More Cropredy

I've covered the music side of things in the previous blog, now for the fun side.

I had a brand new tent for this festival. John helped me find a good one and it was on half price offer so not only is it spacious but it's a bargain too! I've gone for a tunnel type. My only 2 requirements for a tent was I had to be able to stand up in it, and it had to have a separate inner bedroom. The one I got is actually a 4 man tent but to fit in the sleeping space you'd have to have 4 stick insect people with tapered coffin type sleeping bags. It would just about take 3 air beds, but not if they are all the size of mine LOL. As I have trouble getting down on the floor and even more trouble getting up I have invested in a double height air bed that is a metre wide too. Room to roll over without falling out!It is brilliantly comfortable too and no danger of your bum hitting the ground if it deflates a little. With 2 separate air compartments, it's got twice as much air between me and the ground.
I only used a light weight 4 TOG duvet at Cropredy and was just right but I know the night time temp at Shrewsbury can drop quite a lot so I will be taking my 10 TOG too. If it gets REALLY cold I can use both!
We tried sitting in a different spot at Cropredy and thoroughly enjoyed our choice. We got space on the front edge of the back half of the field, with a wide walkway in front of us. Easy to get in and out to the bar, toilets and food outlets and a steady procession of all kinds of humanity passing by (some may be questionable on their status but presumed human), and some canine specimens, many sporting trendy kerchiefs.
One lucky family found a stray dog on the road to Cropredy, no collar, tag or microchip and after checking with police decided to keep the dog themselves. She was a toffee coloured greyhound/saluki cross by the look of her and so sweet natured. I was tempted to offer to have her myself but she looked happy with her new adoptive family and they were delighted to have her. They already have 2 dogs so one more is not such a burden. I don't think my Honey would have been impressed if I had returned, after three days away without her, with another dog in tow. I do hope she is happy with her new family. Well done you kind people!

God knows why but loads of people attending festivals seem to wear the most weird outfits. The general rule is every article of clothing must be a totally different colour and/or pattern to any other. Stupid hats are essential. If you wear wellies they have to be coloured and patterned to clash with everything else. Same goes for Crocs/sandals, the more outlandish the colour the better.

Young pretty girls HAVE to wear skimpy tops and short skirts or shorts, often over multi coloured and patterned tights or leggins. Young men have to wear T-shirts with rude slogans on. Old men have to wear T shirts that don't quite cover the beer belly promoting their favourite brewer of real ale, or some ancient rock concert they went to in 1973.  Anything goes in the way of hats. The bigger and more colourful the better.

I think everyone goes to a festival for a variety of reasons. Some go to meet up with old friends and talk incessantly. Some go to drink the three days away in traffic free safety. Some go to people watch.  Some go to eat their way round the world. Some even go to enjoy the music! Mostly people are tolerant of others needs, but there are a few at any festival who just do what they like with no regard for those around them.
You know who you are... the ones who insist on standing up and gassing away with mates with their backs to the stage, ignoring the music, and blocking the view of a huge swathe of the crowd sitting behind them. Never mind they are the only ones standing up in a sea of seats. I just wish they didn't stand in front of ME! Ok I am being a little unfair - this time round, the seating position meant we did not have to suffer the standers, just the odd photographer stopping right in front of us to take a shot of the superb view we had of the stage :-( Or occasionally friends meeting on the walkway going in opposite directions and stopping to chat. If they were there more than a couple of minutes there were usually shouts of 'move or sit down please' from the crowd behind us. How lovely to be with the oldies who can't stand up for the duration any more LOL

Having people walking past in front of us did not put me off, in fact I loved it! Could see all sorts passing us and many friends stopped to chat with us :-) It was amusing to see how drunk some people got and how hard it was for them to walk/stagger across the slope of the field.

