A fence has gone up around the grass area at the Library building on Chancery Lane, and across part of the car parking space near the solicitors' office - all of it is now private land, because it was sold off by Powys County Council along with the Library building.
I don't know what the plans for the building are - the application to turn it into holiday lets was turned down - but something is happening.
I had some stuff to take to a charity shop, and I was bored of going to Hereford, so I went to Brecon instead.
The last time I went to Brecon was before the pandemic - I had planned to go to see the new library and museum when they opened, but never got round to it.
The first change I noticed was all the new houses being built on the way into Brecon, above the hospital - and the new High School, which looks a bit grim with all the grey stone.
I was aiming for the Tenovus charity shop near the market hall, but they have moved to Bethel Square. However, there was a Dial-a-Ride shop (chock full of stuff!) on the opposite corner, and they were very happy to take my donation.
The cat welfare shop is still there, down the hill, and they had stuff spread all over the road on special offer.
And there was bric-a-brac in the market hall, along with stalls of knitted toys, knitting, sewing and art supplies, tools, and books.
There have been some changes in the shops since I was last there - there seem to be more coffee shops now, and an art gallery filled with baskets where the Chinese restaurant used to be, opposite the museum. I was pleased to see Brecon Tap was still there, and went in for a half (I forget the name of the beer, but it had 'Gold' in it and was light and refreshing).
By that time I only had about half an hour before the bus back to Hay, so I had a quick look in the new library and museum. The little I saw was impressive, so I'll have to go back soon to see the rest!
I found the Boudicca statue, that used to be outside the old law court, round the back in the garden:
It's on Saturday 24th June, at Cusop Village Hall, at 7pm, with songs, poems, magic and a mini quiz.
There are also cheesy prizes, cheese platters and cheesecake. And a raffle.
The evening is free, apart from wine and drinks, and donations are welcomed.
It's all to raise money for the Junior and Senior Youth Christmas Show.
On Sunday 25th June, Hay Castle is hosting Common Threads for Refugee Week.
It's a celebration of stitching from around the world. The Friendship Quilt, which was made locally by a combination of refugee embroiderers and volunteer quilters, will be on display for the first time since its completion!
This is a free event.
Today was Hay Pride day at the Castle and the Globe, but before that started, runners were gathering at the Clock Tower for the Offa's Dyke run. There was a chap with a PA system at the back of his car organising everyone, and he said that the run had originally taken place between 1977 and 2001, and re-started in 2015.
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They set off for the bridge at 11am, and shortly after that I went up to the Globe, where the Pride parade was gathering.
The big hats belong to the three Welsh Lady dancers - one of them is standing by the table with the black blouse and multicoloured skirt. The hats went down right over their heads, with eye holes. There were also the Taiko drummers, and a samba band. I'd seen the Taiko drummers earlier, doing a warm up session on the steps of the Castle:
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The parade went through the back streets of Hay, onto Lion Street and then up to the square. There were lots of people in brightly coloured clothing, including a lady who I think is the vicar at Cusop Church, wearing her dog collar and a rainbow coloured tutu! Lots of people had hand made signs, including some in Welsh, and about half way along the route some tall banners were passed around, from the River Wye Festival - they were tall enough to get slightly tangled up in the Hay Festival bunting, but no damage was done!
At the square everyone fanned out around the central space so the drummers and samba players had plenty of room to perform, with the Welsh Ladies dancing. Then the strains of the song from Cabaret, Willkommen, Bien venue, Welcome, came from the top of the Castle steps - I think the singer was Boo La Croux, and with that, everyone made their way up the steps onto the Castle green where all the stalls were laid out. There was plenty to eat and drink, a stage for the entertainment, a table to register for the dog show, and stalls - Otherworlds had rainbow themed goods on display and the comic lady I met at Hay market a few weeks ago was there, with some Pride themed graphic novels alongside her usual stock. There was also a book stall - I went a bit mad with the Juno Dawson titles. I'd seen Her Majesty's Royal Coven at the Hay Festival Bookshop, and hesitated over it, but this time I got it and two of Juno Dawson's non-fiction titles, This Book is Gay and What's the T? And I rounded off my little pile with the Complete works of Sappho, sadly fragmentary, but what survives is quite beautiful.
On a more serious note, PAVO were there, the volunteer body, along with the NHS giving information about gender medical care locally (and suicide prevention) and West Mercia Women's Aid.
There was a stall doing temporary tattoos and butterfly wings, too, and face painting.
