Edinburgh festivals diary: Edinburgh, I am ashamed of you after experiencing anti-Fringe aggression

I had my first experience of anti-Fringe, anti-English aggression. I was sitting at a picnic bench in George Square Gardens when a couple asked if they could take the two empty seats opposite me. I explained that my daughter and my cousin were sitting there, but had gone to pick up their food from a nearby truck. The pair went on their way to look for different seats, perfectly happy.

Half an hour later, a woman who had been sitting further down the same bench got up to leave and stumbled her way over to us, her male companion hovering sheepishly behind her.

"Why did you not let that couple sit there before?" she asked aggressively, indicating the two inches of spare bench between my teenage daughter and the people sitting next to us. I explained again, somewhat unnecessarily now as they were both right there, that my companions were using the seats.

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"They could have squeezed up," she argued, shouting in my face (they couldn't). And here came the kicker: "This is NOT how we do things in Edinburgh."

I can see why she assumed I wasn't local. I have a (northern) English accent. I was, having come straight from work, wearing a Fringe lanyard. My cousin is American and, like many Fringe performers, under 30.

To this woman, we must have looked like a fly-by-night, probably London-based Fringe show team having the time of our lives “doing Edinburgh”. The kind she, despite the fact she was choosing to spend her own evening at the Fringe, clearly hates.

READ MORE: The Best Edinburgh Fringe Theatre 2025: Every show with a four or five star review from The Scotsman so far

In reality, I have lived in Scotland for more than 25 years: far longer than I ever lived in England and almost my entire adult life. My daughter is Edinburgh born and bred. None of this should matter. We are all Jock Tamson's bairns. But for the single reason that we appeared to belong to a non-Scottish, visiting, Fringe show, she chose to attack us.

Some of us locals love it, others - particularly understandable, those who live close to a busy Fringe venue with constant noise and disruption throughout August - hate it.

But whatever we think of the Fringe, or of any of the other festivals, this kind of personal abuse is unacceptable. If I had actually been an English Fringe performer visiting Edinburgh for the first time, I would have felt horribly unwelcome. As it was, I felt horribly unwelcome in my own home town.

This is not how we do things in Edinburgh.

How many people actually play polo?

The TV sports entertainment on the big screen in the Pleasance Dome on Tuesday was somewhat unusual, particularly for (weather postponed) 2-4-1 ticket day, when the whole point is inclusivity and accessibility - an affordable Fringe for all.

Were they showing a football match, a rugby game, or even golf - the three most popular sports to watch in Scotland? No. Instead, the venue chose to screen a polo match: an exclusive game that is apparently played by a grand total of 2,500 people across the whole of the UK, most of them presumably minor royals. Interesting choice.