It was also tempting when people walked past with plates of lovely smelling food all day and night long. It was the usual festival rip-off - a burger for £4 or £4.50 for a cheeseburger (organic meat or buffalo but still pricey). Fish and chips for £8. A platter of veggie salad or mixed veggie curries for £9 a plate!
The best value I found was a Japanese noodle bar - heap of noodles with veg, a ladle full of sweet and sour chicken or chicken in black bean sauce, and a pile of tempura veggies all for £7.50 - delicious too! The only problem being by the time you get it to your seat it's all stone cold.

There were the usual jacket potato stalls, chicken and chips, crepes, pies, pasties, Indian food, Chinese, and several vegetarian stalls. I did not see the Caribbean food people there, they may have been in a different slot or just not there. I do like a bit of jerk chicken, rice and peas, not to mention their rum cake! Maybe they will be at Shrewsbury August Bank Holiday weekend.

If you have never been to a music festival then do give it a try sometime. I recommend a folk festival as they are more relaxed than most and generally friendlier. The toilets are usually cleaner too!

If you are planning a visit to a festival then go and enjoy ... and don't forget your orange, green and purple spotted wellies! xx

Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2011

WOWWWW!! What a weekend! I spent 3 days in a field in North Oxfordshire at a festival called Fairport's Cropredy Convention. This has been running for  over 30 years and brings in somewhere in the region of 25,000 people currently. There are generations of 'Croppers' people. Couples meet there, get engaged there, celebrate wedding anniversaries, and bring along their children from tiny babies to young adults. Ther are many mature Cropredy attendees, aging along with the 'boys' of fairport Convention.

The gates are open

Is it a folk festival?  a little. A rock festival? a little. Is it good fun? Oh YES!! It's warm and friendly and highly enjoyable. Are there chemical toilets? Yes rows of thunder boxes, kept clean and well stocked with tissues! There are also posher flushing loos on trailers for the priviledged, as well as showers for all. There are acres of camping, well laid out and organised, and stacks of food outlets for the hungry masses.
The music? Well....we had an opening set from Fairport themselves in their acoustic mode to get everyone in the mood. Some younger performers then held stage, Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts, followed by Blair Dunlop who's only 19! Kat & Jamie are lovely and performed a wide variety of songs delightfully. Some more senior artists followed in the form of the Home Service, headed by John Tams (he who sang in 'Sharpe') supported by a group including a brass section which gave them a real depth to the sound. They have been apart for nearly 25 years and recently reformed, and had the crowd at Cropredy ecstatic. The 'mosh pit' really came to life with them in full swing.

 The next band were Hayseed Dixie - a hill-billy AC-DC style band. Rocking with amazing banjo playing. They were loud, funny, clever, and highly entertaining. A great find for Cropredy. Headlining the thursday night were UB40. THE UB40 (Red red wine etc) Lovely music! So easy to listen to and so polished. A great set to go to sleep too after a long day LOL I could not make the end of the set so I headed to bed.

We were camped in the guests field just in behind the stage area along with many of the artists, just a short walk from the main stage field. So it did not talke me long to stagger to the loo then fall into my bed. Even with the band still blaring out I was gone in minutes. I did wake a few times but just to roll over and sleep on. The group of young ladies in the tent next to us were late night chatters and seemed to be still talking around 2 am +.



We had a an early wake up call as the first train of the day went past at 6.30am full of poor commuters heading to London no doubt. But I managed to sleep on after that excitement. The next tent the other side had a very new baby who demanded a feed at 6.30 too so it was all go! We finally gave in to the noises around us at about 8. A full bladder necessitated a hurried dressing and a short walk to the toilet trailer. We had a great coffee and some breakfast before relaxing for an hour or so listening to the sound checks.



Filling up!



We had planned where we were going on the field, a different spot to previous years. We used to head to an area near the front of the seated bit and in the middle to get a good view. This was a nightmare once the field filled up around us and we found no clear pathway through the masses to get to the bar/loos/food. We also had problems come the evening when the mosh pit standing crowd spread back up the slope and engulfed us. My crook knees stopped me standing for more than the odd song and sititng down on a chair in the middle of a standing, dancing crowd was scary and stopped me seeing anything on stage.

