Meanwhile, at the Globe

I live very close to the Globe, and as they seem to be doing their best to be neighbourly, I got an invitation to the Thursday launch party and a wrist band for the week to access the site. There have been quite a few complaints about the Globe from neighbouring houses, including calling the police when lorries stocking the Globe blocked the road. It's a difficult site to get access to with a big lorry, but it all seemed quite disorganised.
Last year, I didn't go on the site, or the Riverside, at all, because I just didn't have time. A wristband for the day is fine if you're a visitor who intends to spend the day moving between events, but it's not so good for a local who just wants to see one event and then zip back to work! And a few people have said that they find the pricing structure difficult to understand.
But this year, I have the wristband, and so I went along to the Launch Party - which was great fun, mostly because I met up with Emanation and Marva. I ended up not seeing any of the events that evening, because I was having such a good time chatting - not just to Emanation and Marva, but to several other people who passed by. We were down near the Champagne Bar at first, and both of them ordered pasta from the nearby food stall. It looked and smelled delicious. Someone ordered pizza, too, which seemed to go down very well.
I was drinking a Bath Ale from the bar in the tent where music was happening. There are several bottled real ales on offer there. I didn't get to hear a set, but I did see a black girl with a violin tuning up. Her name's Kizzy Crawford, and even the tuning up sounded fantastic!
The next day, I went over to the Riverside site, where Spiegel's Circus and the funfair are set up. There are also several stalls, including one of hippy fashion where I found a lovely top. I wore it later to Addyman's to the opening of the art exhibition there, and got several compliments! I was thinking about going over there for folk music around the firepit - but that was when we had our mini thunderstorm, so I didn't think anyone would be sitting outside!
Last night, there were fireworks, followed by Fairport Convention - who I've wanted to see live for years, but an 11pm start was just too late for me, as I had to be at work the next morning.