Back from holidays

I've been away for a few days, so I haven't had access to either Hay gossip or a computer.

On the way back, I was waiting for a bus in Hereford Bus Station, and I saw a cab labelled in English and Polish! The Poles are our largest local minority. There are two shops now in Hereford where you can get Polish food, and you can also get Polish newspapers very easily.
Travelling through Herefordshire, I saw more Green party posters than anything else, and a few Conservative posters that were blue shading through to green, just to be confusing. If the posters are anything to go by, the Greens seem to have a real chance to get a seat there.

Now I'm here again, I've taken Islay for one of her favourite walks, across the river. If you stop on the bridge and look down at Booth Island (on the downstream side) there's a really good view of the swans' nest. They come every year and raise their cygnets here.
Booth Island is not the official name. It doesn't actually have an official name. It's just that it's a little scrap of land that is claimed neither by Breconshire nor Radnorshire, which makes it a bit like the Independent Kingdom of Hay, which was founded by Richard Booth (with himself as first King).
I saw Richie wandering down Broad Street, too. Last time I saw him, he was very agitated, and about to go off to the States with a policewoman, having been thrown out by his long term partner. Now he looks a lot more relaxed, nicely tanned, and says he married the policewoman. Now he's back in this country to wait for a visa to join her permanently.