This year we sat further back, almost twice the distance from the stage but so much more civilised. We had a great view of the stage and BIG screen for the whole weekend, and by sitting by the walkway across the field, it was easy to get in and out and meet and greet people walking past. We only had the occasional stander-upper and they got shouted down by those sitting behind them! Yayy seated oldies rule!! The stewards and safety officers kept the walkway clear so it was a super spot to sit. It was also closer to the bar so got a big tick from John. He spent most of the festival 'networking' with other festival organisers, and various artists at the bar :-)

Friday was THE day for great bands and top music. The music went from mid-day to midnight and not a dud anywhere. We had this year's BBC young folk musicians award winners Moore, Moss & Rutter opening - very folky and great young musicians. The Travelling band followed them with something much more rock than folk or country and had the mosh pit jumping. Great stuff! Steve Tilston and the Durbervilles gave us something more sedate but no less enjoyable, a bit more folk and not quite so rock but still lively.

Charlie Dore was on next and gave us a lovely set of her own songs plus a few covers.
One of the highlights of the weekend for me personally was the Dylan Project, just superb music - Bob Dylan's songs but done the Dylan band style, more rock than anything else - not a cover band - just great music. Following them we had The Urban Folk Quartet who were very folky and brilliant!
The Coral - yes THE Coral followed them and were noisy and very rock and good.
The night closed with the wonderful Seasick Steve, highly entertaining and enjoyable.
We slept like logs despite the noises around us - usual camp site stuff, dogs barking, babies crying, all night drinkers, girls chatting etc etc.
Saturday dawned bright and warm - we were so lucky with the weather all weekend - cloudy mostly but dry! with occasional sunny spells.
Saturday's programme was  Richard Digance, The Shee, the Blockheads, Lau, Horslips, Badly Drawn Boy, and the big final set from Fairport Convention & friends.



Hankie waving with Digance

 Richard Digance makes a very funny warm up man and got the crowd going. He told stories and jokes and sang a few songs, including one with actions for the crowd to participate in (see photo) everyone waving hankies.

The Shee were an excellent all girl folk band, fairly traditional with a Celtic touch now and then.

The Blockheads were brilliant and got everyone rocking.
Lau were technically superb but oh so boring with their long drawn out Celtic tunes. Watching 3 men sitting on stage is not visually entertaining for an hour, even if they were brilliant musicians.
The act everyone wanted to see were Horslips. This is an Irish rock band from the 70's, reformed in 2007 and now packing venues. There was a passing nod to Celtic folk but most of it was just pure rock n roll! They were amazing and loved by everyone. The queue for autographs was half way up the field by the time they came off stage.

Badly Drawn Boy now has a new name - Foul Mouthed Badly Behaved Boy. A great singer-songwriter BUT way too much bad language for a family festival with loads of children. And he swore at the sound guys!

The final set with Fairport was brilliant! Ralph McTell joined them and a few more friends for a great finale.
Roll on 2012.!!

Busy Times

Now where shall I start? Honey first I think. She has had her stitches out and all is looking good, BUT she is still reluctant to put much weight on the leg. I think the problem is the splint and bandages which are keeping her foot vertical so she is walking 'en pointe' or toe tips like a ballerina. A bit painful to do it that way! The bandages should be off soon and she will be able to walk on her pads again and be more comfortable. I have had to battle with her about going upstairs. It is obviously awkward for her to go up, and more painful and awkward coming down. Yesterday she actually fell down the last couple of stairs as she lost her balance on 3 legs :-(

I have put the box back to stop her going upstairs during the day just to kip on my bed. Last night I slept on the sofa again so she would sleep downstairs and not try the stairs. She is one stubborn dog and prefers to be near me even if it's painful getting there. I do hope the op is successful this time.

I went to the diabetic clinic with Linda Wednesday. It's a special session for newly diagnosed diabetics and gave us some really useful information. There are two more sessions to go, 2 hours a time. They weighed me in and according to their scales I've lost about 2 kilos/5lbs since I started managing my food better. I've also not shrunk as much as I thought I had, measuring bang on 5ft 4 ( I used to be 0.75 inches taller). I think I should become a bat and sleep hanging upside down to stretch out my spine at night ;-)  I can tell I've lost a bit of weight because the roll below my boobs has shrunk and I can see my belly below now :-( Hopefully I will soon see past that!