Near the food trucks was a 3D art installation by Dan Lee, a triangular structure with a circular disc suspended from it, which he was encouraging people to add ribbons to.
And there was a stall for Queering the Wye Valley. I had a lovely conversation with the lady at the stall. It's a project connecting young people with nature, with a focus on environmentalism. "Drag queens are all about glitter!" she laughed, "so we've got to find a way of doing it without being environmentally unfriendly!" They have a podcast that I'm going to investigate shortly.
Meanwhile, Radnorshire Wildlife Trust had taken over the Globe for the afternoon for a clothes swap as part of Green Week, and I had some stuff I wanted to get rid of, so I slipped away from the Castle for a while. I parted with a green suede jacket, a brown skirt, brown silk blouse, pink scarf and a couple of other bits, and came away with a brown loose jacket with embroidery round the collar, a red and black tie, a cotton skirt and a loose black cardigan. As I was struggling into the skirt to make sure it fit, over my own skirt, a lady stopped and said: "I brought that in!" and we both cheered when I managed to get the zip up. The black cardi had a small hole in the back, but I went straight off to Country Supplies and found an embroidered patch - a red dragon on a black background, which I've stitched over the hole, so it looks pretty good.
All that, and the Mad Hatter's Craft Fair in the Buttermarket! A busy day!
There's been some discussion on Facebook about the Warren being cut for hay - the person who posted in the Community Facebook page thought that it should have been left until mid-July, because of the wildflowers and insects, while the people who actually manage the Warren made a case for cutting the grass now.
So this afternoon I went down to see for myself.
I think it's obvious from these photos that only part of the Warren has been cut for hay, with the remainder still having long grass. This is in accordance with the management plan agreed with the National Parks, as Jeff Morgan said on Facebook.
While I was down there, I saw several butterflies, and damselflies - and an egret on the river.
I'm a bit behind on reading the B&R, so I've only just seen the news that St Mary's Church is planning to do away with the Victorian pews in favour of stackable chairs.
They have a point - good quality stackable chairs can look very effective, and give the church more options for different layouts now that they are hosting so many musical and other events there. They hope the changes will encourage other community groups to use the church.
It will also give them a chance to check underneath the pews to see if the timbers are sound.
They will also be putting in a new emergency exit to comply with fire regulations.
Hay Pride is back at Hay Castle on Saturday 17th June during the day (free), and at the Globe in the evening (tickets £15).
I'm quite looking forward to this - I missed it last year because I was working, but one of my colleagues at the bookshop had great fun entering the dog show with her little white dog.
On the same day, there's a clothes swap at the Globe, from 12.30 to 3pm, and I have a few things I want to take down there, too, and see what I can pick up in exchange.
The Cinema Bookshop team went out for a celebratory meal last night, after a successful Festival.
Belmont House is now owned by an English and Japanese couple, Simon and Kazuko, and they have started doing supper parties with authentic Japanese food. They don't have a drinks licence, so ask guests to bring their own beer and wine. They provide water and a sort of barley tea, which was quite refreshing.
Greg, our manager, managed to find some genuine Japanese Asahi beer in cans, which was tasty and refreshing, and there was a bottle of white wine going round, too. I'd brought a bottle of Blorenge Golden Ale from Tudor Brewery, from their regular stall on the Thursday market.
We were sitting at a table on the back patio, with a view down the garden and across the Wye Valley.
Before each course, Kazuko explained what the food was for the benefit of those of us who had never eaten Japanese food before. Which was most of us, apart from Greg, who used to go to book fairs in Japan.
We started with two skewers each of chicken and vegetables - the sort of thing that would be street food in Japan.
Then there was a noodle soup in green tea, with deep fried pieces of vegetables. The veg and noodles were eaten with chopsticks, and then we were encouraged to pick up the bowl to drink the tea There was a green leaf in there from a plant related to the chrysanthamum, which Kazuko grows in the garden, as it's impossible to buy in the UK. All the ingredients were locally sourced as much as possible - she said she went out shopping in the morning, and decided then what the meal would be in the evening.
Then there was a small bowl of salad each, from Primrose Farm, with a sesame dressing which was delicious.
Only then did we get to the main course! This was breaded pork steak, with a sauce to dip it into and a mound of rice, with chopped salady stuff. The pork came from Geraldine, the butcher on Castle Street. Kazuko said that the pork was as good as anything she could get back in Japan.
And finally, dessert was home made miso ice cream with two little home-made sesame biscuits on top - very rich and creamy.
