Rumour has it that there is some sort of arts festival taking place in Edinburgh this month but if neither high culture nor lowbrow comedy appeal then the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston offers an alternative in the form of Truckfest. The event ai
ms to "change the perception of the road haulage industry". Presumably this means that visitors won't be subjected to a go slow by truckers protesting fuel prices on the entry roads in to the event.
Hardcore truck enthusiasts will no doubt enjoy the Truckfest awards, known in the haulage industry as Crufts for Trucks, but you don't have to have a serious Yorkie bar habit to make the most of the event. The main arena is dedicated to what the marketing bumf calls "the fun element of road transport". Past attractions have included somersaulting trucks, jet-propelled trucks and a competition to find the bonniest trucker. Nothing should be read into the fact that the judges have refused to award a prize in the latter for the last four years.
Interestingly, previous celebrity guests have included Vinnie Jones, Patsy Kensit and Take That. It is easy to understand the first two but harder to imagine an audience of grizzled truckers singing along to A Million Love Songs.
Less heavy on the diesel is this afternoon's celebration of Tartan Day in Aberdeen. The big bash of the day is the mass march of The Royal Scottish Pipe Bands Association in which ten RSPBA bands will leave Albyn Place at noon and tramp down to Castlegate. Comedy, drum corps, songs and spoken-word acts make up a concert in the Union Terrace Gardens and a family history fair at the Town House will enable the good burghers of the Granite City to look up their family tree.
Back down the coast in Culross, the Abbey House is hosting a music and arts festival. Bel Canto will perform a selection of Elizabethan madrigals tomorrow afternoon while Opera Box will tackle Madama Butterfly today. Pinkerton and Cio-Cio San had better sing lustily or they will run the risk of being drowned out by the giant trucks revving up just across the Forth.
There is also an oriental flavour to this weekend's Traquair Fair in Peebles. The Hui Ling Chinese Acrobats promise lion dances, foot juggling and martial arts while there could be some friendly skin-bashing rivalry between the Korean percussion group Dulsori and the Japanese inspired Dojo Drummers who are based in Scotland.
Not that every attraction at the fair looks to the Far East. Scottish story-telling, puppetry and Magic Singh, one of the youngest magicians to have been allowed into the Magic Circle, will all provoke their fair share of ooohs and aaahs. The street theatre acts look interesting, especially the martial arts master who busts his moves while on stilts. I'm also intrigued by the Dutch Van Dunk Brothers who will be showing off their revolutionary synchronised swimming techniques without the aid of any water.
• For more infomation, visit
www.truck fest.co.uk;
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk;
www.culrossfestival.com;
www.traquair.co.ukThe full article contains 537 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
