Post Box Topper

 

This time the post box topper is celebrating Hay Market and the traders.

And when I was walking through town, I found a young man busking at the top of the Pavement, who was playing a hurdy-gurdy!  I don't think I've ever seen anyone  busking with a hurdy-gurdy before!

Christmas Fair

 It was the Christmas Market down in the square, and the Buttermarket and by the Clocktower, and also the Christmas craft fair up at the Castle.  The town was packed (and so was the car park).

I got a Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a star with a picture of a hare on it from Bolgoed Crafts, and admired the pottery and wooden stuff, prints and cards, bags and hats and knitwear and waistcoats, and olive oil and jewellery (and more) on three floors of the Castle.

Also on at the Castle is a free exhibition called The Art of the Book, which is work by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.  He's done a lot of artwork for book covers and illustration, and a lot of that has been mythological.  He's done art for the Folio edition of the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as Beowulf.

Down in town there was a mixture of vintage goods and high quality crafts, cider and gin and even goat curry.  Also cakes and baskets and comics and vintage clothes and sheepskins and plants and metal garden ornaments and Origin Pizza....

Lauren from the comic stall told me that they would be moving into the shop in Castle Street where Rohan started out.  As well as selling comics and graphic novels, they're hoping to do things like having vintage video game nights (like Mario Kart).

I missed George the Town Cryer, but there was a choir singing in Welsh by the Clock Tower.  I recognised a few familiar faces.  They were very good.

 The craft fair at the Castle is also on tomorrow, Sunday.

Greens at the Market

 There will be a stall on the Thursday market this week run by the local Green party.

The Greens have been having a surge in membership over the last month, under the new leader Zack Polanski, so this would be a good chance to find out more about them and their policies.

Simo in Gaza

 There was a stall on the market on Thursday selling booklets of photographs in aid of a family in Gaza.  There were two volumes - the first shows what Gaza looked like in 2023, and the second shows the devastation since October 2023.

There's a short introduction to the first volume, explaining why Simo (Salama Al-Lada) made the booklet.  He says it is to tell the truth about the blockade of Gaza by Israel, that was tightened up when he was seven years old.  He grew up with Israeli checkpoints opening and closing at arbitrary times, meaning (for instance) that patients were unable to get to hospitals for treatment, and with Israel controlling all goods that went into Gaza.  

One of the pictures shows the fence that surrounds Gaza, with the Israeli army on one side and Palestinian protesters on the other.  "Do you notice the difference?" he asks in the caption.  "The difference is the Palestinian's fighting with his voice and the Israeli is fighting with weapons, artillery and tanks."

This is the background to the terrible events of October 7th, 2023, as shown through the photos of an ordinary young man living in Gaza.  He, and others like him, were trying to get information out to the rest of the world about what living in Gaza was like and why they wanted it to change.

I didn't get the second volume (but I will if the stall comes back), but that shows how life changed for everyone in Gaza after October 7th. 

Tin Zoo

 I never thought I'd be one of those people who fill their gardens with little statues and knick-knacks, but I couldn't resist this.

I saw the collection of bats on the Tin Zoo stall on the Saturday market some time ago, and thought they were wonderful, but at the time, I had nowhere to put one.  I'm not entirely sure where he'll go in my garden yet, but here he is in his temporary roost, while I think of a better place for him.

 

Tin Zoo get their stock from artists in Africa, who source their materials from scrapyards.  Since they started in 1998, they've supported artists who have been able to build homes, pay for medical care and send their children to school.  They are regulars on the Saturday markets in Hay.

 

Nourished Earth

 All of the new plants that I've put into my new garden have flourished - except for one.  I bought a fuchsia bush in Hereford, and first all the flowers fell off, and quite quickly it turned into a desiccated stick.

So I needed a replacement - not another fuchsia this time.

I stopped by the big plant stall on the market, but nothing seemed quite right for the space, and then I saw a few elderflower bushes at a stall closer to the Clock Tower.

