Trip to Hereford

 I had a voucher for Marks and Spencers, for being part of a Covid testing scheme (still negative, thank goodness!), so I had to go into Hereford to spend it.

I had a pleasant chat with some people waiting for the bus this morning - a lady from Normandy who is on holiday from her job in a bookshop in London (so of course she came to Hay!) and a chap from near Bolton in Lancashire who is walking the Offa's Dyke Path a bit at a time - he was heading home to his job for the weekend, and starting back on the Path next week.  He thinks it'll take him a couple of weeks more to get to Prestatyn and the end of the Path.

It was nice to see that the paper timetables at the bus stop are now up to date!

Masks now seem to be optional on the bus - at any rate, only about 50% of passengers were wearing one.  They're pretty much optional in shops in Hereford too, but I was wearing mine.

I spent my voucher very easily in Marks and Spencers, on a men's white shirt I need for a costume some time in the coming year.  I like their men's shirts - they're always long enough in the arms for me, and good quality.

I've started a habit of always going into Cult Vintage to look at their silk shirts, too, and I found a perfect scarlet one for my Young Man, who is going to a Vampire event soon - it should go very nicely with his dark suit and his fangs.  I also found a roll neck black jumper, which will be perfect for another costume - it's been very hard to find a decent jumper with the right shape of collar to cosplay the Demon Crowley from Good Omens in his 1967 outfit.

Something else I've got in the habit of doing is visiting the stall in the main square to buy Monkhide Mead.  I noticed that the shape of the bottle had changed from the last time I was there, from a wide, flat bottle to a round one.  "We used to source the bottles from Germany," the stall holder said.  "I don't really need to finish that thought, do I?"  He said that the last lot of bottles they ordered got as far as a warehouse in Calais, and no further, so eventually they had to cancel the order.  The new round bottles come from Yorkshire.

I had time, too, for some very nice oolong tea from the little tea shop near the Old House in the main square.