Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Saturday 24/08/2019 (though really it's BrewDogging #66/#67: Perth/Edinburgh Airport)

Reviewed today: nothing really, it's not been that sort of day.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Friday 23/08/2019

Reviewed today: Attila The Stockbroker's Early Music Show, Crocodile Fever, Jerry Sadowitz: Comedian Magician Psychopath 2019, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, Matt Forde: Brexit Pursued By A Bear, Philip Glass: Minimalism At The Organ.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Thursday 22/08/2019

Reviewed today: Art Blakey's Centennial, Baba Brinkman's Rap Guide To Culture, Bach's Multiple Concertos, Desiree Burch: Desiree's Coming Early!, Phil Ellis: Au Revoir, The Scott Walker Songbook.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Wednesday 21/08/2019

Reviewed today: Attila The Stockbroker, Chaika: First Woman In Space, London Symphony Orchestra, Shaving The Dead.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Tuesday 20/08/2019

Reviewed today: Bridget Riley, Mark Watson: I Appreciate You Coming To This And Let's Hope For The Best (Work In Progress), Musik, Russell T Davies, Simon Munnery: Alan Parker Urban Warrior Farewell Tour.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Monday 19/08/2019

Reviewed today: Andy Smart: 40 Years At The Edinburgh Fringe, Eddie Izzard: Expectations Of Great Expectations, Greg Proops: The Smartest Man In The World, Nearly Human, Tracey Thorn.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Sunday 18/08/2019

Reviewed today: Bristol Improv Presents: Dynamite!, Daniel Kitson: Shenanigan, Guys Dolls And Pies, Mervyn Stutter's Pick Of The Fringe, Roger McGough.

Spank's Edinburgh Diary, Saturday 17/08/2019

Reviewed today: John Robertson: The Dark Room, Peter Buckley Hill And Some Comedians XX.

Edinburgh Festival 2019

Douglas Adams (if my train had got in on time). Ken Campbell. Rufus Harley. Iain Banks. Pete McCarthy. Stephane Grappelli.‎

These are all people that I saw perform at my first ever Edinburgh Festival in 1989, the 30th anniversary of which we are celebrating right here, right now.

They're also all dead these days, which puts a minor crimp in the celebrations.

Train (then bus (followed by jetfoil)) To Busan

April 26th - 29th, 2019

When was the last time you picked up a leaflet from a tourist information office that read like a taunt from a James Bond villain?

I'm guessing you can spot the subtle subtext in the typography here. Even when you've just come from Japan, a country notorious for the impenetrability of its address system, Korea turns out to be operating on a whole other level. It's difficult enough finding out Korean addresses in English, but then you find that Google Maps is incapable of calculating walking routes - you'll either be told one doesn't exist, or made to take a three-mile detour along a motorway and back just to get across the road.

That's why, as we enter the Korean section of this year's holiday, you can expect to see lots of GPS co-ordinates shown for all the places we visited. Slap them into your phone mapping application of choice - maps.me is still my personal favourite on my vintage Blackberry - and you may be in with a chance of retracing our steps. Cool? Cool.