Around the Market

 It's a very busy market today, with lots of stalls and lots of visitors.

One of the new stalls is in the Buttermarket, selling handbags and other smaller bags made out of cork leather, which comes from cork oak trees in Portugal.  The dyes for the decorations on the bags are vegetable dye, and the glue used is acceptable to vegans.

I remember seeing a documentary a few years ago where the local farmers in Portugal were worried that the cork oaks would die out, because the bark wasn't being harvested to make wine bottle corks as much.  It's nice to see that a new product has been developed.

While I was in the Buttermarket, one of the collared doves that is trying to make a nest in the rafters fluttered down in front of me, picked up a stick, and flew back to the nest where its mate was sitting.  They really are spectacularly bad at making nests.  One of the stall holders said that a pair tries to do this every year, and eventually they give up and go somewhere else.  In the meantime, they make a mess, and they have no fear of people at all.

In the opposite corner of the Buttermarket, Tam's Jams is winding down - this is the last month she'll have a stall here, as she goes on to other things, such as baking cakes for Shepherds.  It's a pity, because I like her jams and marmalades, but hopefully it will be a good move for her business.  And there are other local jams and marmalades available in Hay.