Bongo



I am trying to resist scratching. I went out for the day yesterday with my son to Longleat, where I collected a couple of very small but VERY itchy insect bites.

We did not 'do' the stately home, much as I'd love to see the things the eccentric Lord Bath has done to it. We did the 'safari' first with a leisurely drive through the huge paddocks. The animals are mostly blase about cars and stroll around ignoring them.

We had a very close encounter with a large long horned African Bongo (I think it was). He decided to cross the road right in front of us.

He did not move too quickly either.



white rhino



We saw a load of African antelopes and cattle, giraffes, zebra and rhinos. The rhinos were impressive, and luckily for us they were happily grazing.

We drove on and by-passed the monkey enclosure. We could see cars driving through it covered in monkeys, all fiddling with aerials and loving roof racks to hold on to LOL. I value my car too much to risk it.



Tigers



We saw the tigers at play - the dull weather was not condusive to much activity, and they were very lethargic.

We moved on to the lions and they were brilliant. One pride were just sitting around on a mound, but the next enclosure's pride were out in the long grass, perfectly camouflaged, with some cubs frolicking and the male just lying right on the edge of the grass by the road.



Lion



Lion cub



The cars were driving past him only a foot or 2 away from his bum. I did note he'd tucked his tail round the side so it didn't get run over! I did briefly wonder if he was stuffed and placed for the tourists to photograph but his head did move now and then so I think he was real. The cubs were lovely! about half adult size and playful.

The wolves were all lying down in longish grass and barely visible but looked happy. After the safari, we headed to the cafe for some lunch. I had jacket potato with beans and cheese and salad, and a nice coffee. Lovely! After lunch we headed to the Animal Kingdom and smaller animals you can see up close. I spent nearly half an hour in with my favourites, the meerkats.

Our path, which had low open fencing to keep us in, wound its way through the centre of the meerkats den area and the meerkats ran around, through the fencing and across the path, stopping to inspect and sniff bare toes. The secret was to keep moving or you might get a nip! They are such delightful creatures.

There were many other animals, such as porcupine, anteaters, mara and otters - always a delight to see playing.

If anyone is thinking of going, don't bother with the train ride! It is popular with families but everyone who came off it was moaning it was boring.

The last thing we did was go and see the birds of prey flying display. Superb!! Don't miss it! You'll leave loving vultures!

Ah I nearly forgot the deer - herds of fallow and red deer out in the paddocks on safari, and a herd of fallow deer, near the bird of prey display, you can feed.



The deer were so soft and gentle and well used to being fed by visitors, with feed on sale by enclosure.

All in all it was a lovely day out, and I managed all the walking ok, but had had enough by home time. My knees were aching like mad today :-(

It was nice having time with my son too.

Thanks for the company, James xx

I hope you all have a great week ahead. Take care xx

Not So Sweet

Update on Honey first. She saw our vet Tuesday and has had the dressing changed. There is still considerable bruising but it's looking clean and dry and no sign of infection. They re-dressed it with her fully conscious and unsedated and she was as good as gold having it done. The model patient! They also managed to clip her claws which have grown at a rate of knots as she has not been getting the amount of exercise she got previously. To restrict her movement around the house, I had used a huge TV packaging box as a stair gate. My stairs are wide and the gap is too big for a standard baby gate. The box sat on the bottom step and filled the gap perfectly. I just swung it out far enough to get through the gap at one end, like a hinged gate. Honey watched me doing this a few times and was not happy when I went upsatirs to bed at night, leaving her to sleep downstairs. She finally worked out that a bit of a nose at one end of the box moved it enough for her to slink past it and up the stairs. She joined me in the middle of the night! She also managed to make it down again in the morning but VERY slowly. I am not too happy about letting her up but at least this way we both get a decent night's sleep. She was waking and getting distressed several times in the night, waking me up with her whining/crying so I went to see her to make sure she was ok. Now it's bed time together and peace all night (apart from my snoring! :-D)

