to end poverty.<\/p>\n

The remarkable array of bookshops in the city means that I have picked up volume four and volume five of the Meat Industry and Meat Inspection handbooks of 1910. I am a vegetarian, but also a sucker for old colour illustrations of diseased meats, as well as books on 19th century choreographers and a 1938 copy of the Radio Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n

Today there is rain and the hint of a hurricane, so I will walk through the park in my anorak and see how the colours have changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joy can be a battle, but I try to make the finding of it a relentless preoccupation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re here, let me recommend shows by Josie Long, Caitriona Dowden, Marjolein Robertson, Gavin Webster. And for children, how could you resist Lindsey Cole\u2019s The Mermaid, the Otter and the Big Poo?<\/p>\n

The Fringe can break you, but know there are always people out there who are ready to help reassemble you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Robin Ince is a comedian, poet and broadcaster.<\/strong> His shows at the Edinburgh Fringe run until 17 August. Tickets for the daytime show<\/a> and the evening show<\/a> are still available<\/strong><\/p>\n

Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity<\/a>\u00a0by Robin Ince is out now (Macmillan, \u00a320). <\/strong><\/p>\n

Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

His new poetry collection, Ice Cream For A Broken Tooth<\/a> (Flapjack Press, \u00a312), is also out now <\/strong><\/p>\n

You can buy them both from the\u00a0Big Issue shop<\/a>\u00a0on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s helping people with disabilities.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s creating safer living conditions for renters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s getting answers for the most vulnerable.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n

Big Issue brings you trustworthy journalism that drives real change.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If this article gave you something to think about,\u00a0help us keep doing this work from \u00a35 a month<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read more: The daytime show is about curiosity and finding beauty when the world can seem so bleak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,2197,1102,31356,7056,4884,391,31103,52184,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-334815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-comedy","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-edinburgh-festival-fringe","12":"tag-from-the-magazine","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-opinion","15":"tag-poetry","16":"tag-robin-ince","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115008190334747790","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}