![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustSunday morning was bright and cold - a change of weather for the change of month, except that yesterday was even colder. November had been wet - in fact the whole autumn has been rainy. I'll start this post with the previous Saturday, and it was raining steadily then: which was appropriate if not very agreeable, because that's when I took the train into Newcastle for Bryan and Mary Talbot's presentation of RAIN at the the Books on Tyne book festival. durham_rambler had been to the actual launch, in Kendal, and had had our copy signed then, but I had skipped that because it clashed with a talk about Belgian comics, and because I knew there'd be another chance in Newcastle. So S. and I met for lunch in the Tyneside Coffee Rooms, in all their art deco splendour, and went together to the talk. Which was not as well attended as it deserved - but then it was very cold and wet, and Bryan and Mary barely made it, having taken an hour and a half on the road (a half hour's journey); and the audience was an interesting mixture of people who were interested in climate change and flood prevention, people who were interested in comics (only myself and L. from the Reading Group, though the man in the front row in a Luther Arkwright t-shirt was clearly a hard-core fan), and people who were making the most of the Books on Tyne programme. Someone asked "But who is your intended audience?", which rather nonplussed the speakers. But they seemed to be selling plenty of books, so that's good.
I didn't hang around town after the event: cold and wet, as I said before; also I had a tummy upset about which I won't go into detail, but I was ready to go home, so I did. The next day I was - let's say - 'better, but still not well', so we took things very gently, visiting Broom House Farm for lunch and a little light shopping. It was already misty when we left home, but as we drove up the long hill to the farm, the fog thickened, and at the top you could barely see from the parking to the coffee shop. I may have been a bit hazy myself: being wrapped in cotton wool felt entirely appropriate.
The rain continued through the week - we got soaked on the way to the Elm Tree on Wednesday - but Saturday morning was bright and frosty. It felt like a new month: I turned the page on the kitchen calendar, so we could compare commitments for the week ahead, and the calendar, which has been a sad disappointment to me all year (you'd think a National Geographic calendar of islands would suit me, but it's obsessed with tropical beaches) finally, at the last opportunity, gave me something to enjoy: a pair of blue footed boobies (in the Galapagos). It felt like December, too, because this has been the weekend of the Christmas Festival: the kind of festival that is all about shopping, and I went out and shopped.
durham_rambler accompanied me for the first stage of the shopping, in which we did some errands and failed to buy a haggis: the cheese stall had not stocked up for St Andrew's day, and had sold out. We didn't buy any cheese, either, because J, who had spent the night with us on THursday before catching the very early morning train for Milan, had given us a miniature brie (given the diameter of a full-size brie, a miniature one is still a substantial cheese). Besides, I knew there would be cheese sellers at the profucers' market in the cathedral cloisters. We went there next, and we did indeed buy cheese, also bread, and some smoked foods (haloumi and black pudding, separately).We lunched together in the cathedral café, which was pleasant enough but very busy.
And thendurham_rambler unleashed me to do my worst in the marquee, which in theory is dedicated to crafts, but also offers various edibles: in fact, a major reason I didn't want to mss the festival is that I wanted to buy some wine from the Domaine de Palejay - anf I did, and it was delivered that evening, so I have shopped successfully, which is good. I also had some entertaining conversations, including one with a cartographer (ah, here he is!); bought a couple of small gifts (not as many as I had hoped, but when does that ever happen?); bought myself a garment (picture the least you would have to do to a scarf to turn it into a jacket, and it's one of those). And did I mention the cheese? I had forgotten that Lacey's were likely to be there, but since they were, and since they make very good cheese, I chose a couple of pieces - but I was greeted like an old friend (which I am, but) and it's three for a tenner, and that's not a very big piece, have this one, and this one, and look, have this as a gift... We will not be running out of cheese any time soon (which is not a bad thing.)
durham_rambler had been to the actual launch, in Kendal, and had had our copy signed then, but I had skipped that because it clashed with a talk about Belgian comics, and because I knew there'd be another chance in Newcastle. So S. and I met for lunch in the Tyneside Coffee Rooms, in all their art deco splendour, and went together to the talk. Which was not as well attended as it deserved - but then it was very cold and wet, and Bryan and Mary barely made it, having taken an hour and a half on the road (a half hour's journey); and the audience was an interesting mixture of people who were interested in climate change and flood prevention, people who were interested in comics (only myself and L. from the Reading Group, though the man in the front row in a Luther Arkwright t-shirt was clearly a hard-core fan), and people who were making the most of the Books on Tyne programme. Someone asked "But who is your intended audience?", which rather nonplussed the speakers. But they seemed to be selling plenty of books, so that's good.I didn't hang around town after the event: cold and wet, as I said before; also I had a tummy upset about which I won't go into detail, but I was ready to go home, so I did. The next day I was - let's say - 'better, but still not well', so we took things very gently, visiting Broom House Farm for lunch and a little light shopping. It was already misty when we left home, but as we drove up the long hill to the farm, the fog thickened, and at the top you could barely see from the parking to the coffee shop. I may have been a bit hazy myself: being wrapped in cotton wool felt entirely appropriate.
The rain continued through the week - we got soaked on the way to the Elm Tree on Wednesday - but Saturday morning was bright and frosty. It felt like a new month: I turned the page on the kitchen calendar, so we could compare commitments for the week ahead, and the calendar, which has been a sad disappointment to me all year (you'd think a National Geographic calendar of islands would suit me, but it's obsessed with tropical beaches) finally, at the last opportunity, gave me something to enjoy: a pair of blue footed boobies (in the Galapagos). It felt like December, too, because this has been the weekend of the Christmas Festival: the kind of festival that is all about shopping, and I went out and shopped.
durham_rambler accompanied me for the first stage of the shopping, in which we did some errands and failed to buy a haggis: the cheese stall had not stocked up for St Andrew's day, and had sold out. We didn't buy any cheese, either, because J, who had spent the night with us on THursday before catching the very early morning train for Milan, had given us a miniature brie (given the diameter of a full-size brie, a miniature one is still a substantial cheese). Besides, I knew there would be cheese sellers at the profucers' market in the cathedral cloisters. We went there next, and we did indeed buy cheese, also bread, and some smoked foods (haloumi and black pudding, separately).We lunched together in the cathedral café, which was pleasant enough but very busy.And then
durham_rambler unleashed me to do my worst in the marquee, which in theory is dedicated to crafts, but also offers various edibles: in fact, a major reason I didn't want to mss the festival is that I wanted to buy some wine from the Domaine de Palejay - anf I did, and it was delivered that evening, so I have shopped successfully, which is good. I also had some entertaining conversations, including one with a cartographer (ah, here he is!); bought a couple of small gifts (not as many as I had hoped, but when does that ever happen?); bought myself a garment (picture the least you would have to do to a scarf to turn it into a jacket, and it's one of those). And did I mention the cheese? I had forgotten that Lacey's were likely to be there, but since they were, and since they make very good cheese, I chose a couple of pieces - but I was greeted like an old friend (which I am, but) and it's three for a tenner, and that's not a very big piece, have this one, and this one, and look, have this as a gift... We will not be running out of cheese any time soon (which is not a bad thing.)
