Festival Weekend

I missed the turning on of the Christmas Lights last night - I was having my dinner before I went out to the Nepal Bazaar Fashion Show. I did meet Richie earlier in the afternoon, though - he was muttering darkly about the decision to hold the ceremony in the marquee for the Food Fair rather than the Buttermarket, where it's always been before.
I was slightly concerned about the 'free cocktail' part of the ticket for the fashion show. I hardly ever drink cocktails, so I had no idea what to ask for. Fortunately, there wasn't a choice - it was Buck's Fizz. We also got a little goodie bag, made from Indian newspaper, with a stick of incense and one of those tiny, taster books, by Vikram Seth, and a few flyers. The Globe was packed out - I sat by my neighbour, Pam, and she said there had only been three tickets left when she went to get one.
Adele had brought together about twenty people to act as models for her - and she'd chosen some fabulous clothes. And a huge cow bell, for some reason. The finale was three little girls and a young teenager (because I'm sure she'd hate to be called a little girl) who were wearing dresses made out of the hand made paper Nepal Bazaar also sells. They scattered confetti over the audience, and they looked fantastic.
And what a talented group of people they all are! As the compere introduced them, the words 'author', 'musician', 'photographer', and 'artist' came up again and again. Later, I saw Adele, and she was giggling about the fact that she hadn't told the compere ahead of time what the models were wearing, so he had to make it up on the hoof - "a brown, trousery - thing - and a shirt!"
Nancy was there too, looking good in a red wool Punjabi suit with lots of embroidery, and she was delighted with the whole thing. She said that Adele was just the right person to take over the business. She was glad not to have the responsibility any more, too - but she isn't retiring quietly. She's starting to do sculpture, and early next year she'll be going out to Nepal with Adele to visit some of the producers of the clothes and other goods.
Later, Jont sang (and his CDs were available behind the bar).
Later than that, downstairs, a folk band from Manchester were playing - Black Velvet Band - but I didn't stay around for that.

This morning, I headed into town to do some leafletting for the Fairtrade Fair in a couple of weeks time, while it was busy. The Brecon Town Concert Band were providing musical support, and there was a wonderful smell of mulled cider. There were three different local breweries represented in the tent, including one Jack (as long time member of CAMRA) hadn't heard of, and lots of preserves, and cheese and meat and chocolates. Jack admired my new coat with the cape, and I said I'd chosen it partly because my young man said it made me look like Jon Pertwee. "Talking of the Doctor," Jack said, "I saw Sylvester McCoy a couple of weeks ago, in the shop. He was looking a bit wobbly and walking with a stick, but he must be getting on a bit now."
Outside there were more stalls, with meat and herbs and fresh veg, and a takeaway van and coffee, and small wooden furniture and canal barge painted buckets and watering cans.
In the Buttermarket, there were hats, and woollen goods and gorgeous carved wood - and Islay made friends with everyone.
When I went into Silent Voices, the first thing I saw was a silk wall hanging of a Welsh dragon, all in oranges and browns - it would look so good in the big tent of my re-enactment group! There were some absolutely gorgeous bronzes there too, of little birds, perfect in every detail. "People think this is all there is," said Mr Havard, who was minding the shop. "They don't realise there's a downstairs as well," and he sent me down to admire the other wall hangings that the lady who made the Welsh dragon had on display. "I don't know how many sewing machines she's worn out!" he said.
Adele had recommended that I go to see Tylluan Pendry, who was doing rune readings in the little shop now known as Spellbound, under Nepal Bazaar. It's the first time I've had a rune reading, though I have a friend who is very good with the Faery Oracle, and I've had Tarot readings at various times over the years. She was lovely, very chatty and down to earth, and it was a very interesting reading. There's a good selection of books in there, too, and things like sage smudging sticks that are useful in rituals.