the Bury fayre

What a deal!

We'd decided on Friday that we wanted to go to Bury on Saturday. I was glad to see the sky was still clear when we got up. But by the time Bob got up, it was cloudy. We pressed on. After a "tea party" lunch we got ready to go. By the time we got from the front door to the car door (about 5 steps) we were freezing, but we pressed on. We hadn't made it out of the neighborhood before it started drizzling, but we pressed on. When we arrived at the temporary park n ride, we first saw the big queue of people waiting for the bus, but we pressed on. Then we saw the entrance to the parking lot was height restricted, so we pressed on into town. It wasn't long before we realized we were in a queue of cars headed to the parking lot, so we pressed on. After an hour in queue, we arrived at the parking lot. The main lot was full, but there was ONE spot in the motorhome area, so we grabbed it with the blessing of the attendant/traffic director guy. First thing, Bob went to the toilet and to pay for parking. I got Elijah out of his seat to try to feed him before we got out, but he didn't wake up. Bob came back, realizing that we ahd no money for the parking ticket machine, but we pressed on. He walked across the parking lot to a pub, where he bought a coke and got change. By this time Elijah was waking up, and we pressed on. Bob took the older children to the toilet while William pretended to drive and I changed Elijah and fed him. Then we pressed on. ;-)

All bundled with coats, hats, gloves, and a scarf or two, we headed toward the town center. We went through the Abbey gardens, having heard there were vendors there. Huddled together in a small area near the wall were a couple dozen tents of various descriptions. Selling bread, sausages, pashminas, candle-powered boats, fudge... The area was nicely covered with outdoor carpet for easy passage, and with the people and lights it was much warmer there. Not finding anything to buy, we pressed on. Being a walled garden, everybody in there had to go in and out through the one gate. It's a nice big gate, but there were an awful lot of people. We literally pressed through the gate and up the hill toward the market. There were a couple of rows of vendors in the area that's normally Angel Hill parking lot, but we just went through there and toward the regular market area. It got less crowded as we went, but still more people than a regular Saturday. It was only 3pm, and with all that crowd we figured the market would be going longer than usual, and some were, but the magazine man was already packed up when we got to him. :-( Anyway, we got some fruit and broccoli, and then had dinner at McDonald's. It has been remodeled and now has even fewer tables than before, with the result that strangers share tables. As we take up a whole large table, we had to wait a little to claim one, and then had to fend off numerous hungry people from the empty chairs as we took turns in the upstairs toilets. One old woman just about got in a fist fight with me over Riah's seat.
After eating we went back down the hill toward the fayre. But even with the offer of one adult staying with the children while the other shopped, neither Bob nor I wanted to press through the crowds to check out the tents. The rows were about 6 feet apart, and it was stuffed end to end with people about 8 wide. So after taking a few pictures we went around the concert stage and headed back toward the bus, taking a different route than before, past the carnival rides. After a few more pictures we made it back to the bus, where we were surprised to find it was only 5:15. Elijah woke up on being put into his cold car seat, but quieted down right away, and we had an uneventful drive home.

As it was still early, Bob went up to the BX for the one day specials (a Wii game with steering wheel for $20) while the children did dancing shows for my entertainment. Then Bible time and bed for all but Bob, Elijah, and me. We got to sleep about 1am. Elijah and I were awake from 3-4am, and got up at 6:40. No nap yet, and it's time to get ready for church. Wow! 8:30 already!!