Beer festivals, friends, ex students and caravans!

Evening Everyone.

Apologies for the lack of posts over the weekend but I have been so so busy since Friday morning topped off with a stinker of a migraine on Sunday and a full afternoon of gardening at my mums Friday and 3 hours of gardening at my sons today. Everything seems to come at once doesn't it? Firstly on Friday I went for a few drinks ( not me, I was the designated driver) with Hubby and an old school friend of mine who is a GP and has been quite poorly. It's funny isn't it that you can be friends with someone for years and yet there are things that you just don't know about each other. He is a very private person and not only a GP but an amazing Obstetrician who also has a private clinic. I was taken by surprise when he told me that he had been suffering quite severely with anxiety and depression. I suppose with hindsight it shouldn't of come as a such a shock as he is a very quiet person who at times can seem withdrawn from the social group. I've heard others say that he can be miserable or moody but to be fair to him he has always been lovely with me. He has helped me through some very difficult times with kindness and understanding and is always at the end of the phone with advice for not only myself but family members even though he is not our GP. He has had several family and personal crisis in the past couple of years and I think things have taken their toll. Through all of this he has not had one single day off work as he says he needs to be there for his patients, totally selfless. I felt very humbled to sit, chat, let him offload to me and in some small way feel like I've been there for him instead of the other way around. It just shows that we are all fragile and even the strongest of people buckle under pressure at times. Times have changed though and now mental health issues are much more in the limelight and instead of people being embarrassed or ashamed to tell people they are suffering it is now encouraged. I for one am pleased about that for every ones sake. 

So Saturday I spent what seemed like the entire day on and off the phone to my mother who is is South Wales, my brother in North Wales, a farmer, a farmers wife and a friend of ours who were also in various parts of Wales. We have had a family caravan in Wales for 27 years. We started off with one caravan on a field with about 30 others. That was it. We then had an open air pool and on Friday nights a fish and chip van would come to the field. We liked it like this. Over the years we have changed caravans, had to move the caravan to other plots as the camp grew around us with a large swimming pool, chip shop, cafe, supermarket, night club, sports bar, park, basketball courts and about another 300 caravans! We no longer want to be there and have felt like this for a few years but have procrastinated. Well this year we have finally had enough and so are selling the caravan, buying a new one and this will be sited on another camp. Well, actually its not a camp but a farmers field with a few other caravans and chuff all else, which we love! There are the Snowdonia mountains at the back and the sea to the front and a walk along the lane to a really nice pub. Bliss. Unfortunately we are struggling to get it sorted, but we will, even if it means selling up and waiting for a plot to become available in the near future. 

Saturday night we went to the local Town Hall which was hosting the annual beer festival. This is held to raise money for the Lord Mayors charity. It is £5 entry and for this you get a beer festival tankard to keep ( and use for the evening) and  two beer tokens which will get you either two halves of beer or cider ( there were over 40 of these to choose from). There was live music on and lots of lovely street food on sale. There was also a gin bar and the main Town Hall bar was open too. It is a good night out and with it being local there are lots of faces we know. One of these faces was an ex pupil of  mine who left to go to another special school, and so, I haven't seen him for about 5 years. I actually know his dad as he is a friend of my brothers so I went over for a chat. I was really surprised to see his son there as he was always really sensitive to noise and would sit with his fingers in his ears if music was playing. He has come on so much and to see him sitting there with his beer in hand, listening to music and enjoying himself melted my heart. He is non verbal and kept looking at me and smiling. So so lovely to see him, he's lucky as he has such a caring family around him and I know he is very much loved. I took a few photos of the beer festival and a very short video clip. I love local events and we are blessed with plenty of community spirited people who organise lots of these throughout the year. 

One of our daughters called in with her friends but they weren't keen on either the beers or the entertainment ( much to Hubby's disgust!) so moved on but not before leaving us with the job of getting all their glasses home safely! We looked like we had a serious drink problem walking out with 7 tankards. At least we could walk though as some people, probably the ones drinking the very strong ciders were having trouble! There were some weird and wonderful brews on offer and it was good to see some of the smaller local breweries and craft brewers being supported.
What local events do you have where you live? Do you like to go to watch live music?
Jules x


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