This is my first time at the Edinburgh Fringe, and it has made me feel better. Now, I do not for one minute think a doctor would recommend it as a restful few weeks away - in fact, had I the time or energy to haul myself to a doctor's office I am sure I would be prescribed six months' hibernation and a complete overhaul, perhaps a bionic liver.
But I feel better. Reinvigorated. Maybe they put something in the water, (or the whisky, I seem to be consuming roughly equivalent volumes of the two). Maybe they just put whisky in the water. Whatever it is, it's working.
My new-found lust for l
ife has probably not got anything to do with the weather. Being an Irishman, nothing feels more exotic, more unusual than the sun, so this choice of three weathers (rain, just did rain, just about to rain) might be expected to make me feel at home, but it doesn't explain this new sense of well-being. It's the festival that's done it, of course. I've never seen anything like it. I suppose it could be overpowering but it's not, it's empowering, inspiring. A kid leaving our show yesterday had clearly enjoyed it, "That was just so...good!" he enthused as he walked past us. We were all walking on air after that, naturally.
You shouldn't get hung up on reviews but as childishly simple as his was I've left other shows at this festival, shows I would ordinarily never have seen in a million years, thinking exactly that.
And I've seen things that I didn't like but they still made me think and this constant exposure, this constant stimulation, is powering me up, recharging me and it will continue to power me long after the curtain comes down for the last time. At least until next year.
• Charlie de Bromhead performs in Cloudcuckooland at the Pleasance Courtyard, 12:50pm, until 25 August, and Pick'N'Myths every Thursday and Saturday at 11:30am, also at the Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33).
