St Richard’s Festival

Wow! What a wonderful three days we had last weekend at Vines Park, Droitwich. Last year’s festival we visited Helen and Andy  by train on the Sunday, when they were the only narrowboat trading.  Being there, moored alongside them this year, was a dream come true.

However, due to the vagaries of life’s current challenges and changes, we hardly got a chance to socialise with them. But we did what we could under the circumstances!

On the Friday before the festivities, Helen kindly cooked us a curry which we enjoyed aboard Wandr’ing Bark. I’d been with my parents until the evening, so it was such a welcome relief to be cared for. And the lovely Helen had even bought me a pampering package to raise my flailing spirits. Friends are so precious, thank you lovely lady.

Barry had a couple of courier challenges on Thursday and Friday, with an order he’d put in from one of our suppliers.  Despite putting in an address and postcode that he felt would be simple to find, each time the courier and Barry’s whereabouts failed to coincide. We need to refine this as it was such a waste of Barry’s time and the courier. It’s a work in progress. Sometimes it all happens in unison, and other times …

Barry had loads of interest over the three days, though still heard the age old adage of “I don’t have time“, “... I used to brew years ago ...” from a few people. From the sales he made it feels as though slowly but surely a growing number of people are realising the cost savings and high quality outcomes possible from home brewing.

Funtastic Facepainting was a massive hit with the younger visitors over the three days. So much so that I transformed little faces non-stop each day, without time to even eat or pee! Admittedly though by Monday, around 1430hrs, I had to take two minute toilet interval despite a number of people still waiting.

I really wanted to avoid such queueing, and tried a laminated raffle ticket system with allocated times on the first day. But 3 of the ‘booked’ people didn’t return, and when others did and I’d then got a crowd waiting, I felt uneasy about putting them before people waiting. I suspect there’s no ‘ideal’ method, apart from speeding up and losing quality, doing only very ‘simple’ faces and/or having another person painting too.

Part way through Friday I looked up briefly and saw a smiling woman in front of me. I recognised the face immediately, but it took me a few seconds to place it. Louise Jenner and I have ‘chatted’ lots on Facebook and via our website/blogs for about six months. We have a commonality in coaching, and our passion for using the knowledge and skills we’ve gained over the years, and our coaching training, to support others to find more happiness in their lives. I was disappointed not to get much time with her, but can’t complain as I’m so grateful that I’m actually ‘working’ in one of my ‘dream job’ roles I’ve wanted to do for many years!

We hardly saw any of the festival other than our pitches, but you could feel the buzz from everyone and the weather was extremely generous – not a drop of rain until Monday night. My youngest daughter Kim came to stay on Sunday, and we had a fun night out with her and Helen and Andy in beer tent. It was a brilliant band who managed to get many people up and boogying, including Barry towards the end.

I so needed the exercise after sitting down for such a length of time …

A stroke in each hemisphere

I’m now back with Mum and Dad, who we believe has had at least one more small stroke. He’s up and down and needing to have someone here 24/7. I’ll be back with Barry tomorrow, meeting him in Stourport where he’s moved the boat for a much needed pump out today! My younger sister Viv arrived yesterday evening and will be staying until Sunday, so I’ll have a few days back on board if Dad remains stable.

On Saturday morning I received an email from a friend in Gisborne informing me that my dear friend Therese, had also had a stroke – albeit at a far younger age than my father. She’s in hospital, thankfully I got to talk with her Sunday evening via her daughter which was a relief for me to let her know I’m thinking of her.

So at the moment you can imagine I’m taking life a day at a time. It’s feeling rather out of my control, which at times is unsurprisingly unnerving and more than a little scary.

Our next booked festival isn’t until the end of May, in Stoke, so we’ll be staying fairly local to Ombersley/Droitwich for a while.