Festival  time. Fireworks  explode in fizzing starbursts  of ruby  and  emerald  above  the  smoke-swept battlements of Edinburgh Castle, while cascades of sparkling fire stream down the castle walls. Swooshing rooster-tails of rockets fill the sky ever more thickly, lighting up the rapt faces of the crowds, as the thundering music swells to a climax. And you're standing there in the midst of it all, face turned towards the sky; transfixed, mesmerised, seduced, wondering what's going to happen next. .

Edinburgh does that to you. Scots poet Hugh MacDiarmid described the city as 'a mad god's dream', but even the maddest of gods couldn't have dreamt up a more inspiring setting for the world's biggest, most exhilarating, most over-the-top festival.