After that we had coffee and green tea (and some more Asahi beer), and just enjoyed the evening sunshine.
Meanwhile in the front room of the house another party had arrived for the sushi meal that they do.
Kazuko said that she also has all the equipment to do a Japanese tea ceremony!
She was dressed in a traditional Buddhist trouser suit that she had made herself (not pyjamas!).
They did a take away stall last year at the Festival, from their front garden, which seemed to be very successful - I tried some of the food then, and very much enjoyed it. They tried again this year, but had to give up because the flats across the road had left their bins out, and the smell after a couple of days was really quite unpleasant in the hot weather.
They will also be doing a take away stall at the monthly Food Fairs in the square, on the first Saturday of each month (I think except August).
I've been getting used to hearing the Clock Tower chime the hours and the quarters since I moved closer to it, but yesterday it stopped at five past one.
I hope it's repaired soon (I presume it needs more than being wound up again).
I'm quite missing the bongs.
Botany and Other Stories are putting together a book in which they ask 100 people what their favourite flower is, and why. Each person is asked to write 150 words, and the book is going to be illustrated with photos of the contributors.
So I was asked to contribute, and I wrote 150 words about snowdrops, and my memories of coming to Hay for the first time, and seeing snowdrops growing all down Cusop Dingle.
Last week, I met Patrick Dodds, the photographer for the project, half way up Cusop Dingle, to have my picture taken. I'd got there a little bit early to find a place I might want the picture to be taken, and decided on the bridge over the stream where my second-favourite waterfall of that stretch is. My favourite waterfall is just below Lower House, but you'd have to lean over the fence to get it into a picture! So we started off there.
Patrick had seen a crab apple tree in bloom in the grounds of Lower House (a public footpath runs through their garden), so we went off to have a look at that. Sadly, the blossoms had finished, but we did find a rather picturesque field gate opening into a field full of buttercups, so he took a few more photos there.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
Francoise from Botany and Other Stories had told me that he was very respectful as a photographer, and had been very patient with the young Ukranian girl he photographed for the book, on the Warren. He was very good at putting me at my ease, and we had a lovely conversation, ranging from stories about working for Richard Booth to performances of Shakespeare we'd seen.
As we walked back into Hay, we met Francoise and Pierre. "Ah, you two know each other?" Francoise asked.
"We do now!" I said.
On Friday 9th June, at 7.30pm Hay Music are having a concert of clarinet and accordian music at the Castle. It's a mix of jazz, classical music, and traditional Breton music, performed by Rozenn le Trionnaire and Jeremy Simon, with the composer Didier Squiban. Which sounds intriguing - but I'm going out to dinner that night. Speaking of which, pre-concert suppers are available, bookable at www.haymusic.org or the Hay Tourist Bureau.
Also at the Castle, on Friday 7th July at 7.30pm, is the Amarylli Duo. Elizabeth Pallett plays lute and theorbo, and Hannah Grove sings soprano. They'll be performing compositions based on Shakespeare's works from his own time. Hey, nonny, nonny!
And on Friday 28th July, there's a concert at St Mary's Church, at 7pm, with Rolf Hind on piano.
I'm sad to hear that permission to appeal against a decision to have a new livestock development on the banks of the River Dore, in the Wye catchment area, has been refused by the Supreme Court. The development at Bage Court farm can now be expanded, and the legal case against it cannot go any further.
I've just got home from work after the last day of the Festival.
No live music from the Old Electric Shop tonight - I passed by just in time to see them locking up.
Down at the Festival site, they're finishing off with the Pugwash Lecture on the Ukraine war and Planet Assembly 9 - a call to action by Tony Juniper and Emily Shuckburgh, and a free workshop on writing comedy from the BBC. Then Dr Cheddar Gorgeous and DJ Max Galactic finish off the evening with a live show and disco.
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And here's a life sized fallow deer by Sally Matthews, in the Castle grounds.
It was market day yesterday, and I got to the square just as George the Town Crier welcomed all Hay's visitors, in Welsh and English.
There's a new comic/graphic novel stall, with some very impressive stock - including Sandman (by Neil Gaiman - a brilliant run of comics turned into a series of graphic novels). I stopped to chat to the stall holder, Lauren from Indiana, who now lives in Hay.
Next to the comic stall was a table manned by a chap who comes into the Cinema Bookshop regularly - he was once a sailor on a tall ship which I visited (I had the sweatshirt for years), the Maria Assumpta, and he's now involved with the campaign to save the Wye. He was selling copies of a book edited by Father Richard, called Heavens Above! The Wye Must Not Die! It's about the pilgrimage Father Richard organised where a wooden statue of Our Lady was floated down the Wye.