I have been undergoing tests to sort out my old decrepit body. My BP is ok and does not need medication. My cholesterol is too high for my doc's happiness so I am now starting on statins. I have had 3 tests for diabetes which have come back positive finally. It's caught early but because of my weight and age doc has put me on Metformin and a controlled diet. *sigh* so I am off down the Diabetic clinic next Wednesday with my friend Linda, who has also just been diagnosed glucose intolerant. She is a few years younger than me and not nearly so overweight so at the moment she is on diet only control. So we will support each other with diabetic stuff and get to Weightwatchers or Slimming World together. Good job we have a laugh together!



Before the rain - coming up behind us



It's only 3 weeks to Fairport's Cropredy Convention and I am getting excited about it. It does mean camping but it's a fun few days and very relaxing.

They have a great line up for this year, including UB40, Horslips, Seasick Steve and many many more.

Most years it's around 25,000 people in one field in Oxforshire a few miles from Banbury. Three nights of amazing bands and music. The only down side is it's all in the open air and subject to the vaguaries of an English summer.



One of the warm sunny spells



 There's somewhere in the region of 30+ food stalls all round the field and I love the variety on offer. Best eaten at the stalls though as the food chills off quickly trying to get it back to your seat which is.....somewhere

Oh the joys of festivals!

Back to square one - almost

Well here we go again. Honey has had her op. They've inserted more bone grafts in the wrist and a small plate and pins (Plate £270, 4 pins @ £67 each) and they've splinted up her leg so it's all in a straight line and she's walking on tip toe on that leg. It's nowhere near as bulky as the external frame was so she is moving ok. There was a terrible amount of bruising from the op all round her shoulder and her leg was obviously sore for the first few days. She seems much perkier now and even asked to go walkies tonight!!
However she is not allowed anywhere for a month and must remain on the lead when she goes out to pee and poo in the garden. The BIG issue has been her tablets. In the past I popped the pills inside a slit in a chunk of sausage and she just swallowed them down. Now she is wise to tablets and won't take a treat without biting into it and spitting out any pill she finds *sigh* I tried grinding up the tablets in her food and she would not touch it, preferring to go hungry.The 'pop the pill down the throat' technique is very tricky with a dog who knows what's coming and wriggles her tongue around so much it's almost impossible to get it in her throat without choking her. She holds it as long as it takes then spits it out when you release her mouth. I found strips of bacon wrapped round the pills like a tiny parcel worked for a day or so, but last night she realised what I was doing and mouthed the bacon until the pill dropped on the floor. That dog is too smart!
The bruising is fading now thank goodness and she seems much brighter. She has to go see my own vet this week to have the dressing changed on her leg and it all looks fine at the moment. I wonder what colour bandage they will use? She has fluorescent pink at the moment!
I have blocked off the stairs so she can't go up for a while. It's not the going up that's a problem. I am sure she could do it. It's the coming down that's the problem, putting a lot of strain on her leg as she can't make it on three legs and it's too early to risk it. I want this op to be 100% successful!

Not Jen's but similar

Why do bad things come in bunches? Jen's car is terminally sick.
It does go but not well and is basically falling apart. The list of parts needed comes to around £2500 plus labour and VAT. It is time to send it to the scrap heap or sell it on E-Bay or in Gumtree. I am lending Jen money to get herself a car - small and economical to run but big enough to meet her needs - looking at Focus/Golf/Jazz sized cars - diesel preferably. Nothing French or Italian. Preferably Japanese like a Honda or Mitsubishi, or a common as muck Ford. NOT a 4x4!!


The flat roof over the kitchen extension is leaking and needs re-doing - more money!

