Proud Poets

Well I had an absolutely splendid time at the 'Northern Pride Festival' on Saturday. I was engaged, along with some other notable local poets, to perform in the Womens' Tent. First of all the weather was gorgeous, which made a huge difference. I didn't have to wear my new, terribly costly Wellington boots, and had a little time to potter in the garden before coming on stage. In fact I still had my gardening gloves and my sun hat on! This charming photo was taken by Roweena Russell, bless her.

Now, I was a little perplexed by the title of the festival, since I had assumed it had something to do with being delighted with being British, proud of our Empire and generally celebrating this historic Jubilee, Olympic year. (Oh, Amina tells me I might not be allowed to use what she calls 'the O word' at the moment. How very silly.
It seemed, however, that the festivities were about something a little different - there were lots of young men walking around holding hands (such a nice change from all the aggression we sometimes see) and a number of ladies doing the same. It occurred to me - on further investigation - that young people these days have so much more choice than we had in our day. L - G - B - T - Q? Heavens above! When I was a gel, ladies had companions and men - well that was illegal, so the less said, the better.  Good for Queen Victoria, if you ask me.

Amina kindly bought me raffle tickets from Newcastle Carers Centre. The top prize was a Jubilee Tea Set.  Unfortunately the telephone has not rung, so I am afraid our luck was not in this time.

This teapot, however, seems much more dignified, so perhaps I may purchase it as a memento of this historic year.

Rain Stopped Us Playing

Oh, what a shame! I had an engagement on Thursday at Studio Q in Sunderland and was looking forward to it so much. But what should happen than we had the most amazing storm from about 4.30 til 6.30 (just when we should have left). There were floods all over the place, public transport was in chaos and traffic was backed up for miles so that it was impossible to get there on time. Our hosts phoned to say that so few people had managed to come that - unless we were already almost there - there was little point in our going.
They have said they will reschedule the show - and I jolly well hope they do. I had some wonderful new items to show everyone and I was so excited.
Never mind, we weren't washed away, so everything is all right.