Pickles Fest
This was a long standing invite from old friends \’Red\’ and Heather Pryce, for their Annual festival in Cenarth, near Cardigan, in West Wales. Because of the overly hot summer, this had been cancelled from it\’s original July date, because fire-risk (and lack of water supplies in case of fire) had prevented the Festival from going ahead.
Anyway, on the back of my successful gig at Electric Cabaret, Claire and I planned to do the five hour drive South West-wards, plus dog Sophie, as we were going to stay with Pat and Chris, Heather\’s parents, afterwards. I\’d planned for an early start, as this would give us plenty of time for stops, dog walks, and chance to stop at Pat and Chris\’s, freshen-up, and upload some of the gear from the car. At least, that was the plan…
First of all, as I went to fill up the car, I noticed we had a puncture. \”No worries,\” I thought, as there\’s a tyre repair station in our village. Luckily, it opens at 8am, and it was just 8:02. Anyway, within just over half an hour, I was filling up with fuel, but also, having to re-pressurise my tyres, as the repairers had more-than over-inflated my newly fixed tyre…
It was now 9am. I get home to find Sophie has diarrhoea, and won\’t eat. We have a ritual where I give her dog treats to encourage her to eat something, and then, after her stomach settles, she\’ll eat something. Today it wasn\’t going to work. So, by 9:45, we decide to set off, wondering if we were due for \’doggie accidents\’ on the way. Fortunately for us, she settled.
Driving rain for most of the journey made this trip arduous, as well as slow. We find out after ringing Chris, that my set has been brought forward to 15:50, and I\’m first on stage. We finally arrived at 15:25. Enough time for me to carry gear to the stage, to do a quick sound check, and then start playing.
Again I kept my set short, and though I could have had 45 minutes I ended at 35. My arm had had enough, what with all of the driving as well. Lovely to catch up with our friends and watch the other acts, some very talented performers, including Big Joe Bone, and of course Red\’s own band: Red and the Hogweeds.