People, flyers and the categories they fall into

Hello to you all from a drizzly, damp Edinburgh. (Well, I say it's drizzly and damp but I'm inside at the moment, writing to you so it may have changed since I last ventured outside... but that's highly unlikely as it has rained- at some point, everyday. The last I heard, that was the latest weather status.)

Anyway, enough about me and what I'm wearing. I'm going to take this opportunity to fill you in since I last wrote to you.

So, since I last wrote to you, I have attended two very informative and useful workshops to do with acting- one yesterday, the other today. Yesterday's was by a really funny and enthusiastic American actor and today's, by two British people- one man, one woman. As a result of these workshops, I have managed to obtain two free t-shirts (one for me, one for Dave), four pens (two black ink ones from yesterday and two blue ink ones from today) and two notebooks. Fabulous! Of course, my newly gained knowledge was also a bonus... but we all love freebies! Especially when we've run out of money... 

Right, moving swiftly on.

I wanted to tell you a little about the observations I have made on our favourite topic: flyering. I have noitced that the potential audience/ members of the public have certain standardised responses. Initially, I thought that there was two categories of people: those that accepted the flyers, and those that didn't. I now know that to be wrong.

These, are the following categories:

• those that walk with their eyes permanently to the ground to avoid eye contact, and therefore, avoid awkward chit-chat. I call them the-eye-to-the-ground-ers.
• those that like to collect piles of flyers so that they can feel like they are giving the people with flyers hope. However, they will probably read said flyers when they have time to objectively look, ie, when they get home. I call these people the-flyer-hoarders.
• then there are those that- similar to the above, collect the flyers, taking them from the flyer distributor without a word and then- horror of all horrors, they proceed to dump the pile in the bin right before your eyes. I call them the-collectors-that-dump.
• next we have the people that don't wish to engage in conversation, but wish to be part of the festival, so take a flyer from you like you're partaking in some dodgy dealing. I call these the-hand-shufflers.
• the penultimate group of people are often fairly abrupt with you, but at least they leave you knowing where your stand. They shake their head when offered a flyer and decline with a simple 'no', or 'no thanks'. I like to call these the-out-right-no-ers.
• now we reach my least favourite group: the people that blatantly ignore you, even though you are evidently talking to them. They never take a flyer from you, they never make eye-contact, they never listen to you and- above all, they never acknowledge you.  I call these people the-make-you-feel-invisible-passers-by-without-peripheral-vision.

Now, my final bit of flyer related experiences comes courtesy of a man whose utterings- though not very long, were none-the-less, rather amusing. I said, 'would you like to change the world Sir? Ten past five today.' And then he turned around and said 'no thanks, not today. I have dinner reservations at five.' Dinner reservations v change the world... is there even a contest?!

Anyway, I am here going to bring things to a close and leave you with a few after-thoughts.

• I have broken my rucksack in, courtesy of all the walking. The first few days were- quite frankly, agony. But now, I feel nothing.
• Yesterday I had a walk-by* of Prince's Street.
• Yesterday evening, I saw a very interesting show with Dave called Hypnotist, Titan Knight. It featured a man that juggled with a fully functioning chainsaw, a machete (I think) and a huge blade. This- I watched through the gaps between my fingers covering my eyes. The hypnotist stuff was bizarre to say the least, but we were just watching. Dave and I decided not to be hypnotised- a decision we were very happy with! Oh, there was also a lady there that had over 7000 body piercings!! I didn't know that there was enough space on the human body for that many accessories...
• Lastly, I would like to say good luck to The F Word girls. Their show is on at the same time as mine, so I won't get the opportunity to see theirs. But- from talking with them, it sounds rather fabulous and I wish them the best of luck with the rest of their run as they are all such nice people.

So until the next time,
Mildred

* For those of you unfamiliar with the term 'walk-by', it is basically like a 'drive-by'. You pass through an area, and that is about it. That was what I did yesterday: I passed through an area like a local and not a tourist to get to my final destination. I had a walk-by.