Getting the Festival Buzz

I have spent too long today walking and standing - but I've talked to some interesting people!

Over at Broad Street Books, I was delighted to have sold "fashion victim Batman", a collectable model from the 1990s where Batman was dressed in blue and white stripes rather than the more familiar black or grey.
Mary, who runs the B&B Rest for the Tired, told me that she has the Spanish Ambassador for Culture staying, "and he's lovely!" He quizzed her about all the food he got for breakfast, to find out how local it all was. She gets her sausage and bacon from Tom the organic butcher, more or less next door, local bread, and gave him local strawberries for the top of his Bran Flakes, but had to say that she had bought the mushrooms down the Co-op! He's very impressed with the variety of local shops in Hay.

Down at the Festival site, I met Lawrence, who was volunteering outside the Wales Stage, waiting for the crowds to arrive for Melvyn Bragg. He's also the co-author of Framespotting (available at the Festival Bookshop), so when he and Alison saw the giant picture frame on the Festival site, they had to do this:

On the way back from the Festival, all sorts of stalls have appeared along Brecon Road, including a charity tea garden with a woodturner and crafts, a noodle bar to rais money for RAFA, where I bought a couple of badges of a Hurricane and a Lancaster, and another stall selling Welsh cakes. I stopped at Minnies Ice Creams, and had the one flavoured with local honey, which was delicious! I like ice cream, but I don't often have a cornet - but this time the walk was long enough for me to enjoy it right down to the bottom of the cone.

Earlier, I met Ellie, collecting for a Motor Neurone disease charity. "Funny how a high-viz jacket makes you invisible," she mused. She was standing near the Granary. "The music's better down here," she said, nodding towards Malcolm and his son who were busking with accordian and guitar outside Barclays Bank.
Up in the Buttermarket was Shelley, with her stall of silk scarves, as part of Hay Artisans. She lives over in Malvern now, but seemed happy to be back in Hay for a while.
Outside the Chemists was Paddington Bear, with a young helper carrying his suitcase, while he held a placard advertising the event in the Parish Hall on Monday in aid of refugees (there will be a teddy bears' picnic as well as crafts to try).

I've been to some events over the last couple of days, too, which I'll blog about shortly.