Within the Fringe

Not much to report here. No work for me, but we think J has a job starting on Friday. It was supposed to start tomorrow but they weren't quite ready for her. It's not nearly as well paid, but it appears that we have arrived at a bad time economically, and we didn't bank on the different education environment which means that I can't get supply (relief) teaching even if I wanted to (which I don't), and they don't have bursars in each school (except Public - ie. private - ones). One agent asked me if we'd considered London which has got to be a bad sign.

We've slowed down on the Fringe stuff but still see one or two a day. On Sunday there was a sort of 'massed bands' fringe events. All the street performers were in the middle of a soggy paddock, while the drama, music, and comedy were in tents around same. It rained. That'll be the overwhelming memory of the festival I think. Rain. We watched a student sketch show today that had its funny moments. It was quite clear they had a slight chip on their shoulders given the many references to "Roddy" and "150 quid". It turns out that their sound-man had scarpered to Mexico with all the proceedings of the previous week...

It could be worse - we could be in South Ossetia. The poor media coverage and propaganda that is coming out of Georgia/Russia is unbelieveable. I still have no idea what is really going on. On the surface it appears that Sakashvili has launched an extremely ill-advised attempt to bring unruly South Ossetians into line. Since SO is an autonomous region of Georgia, they have the right to do so in international law. Given that Russia has 'peace-keeping' troops there though, it would seem a rather hazardous thing to do. Here are some of the questions: How serious was the initial Georgian assault? How many civilians died? Have the Russians been supporting the seperatists in SO and Abkhazia? Have the Russians actually invaded Georgia outside SO? Will the Georgians put up any sort of fight? Is the appropriate analogy Sudetenland, Chechnya or Kosovo? Should the West intervene? Could the West intervene?