This was the plant nursery and worm farm Nourished Earth, which was set up this year near Painscastle.  They sell worm tea (don't try to drink it!), biochar, and soft fruit bushes (there's a family connection with growing blackcurrants for Ribena!).  As well as the market stall, they have a website at www.nourishedearth.co.uk

[Edited to add:  I mistakenly said that they sell peat-free compost.  They don't, but they know someone who does!  Hay Regenerative Soils at https://haywegotworms.bigcartel.com/ who also take kitchen waste to turn into compost as a subscription service]

 

They're also making connections in local communities.  For instance, they were selling some tomato plants for a charity called #BeMoreFrank, which was set up to provide help for families in Herefordshire and surrounding counties who have a child suffering from cancer. It was set up by the family of Frank, who sadly died of cancer at the age of 13.  The family would have appreciated help with things like travel to Birmingham Children's Hospital, parking fees, hotels and so on, so when Frank died they decided to do something to provide that help to other families in a similar situation.  They can be found at www.bemorefrank.org

They're also involved with On The Verge in Talgarth, a group that is encouraging anyone with even a tiny plot of ground to get involved to increase biodiversity and create wildlife habitats. They can be found at www.ontheverge.wales

I had a fascinating chat with the chap on the stall, and I came home with one of the elderflower bushes - which still looks healthy so far! 

Saturday Market Plant Stall

 The Saturday Market happens once a month across the summer months.  There are high quality crafts, organic veg, interesting food - and this time there was a plant stall.  I didn't take much notice of the other side of the stall, which was herbal remedies of some sort - I zeroed in on the plants.  After all, I have a big flowerbed to fill now, and the plants on offer were exactly what I was looking for.  I asked them for a box to carry my purchases away, and I filled it - perennial sweet peas, feverfew, thyme, and peppermint.  The peppermint has gone in a box next to the kitchen door - I don't want it to take over the garden!

I got them home and planted out in nice time before the heavens opened, which signalled the end of the market day!  It was great that it had held off until 2pm, though. 

Wellbeing Forum

 Well, I'm physically and mentally back in Hay now, and this morning was market day.  I was getting all my usual treats - grapes for tomorrow morning when I watch Star Trek with a friend (we're just about to start season 2 of Star Trek Deep Space Nine), delicious cakes (pear and red berry) from Bernie, bread from Alex Gooch.

There were leaflets about the Well Being Assembly at the Swan on the Primrose Farm stall and the stall next to it, which was for a fasting retreat in Craswell.  The lady at that stall said she wanted to meet the locals in Hay, and the best way to do that was to come to the market - but Craswell is a bit too close to Hay for anyone living here to want to go there for a holiday!

I also saw Mike, the organiser of the Well Being Assembly, going round with leaflets (I already have my ticket).  He's at the nervous stage of wondering whether anyone will turn up, though the previous two Assemblies were packed out.

Help make Mike less nervous by booking a free ticket now!   

https://hayresilience.org/ is the website to go to.  The Assembly takes place on Saturday 10th May at the Swan from 1.30pm (to start at 2pm) until 5pm, and the tickets are free.  (Tickets are needed in case there are more people interested in going than there are seats in the function room).

Storm Eowyn

 Only the hardy stalls were out at the market this morning - basically the Sock Man and the Fish Stall in the square, the usual bread, veg, baked goods and meat in the Cheesemarket, and Alex Gooch's bread with a couple of other stalls in the Buttermarket.  Still, I managed to get everything I needed from them and the other shops round town - and I treated myself to a ticket to the Norwegian folk concert at the Globe on 15th February.  There's also a concert the next afternoon in St Mary's Church, but I will be at work then.

More Winter Festival

 I was back in St Mary's for the talk George Nash was giving on Neolithic Tombs of Wales - I treated myself to the book.  Some of the talk was about Wales, but the rest covered his whole career, including caves in South Africa and tombs in Sweden.  If anything, the church was even fuller than for Metropolis, (and there was cake on offer) and he was a very entertaining speaker.  He was especially pleased by the way Logaston Press had laid out his text and photos.  "Never mind the text - just look at the layout!  And the cover - that's sexy!"  (It's a photo of a dolmen, which he took, but it's a very fine dolmen with a great view).  His next book is on rock art in Wales, so maybe he'll be back as a speaker when it comes out.

I caught some of the poetry at the Poetry Bookshop as I wandered round town - the poets were performing on the Pavement outside the bookshop, and gathering small but appreciative crowds.

The rest of the centre of Hay was taken up with the Food Fair - and crafts.  There was a stall selling miniature books, as badges or as part of bookmarks and so on.  Later I saw a chap wearing one of them on his lapel.  He and his girlfriend were getting ready to get married, and they were giving copies of the book - Pride and Prejudice - as wedding favours, which they had sourced from charity shops and second hand bookshops at random.

