I’ve not yet seen anything so bad this year that I’ve walked out – and come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have.  I’m very much of the ‘I’m getting my money’s worth’ mindset.

Attentive festival-goers will have noticed that the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which normally joins the August fest line-up, is strangely absent.  Last year, EIFF announced they were moving to June from 2008, to position themselves better in the global film festival calendar.

If you’re in the Bristo Square area (Gilded Ballon, purple cow, etc) and are feeling hungry, I urge you to pop into the Pleasance Dome and try a curry from the Mosque Kitchen.  Although I still lament the loss of the creole fast-food bar last seen here two years ago, the kitchen is a more than adequate replacement.

I bumped into Poster Menace the other day, lurking near the Pleasance Dome.  I wouldn't dream of giving away the Menace's identity, but he or she was pretty easy to spot - thanks to the camera round the neck, and the suspicious notice on the nearby wall.

There is one venue in particular that I hold with some affection, and it’s an odd choice: Pleasance Beside, at the Pleasance Courtyard.

Let’s turn back our minds to the first day of Fringe previews: I was standing at the bar in Pleasance Courtyard shortly before going in for a show, when someone asks me to take a picture of him and his mates.

Oh dear, this isn't going well.  Three days into the Fringe, and I'm already rushing round Edinburgh on a handful of jelly beans and a can of Red Bull.  I was out till 2am last night and I've just had my first curry at the Pleasance Dome.  Should the Festival come with a health warning?

I've just seen the first plug of the year for This Belongs To Lionel Richie, without question the most attention-seeking, self-promoting, stunt-loving, ever-present, insidious (and I mean all this in a good way) comedy group ever to hit the Fringe.

Wise men do not laugh at others' misfortune, lest they be similarly afflicted.  But it's hard to suppress a titter at the poor old Assembly chain, who have printed the wrong box office number on every single one of their 400,000 programmes.