The start of the School holidays has been brilliant. I work term time only so the 6 week Summer Holidays are great. My last full working week finished on Friday ..... and then the sun came out !!!
We had friends coming over for the weekend and it was the Bedford River Festival weekend, so I had mentioned this to our friends and we considered popping down to the Festival ....especially as I had good memories of all the River Festivals I had been to in the past.
My initial plan was that we could go there on the Saturday night to see the illuminated boats and then watch the fireworks.
However, that plan was soon scuppered !
Of course ... Greg had decided to smoke some meat for our dinner, so initially the excuse was that we could not leave the smoker (and I have to admit the smoked pork was delicious). We sat and ate and dank in the sunshine in the early evening, just enjoying the moment.
This meant that .... through eating and DRINKING .... the Delinquent Annoying Husbandz were then pretty mashed and within an hour they were making excuses NOT to leave the garden!
"We can't drive ...we've had too much to drink!" ......... " We can't walk it - it's too far" .......... "A taxi will cost a fortune" .... etc.. etc..
It did not help that Greg's son and my nephew both turned up at ours and mentioned that there were LOADS of people - (to me that makes part of the atmosphere) and although they both said they enjoyed it - this was also a good excuse for the boys/men to not go to the crowds.
Reluctantly I relented - on the condition that, as we were missing the boat parade and the fireworks, we should go on the Sunday afternoon to see the raft race.
The rest of the evening was spent very pleasantly sitting in the garden ..... and then the conservatory as it got cooler!!
Sunday morning I was up reasonably early - keen to get everyone going (I knew it would take a while to kick start those with hangovers!) I was trying to persuade everyone to walk up but did acknowledge that this would take us about 40 minutes and we had an 8 year old with us so that would have been a challenge.
After about an hour of debate (yes honestly ... an hour) with me suggesting a couple of us drive and park at Gina's (only a 20 minute walk) the boys (men) finally decided that they didn't want to walk at all (probably due to hangovers) and ordered an 8 seater taxi so that we could be dropped off at the bridge !
We were duly dropped off ...and then began ...Greg's mission !!!
This mission was unbeknown to us at the start ...... however it became apparent after about half an hour of walking ....He steered us all to one side of the river (the side that had a few less stalls) and just KEPT walking ...passing most of the attractions and stalls as quickly as possible. My friend and I had to keep calling to get him to stop so we could actually LOOK at the displays and then ... the penny dropped - as we went into the craft stall area he stated that he and her husband would find the beer tent !
However, that was not his full mission - my friend and I checked out a few stalls and caught up with them but then they almost speed walked to get to "the end". We reached the end of one side of the river and crossed over the bridge to the other side ... racing through further stalls and avoiding even more !!!
It finally dawned on me that actually ..... Greg's mission was to just "get through this" as he could not cope with the crowds ......oh yes ... he can cope with a field full and crowded with like-minded bikers at the international super rally BUT ... NOT ..... your average family !
We effectively "ran away" from the River Festival !
What probably made me even angrier was that once we got to the High Street end of the river, Greg "frogmarched" us to a pub at the other far end of the High Street for us to sit outside at the front to "watch the world go by"
ARGGHHH !!
Could we not have done that in Russell Park with Beer or Pimms, listening to the music ..... or sitting by the side of the river watching the Raft Race ??? Beer was freely available with several beer tents dotted around and there were loads of spaces to just sit and chill ... but no .... this was not my DAH's "thing"
So - Bedford River Festival - I am sure you were great - spectacular in fact - and several of my friends posted brilliant pics and comments on Facebook that made me a tad jealous.
However, the rest of the day was spent chilling in my garden and enjoying the sunshine, so not wasted .......
AND the moral of this tale is ..... in 2 years time - for the next Bedford River Festival - I'M GOING ON MY OWN !!!
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