Susan arrives!

Susan arrived this morning. After a six and a half hour flight from Toronto to Edinburgh she found her way to 22 Albany St. at about 10:30am. She didn't sleep at all on the plane but was ready and willing to go for a walk on what was a most beautiful Edinburgh summer day. The weather was perfect today. Blue skies, nice breeze, sunny. I think the population has doubled in the last few days. Trying to make your way through the main streets is almost impossible. We went to Princes St. and walked past the mound where there are many performers and tourists gathered. Then along the park walk to see a nice view of the castle. We found Deb and Jayne sitting in the park sketching the castle view. They are both into sketching a lot on this trip and they are doing some amazing work. We had to be back at the house at 1:30pm to get ready to go hand out flyers at Harvey Nichols.

Back at the house we put our Women Fully Clothed t-shirts on and walked over to the very upscale department store, Harvey Nichols. They were nice enough to let us hand out flyers instore for an hour this afternoon. Susan stayed at the house to catch up on some sleep. We got to the department store and two very keen sales people took us to the basement of the store where I made an intercom announcement of our presence. Okay to say that was cool would be a huge understatement. I got to say, "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my name is Teresa and I'm a member of Women Fully Clothed ... blah blah blah, today on the third floor women's handbags half price ..." Okay I just talked about the show but I did want to say that. It was one of those old fashioned intercoms too. And there were several lovely Scottish people trying to figure out how to work it. Finally I figured it out and before I spoke it actually chimed. It chimed! I loved it. Then we took to the different floors and started peddling our show. I usually hate stuff like that but I got over it quickly. Playing to a small audience is somehow worse than sticking a flyer in someone's face and telling them we're five funny ladies from Canada. Most people were very nice. One woman asked me what floor the lingerie was on. Not kidding. I told her. Why not. The store is beautiful. We kind of got distracted by the clothes but overall we did a pretty good job I'd say. The two keen sales people came to the show tonight. Don't know if it really helped but couldn't have hurt.

Susan came to the show tonight. Another smallish audience that was VERY quiet. Yet at the end of the show they cheer. I don't get it. I really don't. We're trying not to let it affect us too much but it is a challenge. Now I'm just entertaining myself on stage a lot. I actually almost missed a cue line because I was so taken aback when someone laughed out loud. Sad. After the show Susan, Jayne and I went to dinner at a beautiful old pub called the Guilded Arms. It was built in 1817 (see above photos) with all of the original architecture. It was stunning. It felt like we had gone back in time. They had fish and chips (see above photo) and I had soup and salad. Yummy. And great cider once again. My poor liver. The rest of the gang went to see another Canadian production that is here, Rick Miller's Bigger Than Jesus. Jayne and I had already seen it in Toronto. We walked home to a lovely sunset. And now just relaxing so we can get up early and see the sights.