DAY AT THE ROYAL HERTFORDSHIRE FAIR
alan skeoch
May 2019
May 26, 2019
‘ Get up, we are travelling to he Herefordshire Fair today!”
“Ever been there before?”
“No, but there are horses, sheep dogs, wicker workers, eagles and a beer wagon”
“Many people?”
“Do not know…likely lots on this sunny day.”
“Any big work horses with hairy hooves?”
“If there’s beer, there will be Clydesdales…”
(Turned out there were at least 1,000 cars and only 4 big work horses…lots
of other horses though. “Did you know there are only 17 Clydesdale stallions
left?” … hope that is not true.)
Big Mouth
Big lump of fudge…a social thing for we all shared a bite…left tooth
marks like a bunch of rats eating cheese.
The feature food we shared at the Herts Fair was fudge…big chunks of fudge…we all took a good gnaw…
I got to like the stuff… my teeth marks…Marjorie’s teeth marks are on the left.
Why eat fudge?
Because good food was too expensive…
“How much did you pay to get us in here, Kevin?”
“20 pounds each…that’s $40 Canadian.”
“You must be joking.”
“Get over it, Dad.”
“Pass the fudge….”
Skills from the past…see if you can find other examples of basketmaking…
“Is that horse drunk, Morgan?”
“Grandpa, you say the silliest things.”
“What do you think, Nolan?”
“Same as my sister…that horse is trained
to play dead.’
‘I think it is dead…dead drunk.”
“Is this a tractor?”
“Apparently.”
“What statement does such a huge machine make?”
“Simple…there are no small farmer left…”
“Applies to Canada as well.”
“Marjorie, look at the guy beside me…he is shoving a whole ice cream cone down
his throat.”
“We may have to apply the Heimlich (sp?) in a moment.”
“Grab him from behind, lock your arms under his rib cage…give a heave…”
“What if he is not gagging?”
“Run like hell.”
“How much a pint, bud?”
“4 pounds 50 pence, can I pour?”
“That’s about $10 Canadian, did you know that?”
“You are in England, sir, not Canada…pint of the best beer
coming …”
(Reader: See if you can find this pint in the pictures below.)
See? Not the riders…the beer…I did not think you would find the picture so
had to tell you. Sad thing about my $10 glass of beer is that I asked Martin
to hold it for me and never saw it again.
Just finding the car was a task…there were four huge fields packed with cars…I mean more than a thousand.
“What do you want for supper?”
“Let’s have a home cooked meal.”
“Right!!!”