It’s hard not to be feeling a touch of the post-holiday blues this past couple of weeks. In July I was canoeing on Meech Lake in the Gatineau Park . This month I’m considering swapping the Vespa for some kind of amphibious vehicle to get me to work in the monsoon downpours we’ve been ‘enjoying’. Oh, and my tan has started to fade. Only one thing for it; a night out. Or two!

The town is awash (ha!) with Edinburgh Festivallers , every room of every building is being utilised as a theatre , or site-specific performance space. At my work, we’ve welcomed back Arkle Theatre for the 3rd fringe in a row, and on Tuesday night I enjoyed a performance of their rip-riotously funny and imaginative adaptation of 39 Steps.

On Wednesday, the Silver Fox and I (just about) managed to grab a pre-theatre dinner at ‘newer’ Cafe Marlayne on Antigua Street.  When we arrived at 6pm, the place was pretty much desserted, but by the time we left, the place was hoochin’. The pre-theatre menu is a mere £10.95 for two courses, and you pay £4.90 for any of the day’s desserts.

The room is a slightly odd incarnation of ‘French bistro. The familiar Parisian posters, impressionist paintings and candles are teamed up with a giant disco ball and rather jazzy wallpaper. Anyway, it kinda works! The menu featured enough to please all (soup, fish pâté, goats cheese, steak, chicken and so on), and service was slick . A basket of excellent i.e. not cheapo pain arrived on the table before we could say ‘wine list please!’.  I slurped a quaffable dry rosé, my monsieur stuck to the Stellas.

We zipped through dinner as we had to get our tails up to 12 Picardy Place for 7:30pm. I started with a cauliflower and blue cheese soup and G had goats cheese with soft red onions and toasted brown bread. I’ve stared to have a real love affair with the humble cauli lately, and this was a smooth creamy creme du Barry, with a generous sprinkling of stinky cheese crumbled into it. Monsieur’s ‘crostini’ style starter was simple but equally tasty. Again,  the quality of the bread here is spot on, so the posh version of cheese on toast is extra good. The salad garnish was also fresh, with a nice vinaigrette. The time: 6:30pm. So far, we’re fine.

Next up the mains, I can’t say our choices were particularly imaginative. For me, the rump steak with garlic butter, and for him the supreme of chicken with leek and bacon sauce. In bistro style, we had a bowl of veggies and potatoes to share.

The steak was quite literally what steak-y dreams are made of. Cooked medium rare and expertly seasoned, it was a plump ‘ol rump, juicy and absolutely packed with flavour. The garlic butter gave it a naughty edge, and I dragged each and every one of my skinny green beans through it. The broccoli was a tad over-cooked but still ok, and I skipped the baby new potatoes, leaving them for Monsieur bottomless pit accross the table. His chicken (breast on the bone) was given a resounding thumbs up. I sneaked a little soupçon of the sauce which was good n salty from the bacon.The time: 7pm.

This left us what was so obviously ‘not enough time’ to order and eat dessert, but we went for it anyway. The following minutes, dear reader, were a blur of looking at menu, waiting, slurping the rest of drinks, fidgeting, receiving a slice of key lime pie (creamy, zesty) and some chocolate thing (dark choc and almond cake with white chocolate topping) which we scoffed whilst paying the bill and putting our jackets on. I think they were quite good.The time: 7:20pm.

We scarpered up the road (evoking memories of Hannay’s capers in 39 Steps, but without the baddies chasing us) just in time to get seated for James Galea’s I Hate Rabbits. The Silver Fox, (being a rather good magician himself) and I love a top magic show, and this definitely fell in to that category. James is of the contemporary style of magicians , hence the show’s title. Not a rabbit, sequin or lady being sawn in half to be found. He’s a confident performer with some great gags (one of the highlights was the Japanese translation section) and seamlessly presents an hour’s worth of expert card manipulation, bigger crowd-pleasing tricks and comedy. A live HD video feed picks up all of the close-up work and this is projected on to a huge screen, means that the whole audience is able to see all of the wow-inducing detail of his routine. It’s a definite ‘go see’.

The fact that I’m writing this on a sunny Saturday morning makes me think that, even post-holiday, life ain’t bad. at all. Time for another cup of tea. Now. How about a trip to Paris…?

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39 Steps Runs until 20th August at The Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh

Cafe Marlayne: The total bill: £46 – three courses each, two bottles of Stella, and two glasses of house Rosé

James Galea’s show runs until 29th August at The Playhouse, at No. 12 Picardy Place (formerly Hawke and Hunter). Tickets from the Edinburgh Fringe Box Office.