Mossdale Meadows Festival, Tug-a-War, Broken Phone Strap, Air Training Corp, Sundry Stalls, Hannah Off with Shantelle, Me and Nat, Golf Club, No Cream Teas with Jesus, Golf Club 2, Hannah Boxing, Nat Boxing, Nat Fencing, More Golf Clubs 3 4 5 and 6, Walk Home, Zak

It's the Mossdale Meadow Summer Festival today, I don't know if this is the first time it's been held or that we've just missed the previous ones. Anyway, we were all planning to go and see what's what but Deb was still quite unwell and decided to stay home. Nat, Hannah and I walked to Mossdale and we arrived there around 12 PM, as it's at the top of the Kingsway it's hardly a hike. It was a lovely day and, luckily, it held off raining until after the festival ended at 4 PM. There weren't a huge number of things there, as you can see from the photos, but it looked fun so we hastened, hastily, to discover, uncover and delve into ALL it's hidden secret treasures of mystery (OTT or What???).


Nat and Hannah immediately joined in the tug-a-war and, according to Nat ,that's what won it for their side! Somehow Han managed to break the strap on Mum's N73 while tugging but eventually we found the broken strap and tried it back to the phone.
Just after this Shantelle showed up; Han demanded her money then she and Shantelle set off on their own. Nat and I stayed together; the first stall we visited was that of the Air Training Corp. As a teenager I'd been a member of the ATC and done quite a lot of exciting things, including gliding, so I wondered whether we could crowbar this into Nat's already busy schedule. They meet twice a month but, unfortunately, the meetings are on a Monday (kick boxing and Queen's Scouts award) and a Thursday (judo) so it doesn't look like a feasible option.
We continued round, the stalls, to see what there was to see. We bumped into Maxine with daughter Amelia, broken ankle freshly plastered* , in tow and had a brief chat. I'm sure Nat gave thanks that Henri wasn't with them, he absolutely detests Henri.
The first thing we bought was a golf club for a whole £1! We thought we could buy few balls and when walking Monty over on the sports ground we could have a knock around. This might aid in countering Nat's eye/hand coordination problems. Just beyond the stall where we bought this was the cream teas stall. Fifty pence for a Cream Tea!!!! The OAP's were queueing to get a seat and the sign said it was fully booked for the rest of the day. How could they do it for 50p, I hear you cry? It was a church stall and they, like drug dealers who give free samples to reel in new users, were using it as a lose leader to gain new converts.
We acquired another golf club, this time a left handed driver (I know...Why?) at a further stall and proceeded to use them to mug pensioners! Having recouped our cash through this inventive use of our golf clubs we wandered on. Off and on we were joined by Han and Shantelle and while Nat was queueing for a burger I saw them again. They were with Shantelle's Dad, whom I'd not met before, and he turned out to be a charming fellow. Han and I walked over to the boxing ring that had been set up in the middle of the meadow.
Han decided to give boxing a try and turned out to be quite good at it; after all she spends enough time, at home, punching the karate pads she makes me hold. Below are the videos of her in the ring:






I phoned Nat, who was still queueing to buy a burger, to tell him where we were and shortly after he joined us. If Han was going to box then, of course, so was he. Below are his videos:
 


The bearded chap who was instructing, a settled former traveller would be my guess given the accent and the van, was very complementary about them both and both of them expressed and interest in attending the club. I got the details and we're planing to visit one evening next week. The club runs from 5:00 PM Monday to Thursday and charges a £1.00 per session.
Han, once more, departed with Shantelle and Nat and I went to see the fencing; Nat has fenced before, at scouts, so once more he joined in.

Finally, we watched the marital arts demo which, unfortunately, was cut short when one of the demonstrators hurt herself; hope she's OK now. Han and Shantelle turned up again; Han wanted to go to Shantelle's Dad's house with Shantelle and her brother but I said no. Shantelle's Dad wasn't there to say it was OK and anyway she was only going there for a little while before going back to her Mum's house. I told Han she could see her then.
By now it was nearing 4:00 PM, and the sky looked set to rain, so we decided to head home. On our way we again stopped at the stall where we'd bought the first golf club and purchased the remaining four for £3:00.
We bumped into Zak on the way home and separated him from Sam and another lad by threatening them with our clubs. After Nat, Han and he  had performed, or attempted to perform, some "gymnastic" manoeuvres in a tree he came home with us and immediately disappeared upstairs, with Nat, to play on the X-box.
Shantelle too turned up a little while later and that was the last we saw of Hannah for an hour or two.
Again, I stayed up, watching Smallville on the PC this time, until 6:00. I went to bed and stayed there while the others went to the pictures on Sunday morning.

*she broke it during the school trip to Twin Lakes last week