Off to the Strawberry Fair

Saturday saw the annual Strawberry Fair in Cambridge which has nothing to do with strawberries and more to do with music and general hippy stalls. It's one of our favourite festivals; it heralds the start of the festie season and it's free! Hurray for free festies :-) M and I go every year, but this year M was on call and wasn't able to go so I'd arranged with G to go with her and her tribe. They normally go too anyway; we tend to form a convoy. After the last couple of weeks I wasn't sure if I wanted to go, but M and G persuaded me that I should, so Saturday morning we set off (not very bright and early I'm afraid, but we set off!) for the historical city of Cambridge. The weather was grey, which was actually unusual for the Strawberry Fair - it's normally roasting - but it was reasonably warm and the rain held off. Joe was banned this year but Tia came with us. She's old and very overweight and goes at one pace and when she's tired, she just frogs and no-one can move her. Tia lives with G and K and she lost her doggy partner Charice a few weeks ago, so G didn't want to leave her on her own all day.

We spent the day happily shopping in the stalls, eating and drinking merrily, listening to music and hanging out in the children's area; K is still young enough to enjoy the circus entertainment and the trampolines.

I had a minor panic when I realised that I'd lost my phone and dragged G and K back as I retraced my steps to where I remembered having it last. A helpful steward suggested that we rang my phone and it was luckily answered by the police. My phone had been handed in and was at the mobile police station! Thank god for honest people! My biggest fear had been the loss of all my phone numbers, alot of which I have no way of getting again, which reminds me; I really need to back up my mobile numbers somewhere! Apparently the police had searched through the phonebook and rung a likely number which was 'Mum' (So much for the universal listing of your emergency contact number under I.C.E. ..In Case of Emergency). My brother picked the phone up and had a minor heart attack when he was told that it was Cambridge police were on the line and they had my phone... all sorts of dire scenarios popped into his head then! Luckily at that point G rang my phone and we were able to sort it out! Sorry for all the trouble folks.

Anyway we had a good day, I found a hat; it rolled onto the floor in front of me and I picked it up looking around for the owner and never found them, so I now have a brand new Strawberry hat - no kidding, it's a fleece lined woolly beanie, in the style of a strawberry - it has pips, a stalk and everything. I bought some prayer flags for the caravan. I found this stunning shell ring which refused to leave my finger and so I treated myself and it came home with me. There's a hole bored through an actual shell and it's all natural, and it's all mine - hee hee! It was nice to have a bit of light relief for a few hours; G was great and didn't fuss when I got teary nor did she do that fake cheery subject changing that people do when they're uncomfortable coz you're blubbing. G lost her Dad last year so she understands how it is.

Tomorrow will be Dads funeral. Today his beautiful oak coffin was brought to the church by the funeral directors, we had a very small service which was kind of allowing us to have a little time with Dad before the big day tomorrow. Fr. Philip was great and greeted Mum with a hug and a kiss, and generally made the event very personal. Tomorrow will be a much bigger occasion; we've had nearly a hundred cards and family and friends are coming from far and wide to say their goodbyes. It's been a hard couple of weeks, made harder by the fact that it's Fathers Day this weekend, so every time you turn on the TV, or go shopping or look through a paper or the Net, all they're doing is trying to sell you gifts for your Dad. That hurts. I know that life goes on, but I'm not ready for that just yet.