Been meaning to go to the Hay Festival for over 20 years, so it was one of the first items on my 50 List. Sam and Barbara came with me on 31st May, to 1st June.
The Festival is free to enter, but the events are ticketed - I bought tickets for 5 events: Alexander McCall Smith, Mark Watson, Deborah Moggach, Rose Tremain and Peter Sawyer.
Sam drove us to Hay on Wye, via Bath, just for me to tick another thing off my list - see next blog page!
We got to our campsite, the Tangerine Fields, where we had hired a ready-erected tent complete with airbeds. If you HAVE to camp, then this is a most civilised way to do it. Not having been camping for many many years, I was dreading it, but there were no B&B places left by the time we decided to go, so it was the only option. Besides which, I had rather foolishly added 'Glamping' to my 50 List, leaving me with no choice but to try it. Sam and Barbara are both experienced campers, so they knew what to bring and gave good advice.
We walked into Hay from the campsite, it is full of secondhand bookshops and interesting-looking places and people. There was a shuttle bus to the festival site, about 1.3 miles away, for the very reasonable price of £1 per day. As we took that journey, it was amazing to see how many houses along the way had been turned into temporary stalls selling all sorts of goods: tea, coffee and cakes, books, plants, a makeshift beer tent, Fair Trade clothes and bags.
Once we arrived at the site, it was a joy to behold, so exciting, yet most civilized, with covered walkways all round, the flooring keeping our feet from getting muddy.
There were stalls and deckchairs, friendly staff, places to eat and drink, lots of people walking around enjoying the view. Families with young children, many many people in their 50s and 60s, I would say the clear majority were female, but a good mix. Certainly, the oldest crowd that I had ever seen at a festival, being a veteran of Glastonbury, but come to think of it, my last trip there was 1990!
My first event ticket was for Alexander McCall Smith, the large venue was full, and no wonder, for he was a fabulous speaker, telling amusing tales, getting lots of laughs. At 7pm I went with Barbara to see Mark Watson, at the Sky Arts Studio. All the performers had a strict policy of one hour only, and Watson seemed to be quite intimidated by the big countdown clock on the stage, referring to it frequently. He read passages from his latest book - Knot - which I had heard parts of when it was Book of the Week on radio 4. He is such a funny, sweet guy, seemingly chaotic, but not really. Adorable!
We got the bus back to the town, and found a place still open for food - The Granary, which did such nice food that we went back there for breakfast in the morning.
Back at the campsite, it was warm enough to sit outside, Sam had brought a candle bag for the table, a nice idea. We were all tired after our long day, and even I managed to get a bit of sleep, but I awoke very early, and went for a wonder about around 5.30am. The showers were fine, and there was a special tent with mirrors and hairdryers, a little touch of luxury. At 8 a van opened up selling hot drinks so I got some tea for my friends and woke them up with a cup, for which they were most grateful.
Our campsite was in such a beautiful setting.
Back to the Festival site after breakfast in town, and Sam and I had tickets to see Deborah Moggach at 11.30am. What an amusing woman! She had the whole audience laughing with her funny tales, fabulous! Her new book is called Heartbreak Hotel, and I have just finished reading it, very enjoyable. After that, I went to see Peter Sawyer talking about Anglo Saxon coins, a subject he managed to make as dry and dull as ditch water sadly, He is highly knowledgeable but very elderly and doddery, a dry old stick. Oh well.
Had time to take a good look round at this point, taking in the sights and sounds of Hay 2013. I saw Cerys Matthews and her husband the Luton boy Abbo - I had been to see his band UkDecay only the week before - and you might be aware that my title for this blog is after a song called Dead From The Waist Down by Cerys's band Catatonia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVoXOfakP6E
"Make hay not war, or else we're done for"
Later I found Barbara sitting in the sun on a Hay deckchair, and joined her. Next to a pen of black sheep, oddly.
Soon it was time for Rose Tremain at 4pm, Sam came with me to this event, and it was really interesting. Rose told many amusing stories, although she didn't have the same wacky personality as Deborah M, she was great fun.
Hay, I loved you, and I want to go back next year, although I would prefer to B&B rather than camp.
When it was time to go home, Sam asked me to navigate a route directly East from Hay to Luton, so an unconventional route home, and a very long one, but the scenery was amazing, we went through the Cotswolds, such a beautiful part of England.
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