True to form I made it to the Grayson Perry Smash Hits exhibition the day before it closed.  I thought it was fun and I enjoyed the audio commentary by the artist himself.  I particularly liked the pots and could have had any one of them in the house, not so sure about the big tapestries and whatnot. 

All very entertaining but I wasn't sure what to make of the the politico-social commentary in the works.  Everyone I know who saw the exhibition thought it was wonderful and many went multiple times, even Guardian readers who were clearly not influenced by its review.  

My major disappointment though was that there were no fridge magnets on sale in the shop.

The Grads did a show called Chalk that well deserved the four star reviews it got.  A two-hander it presents a mother and daughter in a post apocalyptic world.  The daughter though corporeally intact is inhabited by some being that is gobbling up her mind and directing her to eat her mother.  The mother sits in a circle of chalk that protects her.  So far so daft but their interactions, their squabbling, their feelings for one another drive the show beyond its framing.  It's nicely staged and the performances, including acrobatics on a scaffolding structure are excellent,

Acrobatics of another sort at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships absolutely thrilled me one afternoon on the telly.  I saw a bit of trampoline which was fine but the event that I really enjoyed was Tumbling.

I like gymnastics and I admire the gymnasts performing on the mat and doing a few somersaults and such but this Tumbling is somersaults in spades.  The gymnasts propels his/herself along a spongy track doing back flips and aerial twists at enormous speed and finally lands relatively gracefully in a red square on a thick mattress.  It's amazing. I loved it. The British women were great.  They won gold in the team event and silver and bronze in the individual event.  Here's some of it (after the annoying ads).

The other sport I saw some of was the Billy Jean Cup which I think is now the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup.  I enjoyed the matches on the first day when it ended one each to Britain and Sweden.  I didn't see the second day because I was out saxophoning but was pleased that we won.  It's not a totally big deal because the win only means promotion to the first tier for next year but it's progress.

Two good concerts last week and both pretty much full houses with a large proportion of younger people in the audience.  The SCO's concert was of music by Steve Reich, Louis Andriesson and others whose music is in the same vein.  The music was super and engagingly present by Colin Currie the percussionist.  The hall was set out with cabaret tables as it is for jazz gigs.  A DJ played in the bar, before, after and in the interval.  The concert had apparently been heavily promoted in The Skinny and on social media.  I assume all that helped bring the younger set but who knew there was an audience for modern classical music in Edinburgh.

No surprise that many people turned out to hear the RSNO play Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto.  Its use in Brief Encounter has assured its lasting appeal to film fans of a certain age but millenials and such?  I hope they enjoyed it and the Dvorak after the interval.  I suppose on reflection it could have been that the opening piece by Anna Clyne, another contemporary composer, drew them in.