Outside the Globe

Tim the Gardener very kindly gave me a bag full of apples, so I went up to the Globe last night to give him a bottle of beer as a thank you.
Open Mic Night at the Globe starts shortly after 8pm, but Tim sits out under the tree at the front beforehand, chatting. Last night, he was being enthusiastic about the birth of the Da Da movement, in Zurich in 1916, and was hoping to organise something at the Globe to mark the centenary, with surrealist poetry and music. James Joyce was there, mixing with all sorts of European intellectuals who were avoiding the First World War and hanging out at the Cabaret Voltaire.
It's also almost ten years since the first musical evenings (not quite open mic, as there was never a mic) took place at Lucy's - so Tim was going to perform his version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
They're a very erudite bunch, the regulars at the Globe - as Adrian and Chris the bookbinder joined us, the talk turned to magical realism novels (something about women giving birth to pumas), and Tim recited his poem about Toad of Toad Hall. Adrian has published a small volume of verse, too.
When Dirty Ray arrived, there was a very technical discussion about guitar strings.

Kate Freeman passed by, too - she's been helping Derek Addyman with preparations for Hay Independence Day (it's tomorrow - vote early, vote often!). There's a rather fine picture in the B&R today of Prince Derek, in his Henry VIII regalia, surrounded by his court officials, including French and South African ambassadors, and Father Richard, the Archbishop of Hay - as well as Rodders the archdruid of Hay, so religious tolerance is assured!