He's got some very impressive contributors to the book. Rowan Williams wrote the Foreword. Local bookseller Anne Brichto wrote the chapter on Judaism and Water (her father was a rabbi who also wrote books). There are two chapters on Islam and Water by contributors I don't know, Mahmoud Mussa and Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, and a chapter on the eastern Orthodox tradition of water by David Williams. Then Helen Scott writes about the local churches of Capel-y-ffin, Llanigon and Hay, Rachel Jenkins writes about the pollution in the Wye and Philip Chatfield writes about the creation of the sculpture of the Virgin Mary. The last two collaborated with Father Richard Williams in the editing of the book.
Part two describes the journey down the Wye, with beautifully drawn maps, and there are also lots of photos. The watercolour on the back of the book is from a famous painter of railway posters in the 1950s, Jack Merriott.
Buying the book contributes to the restoration of the River Wye, and the citizen scientists who are testing the water quality.
(apart from the stall on the market, I'm not sure where the book is available, but I'm sure Father Richard Williams of St Mary's, Hay, will be able to help if anyone wants to contact him).
When I arrived, a chap was talking about legal challenges to the release of sewage into waterways, and he used the Manchester Ship Canal as his example. This is not a well loved rural waterway. This is industrial, for big ships to come up to Manchester from Liverpool. But enough people do care about it to have launched a legal challenge to the water company responsible, and they are quietly hopeful that they will win in the courts. If the court decision is favourable, this will bode well for other legal challenges in other parts of the country.
Following him on stage was Oliver Bullough, local author and campaigner for the River Wye, who was talking about gaining bathing status for the Warren. This is another legal method of forcing the water companies and other bodies who are responsible for the rivers, like National Resources Wales, to actually test the water and do something about the pollution. They have had to spend quite a long time collecting data on who uses the Warren for swimming, canoeing, and dog walking, to demonstrate that people do use the river, and need to be protected from pollution.
Apparently, National Resources Wales were quite enthusiastic when Oliver went to them on behalf of the local groups, and set up a time line of what would happen. One of the main things on the time line was supposed to start in April, but when Oliver contacted them they said they had not been able to fill the post yet, so there was no member of staff to do anything. They still have not filled the post, at the end of May - but they're very enthusiastic....
Then Angela Jones spoke, passionately, about her love for the river, and her long association with the river. She's been swimming in the Wye and leading groups to look at nature on the Wye for nearly forty years, and she's probably the nearest thing there is to a human personification of the Goddess of the River Wye.
She said that she started noticing that the water tasted different, and saw sewage going into the river, and run off from chicken farms, and she saw the consequences of that for the wildlife of the river, and she couldn't understand why nobody was doing anything about it. She wrote to MPs, and even went up to Westminster to talk to MPs about the problem.
She's also accosted Therese Coffey, the Minister responsible for the state of our rivers, and she wasn't impressed with any of the answers she got. Therese Coffey has been in the area this week, and was at a meeting organised by DEFRA about the state of the River Wye. The Friends of the Upper Wye and River Action were not invited, despite requests to be involved. The NFU and Avara (the chicken company) were well represented. It's only this week that the River Wye has been downgraded in status by Natural England due to the decline in Atlantic salmon and other species, and the pollution levels.
Angela got a round of applause when she said that she'd stopped paying her sewage bill to Welsh Water, on the grounds that she didn't want to pay for it to be dumped straight into the river. So she's had the bailiffs round to collect the money. She's also been targetted by vigilantes who want her to keep quiet.
She's not keeping quiet. As the Wild Woman of the Wye, she swam the length of the river a couple of years ago towing a coffin to raise awareness about the state of the river. More recently, she's done the trip again, this time towing a giant box of eggs. She's involved with the Friends of the Upper Wye, and she's also helped to set up the Friends of the Usk, another local river which is having similar problems to the Wye.
And she has a book out, which she has self-published to raise money for her campaigning. It took her two years to write, as she is dyslexic. I went straight off to the Festival bookshop after her talk to buy a copy. It's also beautifully illustrated with photographs. The title is Wild Swimming the River Wye.
I had to come away before the next talk had really got going, but it seemed to be going into the reality of what industrialised chicken farms are like. There are 24 million chickens housed within the catchment area of the River Wye, and they crap, and that crap goes into the river, and the river is dying.