Honey's problems limit my activities a bit, but now John has had a nasty fall trying to get stuff up into his loft. He did that ok, but the ladder got jammed and while attempting to free it he fell down, sliding down the ladder scraping a load of skin off and landing on his back. He's shaken, bruised and sore but seems ok otherwise. He will be achey for a few days after the jarring. I just pray he's not done any damage to his back and neck.

I've had to cancel plans for a holiday in October and hopefully make it next spring now. I was going to rent a holiday home with Linda for a week and take Honey and Linda's guide dog with us, but the money situation will be tight for a while, and Honey is not mobile yet either. :( But we will make it some time.

It's Folk Festival season and I've got 2 coming up in August - both camping!!
I just hope my aching bones will survive it all!

Hope life is good for you xxx

It's cool, it's windy, it's showery - it's July??

A lot of nothing much has been happening of late.
Honey saw the vet on Wednesday and she is booked in for another bone grafting op on Monday :-(. She has been limping on and off for the last few weeks and it was obviously not right. Examination has shown some bone grafts didn't take and she has too much movement in the wrist so off we go again! Another six months of recouperation and light exercise! Not to mention a few visits to the vet again!

I have been having a full MOT - a whole series of blood tests and other tests. BP was high, kidneys fine, liver fine, sugars up slightly so now having glucose tolerance test to see if it is diabetes or heading that way, cholesterol still too high but a lot lower than last test so heading the right way. I've had a 24 hour BP monitor and it was ok - yes peaks high but drops back too, average 132/77 so no BP meds yet. The glucose levels are a worry - I am hoping dietry control and losing weight will stop the full onset of diabetes. My knees were ok following the last injection but that has definitely worn off now and I am getting pains again although not as bad as before - yet! Next stop is referral for knee op.

Things are ticking along with Swanage Folk Fest. It's looming large!

I am looking forward to Fairport's Cropredy Convention in August 3 days of top music in a huge field. Just one stage and around 25,000 people. I am sorting my camping gear ready for it all. I have a nice comfy new chair, director's style. It's robust (got to carry a bit of weight!) but lightweight and easily carried. It's got a slightly higher seat than the usual fold up camping chairs so it's easier for me to sit down and stand up again. I have checked all the wet weather gear, have a new pack-a-mac type coat and my brilliant poncho is still in working order. My boots are ready to go as are my mock crocs. I have the SPF 30 spray ready too for the sun! All eventualities catered for! Clothing comes as the layering variety - strappy vests, T shirts, cardigans, coats, a couple of quick drying skirts and trusty jeans (not good in the wet! take forever to dry)
I love eating out at festivals and Cropredy is well supplied with a huge variety of stalls.

Time to get ready for tonight's folk club evening. Have a great weekend xx

A Wet Friday

It really is flaming June - flaming awful! It started off nice but now summer has set in and it's showers galore. Gone are the warm balmy days and evenings. Now it is drizzling and cool, ideal weed growing weather and just watch the grass shoot up! Of course it's too wet to cut it too - typical!
I am sorry I've not blogged for a while, just not been in a blogging mood I suppose. So make yourself comfortable for one of my rambles through my life recently.

I am still thrilled to bits with my washing machine and it's easy to use and get the clothes just right. I have bought myself a new rotary airer to go in the garden but it needs the spike putting in. Any tips on how to get it upright? My old one never was straight and the airer had this interesting tilt to it but no tourists came to see it like they visit Pisa. It was just a bit frustrating when the heaviest washing swung it round to the lowest point. I'd bend down to get the next garment to hang up and find the thing had swung away from where I was pegging :( hmm must be some invisible force working on it maybe I repel wet clothes? Anyway, it's not much use in this spell of damp weather.

How do I dry my washing? The good old tumble dryer! I have those large prickly balls in it to help dry washing quicker but they do make a bit of a racket, especially if you only have a small load of washing in with them. "Clonk, clonk, rumble, clonk"
I think they are a great invention but it's very frustrating when you empty out the dryer and find one's gone missing! Sod's Law says you'll find it in the deepest corner of the duvet cover or tangled up in your delicate sweater where it leaves you with an interesting bulge in the dry garment, making it look like something bespoke for the Hunchback of Notre Dame!

