You have to assume that at the full price if not the discounted one they fly you to Brazil to do your hair.

It's that time again.   
But now I've turned the sound off.   

When is a biscuit not a biscuit?  When it's a cracker according to Tesco, who thus freed themselves from the obligation to honour my 40p off voucher.

Well there are plenty of dictionaries that will tell you that a cracker is a biscuit and vice-versa and had there not been a pressing queue behind me I might have engaged the cashier in a discussion of the Jaffa Cake case.

You will recall that McVities were anxious to have Jaffa Cakes classed as cakes rather than biscuits because chocolate covered cakes don't attract VAT while chocolate covered biscuits do.  The clinching argument of the eleven grounds on which the matter was judged was that cakes start out soft but go hard when stale whereas the life of a biscuit (as long as it's not eaten) follows the opposite direction.

Crackers go soft.  I rest my case.

According to my diary I'm going to a concert tonight but I can't find a ticket for it amongst those that adorn my fridge.

I think I'll just enjoy an evening at home and perhaps tune in to France Musique's tribute to the now late Dave Brubeck.  He's one of the musicians who led my jazz taste away from New Orleans towards the cool and the modern.  He's renowned for having recorded one of the best selling jazz tracks of all time in the annus mirabilis of 1959.  Take Five was written by his saxophonist Paul Desmond, so now that I'm trying to play sax I feel even more indebted to him.

I might also muse on The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society which appears to be the Traverse's answer to panto.  It's an odd piece with more than a hint of The Art of Coarse Acting about it.  It's beautifully performed by three actors who flip between presenting an illustrated lecture about Conan Doyle and spiritualism, living the relationships amongst that trio and being various people associated with Doyle and Doyle himself.  It's all at one and the same time deliciously tongue in cheek and heart feelingly serious.

There's a delightful scene in which the two male actors play the little girls whose mocked up photos of fairies had Doyle fooled.  I enjoyed it a lot (unlike Plaything) and am still wondering whether an actor really fell from the roof or was that trickery along similar lines.

It was a beautiful weekend weatherwise, possibly my favourite combination of bright sunshine, frosty ground and crispy air.  Had I played golf on the southern slopes of the Pentlands I'd have basked in that bright sunshine all afternoon but like the skiiers on the new slope I had to be content with frost and crisp.

The winter sharpness served to set off Peploe's warmth and Bellany's intense colours on view respectively at Modern Two and at the National Gallery.  Both exhibitions are must sees.

In an echo of Bellany's student exhibitions on the Playfair Steps railings the gallery has installed panels on their Mound railings.  I spent ages trying to make a grand panorama of them but failed miserably so here's just a taste

     

Sorting through the myriad brochures and flyers that cover my coffee table I discovered that the nationwide French film festival that started on November 8th finished today.  Of the 40 or so screenings in Edinburgh I saw precisely none which for a devout francophile deserves a rap over the knuckles.

Will I do better with the Catalan film festival?  I can surely improve on a score of zero but it's not certain.  I'm not free to see anything before their grand finale screening and subsequent party at La Tasca on the 16th.

That's probably booked solid by now but they have thoughtfully scheduled a post grand finale screening the following day.  Is this a coda or a confusion?  Given that its title is Die Stille vor Bach I suppose it could be either.

But there was a little miracle at the concert - I managed to play one piece without getting lost and I got all the notes right and in pretty much the right place.  Pity about the others but it's progress.