Northerner occasionally makes it up to Edinburgh, so she ought to look up what's on at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Guid Crack Club.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre has got a *phenomenal* amount of money from somewhere. As a friend of mine put it, "I'm working on a story which will begin

- Once upon a time there were a lot of little Scottish Arts Council grants..."

I have fairly limited tolerance for people in funny clothes talking pseudo-mediaeval cliches in squeaky slowed-down voices. I have worked out how to find the good stuff by now, but the storytelling scene has no more quality control than the folk singaround culture.

Ewan MacVicar is well worth a listen any time.