I found some very nice honey - Bydafau Woodland Honey from Carmarthenshire - and a bottle of sparkling white wine called Shouting At Weather, from the Black Mountain Vineyard who were at the Secret Garden in the summer.

While I was at work today I got chatting to a lovely couple from Antwerp, who said that they had very much enjoyed the talk at St Mary's called The Dead of Winter: The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas.  This featured an accordion player and the Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk morris dancers!

Tuesday Evening Market

 I went up to the coach house of the Castle after work to have a look at the new evening market.  It's open from 4.30pm to 7pm.

Artistraw Cider was there, and the chap who sells organic veg in the Cheese Market on the Thursday market, and a lady selling meat, but there wasn't really any room for any more stalls.

I felt a bit embarrassed, because I hadn't gone up there to buy anything - just to have a quick look, and at that moment I was the only potential customer there.

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.

Electricity Cut and Veg Stall Confusion

 

This was the view from my window earlier this morning, as the men from Welsh Water were waiting for the men from the electricity company to arrive to mend the cable.  They had cut the cable while they were digging the trench for the new water pipe because they hadn't known it was there - it wasn't marked. 

So far, they've come along the road outside the Cinema Bookshop, down Belmont Road, and are now heading along Broad Street.  They are going to be digging test trenches at the top of Newport Road in a month or so to find out where the pipes are, and they've had a lady with electronic equipment walking back and forth across the road outside Broad Street Book Centre - where she reported that there were three pipes in different places across the road!  It's a more complicated job than it first appears!

So we were about 3 hours without power at Y Gelli Chambers, which meant that the Old Electric Shop had to close because of the lack of lights.

It's been a day of confusion all round - when I went up to the market, the veg stall had been laid out the opposite way to normal, and nobody was sure which way to queue!  Usually the fruit is nearest to the Cheese Market and the veg is nearest to the Castle, and the queue goes from the onions to the oranges.

Changes for the Cheese Stall

 This week, the Cheese Stall moved from its usual position with its back to the Castle to the end of Kieran the greengrocer's stall along the side of the market.  He has taken over the running of the stall, so he's now a greengrocer and cheesemonger.  There's only a small selection of the stuff the original Cheese Stall had at the moment, but he's planning to expand.

Lucky Find on the Market

 

I am ridiculously pleased with this!  I found it on the stall in the corner of the market square, next to the veg stall.  I have always wanted one!

The photo is taken on the bench outside Booths Bookshop.

This is, of course, only the first step towards building my own Tardis!

Blustery Market Day

 The weather forecast was for high winds, which have, indeed, materialised, so the organisers of the Market decided not to put the stalls out today.

Instead, they managed to accommodate some of the stalls that would normally be on the Square in the Parish Hall, and the usual stalls were also there in the Cheese Market and Butter Market.

There was a long queue across the Parish Hall for the cheese stall!

I also managed to get a lovely piece of mistletoe from the plant stall, who were set up by the war memorial out of their van.

Muffins

 Just by chance, on Thursday, I passed Bernie's cake stall in the Cheese Market when there was only one pear and chocolate muffin left.  It looked lonely, so I took it home, and it it probably the best pear and chocolate muffin I have ever had in my life!  All of Bernie's cakes are highly recommended (and I'll be back soon for more).

Linen Basket

 When I moved house, the one thing that the removal men broke was my plastic linen basket - which was old and brittle anyway so it didn't matter.  Everything else about the job they did was absolutely brilliant.  So I got a temporary Big Laundry Bag from Country Supplies until I could find something better.

In the last week or so, I started looking for a wicker linen basket to fit in the small space in the bathroom by the sink.  The prices at Jones' were a bit of an eye-opener, but they were too rigid for my purposes.  There was nothing quite the right size in Country Supplies.  

So on Thursday I went to the lady who sells baskets and sheepskins on the market, and she had just the thing.  Not too rigid, and with sturdy leather handles.  It's not wicker exactly, more a sort of woven grass, I think, and it fits the space perfectly!

Repair Cafe

 The Repair Cafe was in the Buttermarket today.  Usually, they are in the Sports Pavilion on Brecon Road.  The chap I talked to said they might try the market again - if so, I have a couple of knives that need sharpening.

Noches de Rumba

 There's a regular busker at the top of the Pavement on market days.  His name is Stephen Dan Russell and he's got a new CD out - Noches de Rumba has 11 tracks and costs £10, and it's very pleasant listening.

He's a very good guitarist.