What did you say? "How's the knee?" well.... The injection is not a total success but not a failure either. It has helped lessen the pain quite dramatically and I have been walking a lot easier. The severe pain has gone and I am back to the dull ache with the occasional twinge stage. In fact, now the pain is so much better in my right knee, I am now aware of how much the left is also hurting! While the agony was all in the right knee I had not noticed pain in the left! But I can now feel that too! *sigh* It has helped me moving around at home and I have made quite a few dog walks without my stick. Jen noticed a difference in my appearance saying I looked younger! I was not screwing my face up in pain any more! Of course I'd also had my hair done so that helped a bit too!

Honey has been a worry to me. She's been back to the vet for a leg check up and I thought she was doing well, but they were concerned the bones in the bottom of the wrist have not fully fused to their satisfaction. As soon as we tried to get her to go faster than a walk she started limping :( I have to take her back in just over two weeks from now but they may have to operate again! If they do, it will be to have more bone grafts inserted and an internal plate pinned in place :-( The vet said it would be done as a continuation of the first op and I'd only have to pay for the materials used, they would not charge for their time. Big of them eh? The biggest thing worrying me is having to go back to square one with recovery, rest and limited walkies again just when we were starting to extend her exercise sessions :(

VERY mixed Morris Dancing

Holly Copse Molly

The weekend before last was Wessex Folk Festival in Weymouth, although I didn't go. John and Roz went, as Roz was dancing in old Weymouth. It's a lovely setting for the festival with narrow twisty lanes and open squares with the harbour full of boats as a backdrop. The festival is largely free to attend and a grand weekend it is too!

Last weekend was Wimborne Folk Festival with mixed fortunes. Friday and Saturday were well attended, despite all the efforts of others in and around Wimborne putting on their own folky entertainment for the weekend. I am sorry, but claiming to 'support' the festival by putting on an event in direct competition to the festival is not a good thing. Even the local theatre had a folky concert on the Saturday night, drawing people away from the genuine Festival concerts. All the town pubs have marquees in their gardens with music on all weekend, cashing in on the crowds drawn in by the Folk Festival advertising.

Dorset Buttons at the Green Man

The Sunday was a total wash out :-( Traders left early as the steady rain stopped all the street shoppers from browsing and buying. The dance sides moved indoors where possible, but there were not the crowds to support them and make donations in the collecting tins. We all hope the festival can survive the bad weather, and all the competing events, to continue for years to come.

We went to Ringwood Folk Club again on Tuesday to see Mike O'Connor, accompanied by Barbara Griggs on harp. What a beautiful evening's music we had. Fabulous songs and music charmed us all. Next one up at Ringwood is the comic poet Les Barker - definitely not to be missed!

I was up at 7.30 this morning to make sure I was up and dressed in time for the man from Wessex Water. I have a 5 bedroomed house with high council tax banding so I've been paying a fortune for my water which is based on banding. As Jenny is only home for half the week usually, I am paying for 5+ people's water use when there's really only 1.6 people living here. So I have taken the plunge to change over to a water meter! My sister's water bill dropped from £80 a month to £12 when she switched, so I am hoping for a similar reduction here. The very nice young man turned up after 10 and it took him all of 5 minutes to attach the meter so I am now being metered.

For the record, it has been raining for hours here, and is still raining. Steady fine rain, with heavier bursts at intervals, giving the previously parched gardens a thorough soaking. Just watch the grass and weeds shoot up!

I hope you and I get some more sunshine before too long. Have a great weekend whatever you're up to xxx

And finally...

 a short poem from Les Barker

Disaster at sea

It was a calm, still day in Yarmouth,
The channel clear and wide,
As the last of the timber sailing ships
Sailed out on the evening tide.

They never saw that ship again;
They searched when it was light,
But that fine old timber vessel sank
That clear and peaceful night.

No one knows what happened
On that night in 1910;
But the crew and her cargo of woodpeckers
Were never seen again.