Festival Diary

I started the day with the usual walk out.
The yurts are up in Tangerine Fields, on the edge of town (they were in the Castle Grounds last year, and seem really quite luxurious). I haven't seen any tepees yet, but I'm sure they're around somewhere.

What I did see was a huge 'wicker man' looming over Marina's garden wall, next door to the Wheatsheaf! It's more of a pallet wood man, really, but it's huge!

Then I was supposed to wait in for Jo to bring round the stuff for the Fairtrade Fair in the Buttermarket tomorrow. I'm going to go along and set up the information table in the morning. She was going to bring the basket round after she'd been to yoga, but she arrived much earlier - and spitting feathers! "Can you believe it? They've cancelled the yoga at the Globe and haven't told anybody! Not even the teacher! They've got the electricians in!" So she had a spare hour and a half to kill before she went to the talk at the Festival she'd booked - and was not in the relaxed state of mind she'd expected to be. And she's got 18 guests for the Festival, all friends and family. "Do you have a big house then?" one of the other yoga ladies asked.
"Oh, yes, we've got a mansion!" Jo said grandly. "No - they're all camping. We've got a field with a composting toilet and a cold tap for them!"

On the way out to the launderette, I met Paul Harris, and he said that the Commonwealth has made it to the telly! He's been interviewed by ITV, and it should be on next Thursday night. No-one except Sky TV are allowed to film the actual Festival, so ITV decided they'd make a more general programme about Hay. When they got here they found out about the Commonwealth vs. the King, so they interviewed Richard and Paul - separately, of course. Apart from that, they wanted to focus on the book sellers vs. the Festival, which Paul pointed out was mostly a made up story by the Independent, and bricks and mortar booksellers vs. the Internet, in which case Paul said they could be there until Christmas while he talked about what he thought of that!

Finally, on the way home, I passed the shop on Castle Street that used to be Silent Voices - and Bedecked has moved in there from Backfold, which will give them a lot more room for the wools and trimmings and buttons and so on.