Me leaving work at a reasonable time.

For good reason. We went to the opening of the Edinburgh Independent and Radical Book Fair this evening at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Leith. It's in its 20th year, although the organisers have said from the start that this will be the last one they will be involved in. Author James Kelman opened the book fair with readings from his new book, Dirt Road. Based around a teenage boy on the cusp of adulthood, the book explores his life and his immediate thoughts and interactions. He opened the reading with a trip to America the boy and his father decided to undertake to see family there. His mother and sister have passed away, and it's only him and his dad left. The boy is a gifted accordian player, and Kelman uses the universal language of music to make connections with people he meets on the way. Although I didn't get the book at the time, I will sometime in the future. And probably not from Amazon, after the impassioned speech of the Word Power book shop representative who welcomed Kelman to the stage. The readings were then followed by some music from a band that had been specially put together for the event, aptly named the Dirt Roadsters. The young male accordian player was very gifted; I couldn't help but think know he may have been the inspiration, he played so well. With real passion. Kelman's two daughters also sang in the band, one in particular had the clearest, sweetest voice I've heard in a long time, but seemed much more uncomfortable on the stage than the older of the two. I watched Kelman watching them for a bit; his face was full of immense pride. It was another great evening.