FAMILY DAY

Today was a family day for me so not so many photos.We left Pontyates early and it looked like rain (now there's a thing). We stopped off at the post office and emptied the savings account. I overheard a conversation between Beti and Doris about pills and 15 mils and i'm still not right. Whatever could it mean? The best made plans are laid to waste so they say. We had no plan except to go and experience whatever came our way. Call it a social experiment in Wenglish. We did practice or at least try to speak some Welsh on the way down. On arrival my wife duly handed over £36 to get in KERCHING! Within a short period of time they wanted drinks so my wife handed over £6 KERCHING! I was under the misguided impression that all the activities were free. So it was we eagerly made our way to the climbing wall, we were the first and only family there. As the boys geared up we were asked for £3 each KERCHING! Things were getting bad. I had to dip into the stash in my sock. After a visit to a few of the tents and stages the children were hungry and thirsty again. We headed for the chip van and duly paid £2.50 for each of the three small portions of chips and an additional £1 for a tiny pot of curry KERCHING! I am a past master at sourcing freebies as any of my friends will attest to. I was soon able to direct my children towards the bins containing FREE lollipops. The temptation to keep sending them to empty the bin and thereby set up a stall selling lollipops for £1 each was overpowering me. I resisted mainly because my wife highlighted the shame it would bring upon us if we got caught. Elkanah is 14 and sort of hormonal. Noah is 11 and interesting. Theia is 2 and full of life. The trouble is that you can't please all of them all of the time and while there is something for everyone, I could see that Elkanah was finding it a struggle to get excited about anything. Theia on the other hand was mugging most of the furry costumed people or else dancing along with the folk dancers. Noah likes science so he enjoyed the science area and the opportunity to fly a biplane simulator. It is a big place to get around and many of the paths are made up of stone so Angharad struggled a little pushing Theia around even though we brought her all terrain tricycle. I said it was a family day for us but it is always difficult to stick to the plan when you see the First minister next to Sali Mali or Dewi Pus hitching a lift with a sign saying CRYMI. I usually stay the course and get around the Maes feeling slightly tired by the end of the day. Today felt like a major expedition and we were unable to get past 3 o'clock before the children started showing signs of Eisteddfodmaesyphobia. Put that in the Welsh dictionary. We headed off through the masses gathered to hear Rhys Meirion belting out a song. Back to normal tomorrow as I get back to the business of taking photographs.