Thank you to the wonderful Hay Festival for yet another year of pure joy. We are just back from our 8th year there and it never disappoints.
Here’s the team:-
You waft around within a community of like minded people listening to speakers with huge passion and knowledge and come away wanting to make the world a better place (not for long, obviously, because the moment you step back into your home and realise your children have had “gatherings” whilst you’ve been away and all the towels are on the sticky floor and the plants are nearly dead, not to mention the cat who has gone missing).
But it’s still worth the ensuing household chaos because for that brief moment, time stands still, in a literary oasis of gorgeousness as you relish their “Imagine The World” messaging and at least I still have my mug, so once I’ve got over the destruction of my house, I can enjoy a lovely cup of tea and breathe…
The programme is so immense and varied that one minute you are listening to Stephen Fry reading from Alan Bennett’s diary or his new story about Troy or Sandi Toksvig making us laugh about biscuits and social media, whilst another minute you are learning about the powerful effects of the sun, Leonardo Da Vinci or the contents of handbags. Listening to Anna Burns reading her latest book “The Milkman” was one of the highlights – we are reading that book for our book group at the moment, so having the words dance with the lyrical intonation of her spectacular Irish accent has enhanced the experience no end (would highly recommend the book by the way).
Overall, the time you spend there takes you away from your real world and allows you to simply open your mind and let the lovely words and thoughts flow in.
If you love books and enjoy a conversation, it’s the festival for you. If you’ve got kids that love books (which I haven’t) then bring them too.
The food options are not bad either – there are some healthy options too, obvs, although I forgot to take photos of those:-
Until next year….
