Second Saturday of the Festival

 I booked an event for 5.30pm, but the rest of the day I had at leisure.

The Saturday Market was in the square and the Buttermarket and Cheese Market, with the usual range of really nice stalls with good quality produce.  Tucked into a corner was the Jump4Timbuktu stall, fund raising.  The biggest problem for Timbuktu at the moment is the influx of refugees from surrounding conflicts, and our local group tries to send them about £500 a month to help.

At lunchtime, I headed up to the Festival site, at about the same time as the Free Palestine protesters, who were walking along the road with banners flying and a police escort.

I wanted to try the momo dumplings from the Tastes of Tibet stall in the food tent, and they were delicious.

Later, I met Mike Eccles outside the Oxfam stall.  He's been networking like mad recently.  He said: "I don't believe in coincidences, but...."

He's been wanting to meet Jane Davidson - she's the Pro-Vice Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity St David, and she has been a minister for education and the environment in the Welsh government.  Mike talked to her briefly on a Zoom meeting, and sent her details of what is happening with self-sufficiency and resilience in Hay (based on the big meeting he organised in January), and the following week he found himself sharing a platform with her at a meeting, where he was able to talk about what is happening in Hay and chat with her further.

He also met the Commissioner for Future Generations for the Welsh Government, and the Deputy Commissioner for Future Generations in charge of Health at another meeting, and they are both very interested in what people in Hay want to do, especially the Mental Well-Being Initiative.

He also decided to get to the Festival site by horse-drawn (grass-powered!) taxi, and the lady driving the cart said that she would let him ride for half-price if he promised to go and give a talk to the sustainability group that she's involved in!

Meanwhile, with his HOWLs hat on, he has been organising a fund raising gig for the library in September, with a group called The Breaks.