Festival Frolics

The lot of a Fringe reviewer is not a glamorous one.

Festival Frolics, week one

As I'm sure you'll have noticed from my Facebook stream, I'm reviewing Edinburgh Festival shows again for ThreeWeeks. If you haven't noticed this, how the hell did you end up on my blog?  As you might also have noticed, I've got a job interview for a statistics job coming up, so I thought I'd get back in practice by collating a few stats about my reviewing. And also have a whinge about the various trials and tribulations one faces as a reviewer.  Because, you know, everyone loves to hear how hard it is going to see loads of stuff for free, right? Right?

Sunday 05 Aug - Tuesday 07

Shows
Shows seen: 15
Total number of shows seen since start of Fringe: 15
Mean number of shows per day reviewing: 5
Total hours in shows (official timings): 15 hours 30 minutes
Total stars awarded: 46
Hang-on-you-can't-take-a-mean-average-of-ordinal-data mean number of stars awarded per show: 3.0666...
Cumulative damage to faith in humanity (n of 1 star shows seen): 0
Cumulative faith in humanity restored (n of 5 star shows seen): 1 (we're in credit!)
Best Theatre so far: The Dead Memory House (Summerhall, 3.00pm & 6.00pm, £10)
Best Comedy so far: Austentatious (the Counting House, 1.30pm, free)
Worst show so far: Luke And Harry's Dot Dot Dot (Just The Tonic at the Caves, 2.00pm, £8)

Life

A truly terrible ploughman's lunch, courtesy of the Tron.

Damage to waistline: Sunday - one fried breakfast, one slice Spanish omelette, one muffin, one steak pie, one cherry pie.  (Ouch.)  Monday - one scone and jam, one grilled chicken sandwich, one light dinner at JRB's, one piece of carrot cake.  (Much better.) Tuesday - one scone and jam, the world's worst ploughman's lunch, one ice-cream cone (double, with flake), dinner at home. (Not too bad.)
Caffeine comsumed (EEUs*): 17.
Mean caffeine  consumed per day (EEUs): 5.666...
Miles walked (via Google maps): 9.9
Times soaked since start of Fringe: 4.
Times sunburnt - hey, it could happen! - since start of Fringe: 0

*EEUs, or Espresso Equivalent Units, are a handy measure of caffine that I just made up where one espresso or one can of fizzy pop = one EEU and one large espresso based coffee (e.g. a cappucino) or one 500ml bottle of fizzy pop = two EEUs. Only caffeine consumed in direct service of reviewing is counted. (i.e. Caffeine at home doesn't count.)