Fun Fact : My brother Charles is in the GB rowing squad and has been rowing for a few years now competing around the world representing Great Britain! Woot Woot Go Team GB! Having just recovered from keyhole back surgery he is on track to partake in the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games!! May as well include a pic of the ol' boy...(right)
For those who are not aware what the "Strawberry Fair" is let me explain, We have a rather large common near the center of Cambridge called the Midsummer Common, the Strawberry Fair comes here every year, excluding last year when it didn't because there was a big fuss about all the odd folks and drug takers and general annoyance of rowdy fair goers...or some lark.
The fair consists of live local music acts, films, arts and crafts and your usual stalls which sell all sorts, if you've been to any festivals or events you can imagine the stalls I am on about, selling hats, ponchos, glasses and random things which everyone buys yet nobody really needs.
The place is packed to the brim with all kinds of people, there's the old hippies, the pikeys, the chavs, the stoners, the indie kids...everyone seems to just come together for this one day to get drunk and high and chill in the sunshine listening to music and chilling in general, there is a circus area where the little circus crew do their own thing, a medieval re-enactment section, a kids play area and a variety of things to do. I have included a map of the layout below.
I woke up again at 11:30 and hopped in the shower, fook me was it hot on my sunburnt neck..I think I ended up showering in the cold as it hurt too much, rocked down stairs and had a bowl of cereal with my little cousin Molly who had magically appeared, someone must have popped to the shop to grab some milk, which was good because I really needed the boost from cinnamon cereal goodness! I re-downloaded WhatsApp on my HTC Desire, and got my little cousin Molly to send voicemails to our dear friend Frank "Thieving Rabbi" and various jew related stuff which did make me giggle as she is only 6!
We left on foot for the strawberry fair at 12ish, we gave our lil bro Tom a ring to see if dad and kate and the kids were heading over yet, they were in the middle of eating or doing something so we arranged to meet them later. We popped by one of Charles' old boat clubs "Rob Roy" on the way as the silly beanhead forgot to go toilet before leaving our house, we had to take a detour as this year the have cordened off one of the bridges to try and filter people through selected entrances with higher security measures in place, on entry there was a sign which stated searches of all bags would be in place, you are not allowed to take any drugs or bottled alchol inside, no more than 4 cans of booze and other random items which were blacklisted, which was odd because walking around there was still a potent pong of the herb.
We wandered around for about half hour looking at all the different arts and craft stalls and random shiz before bumping into my nan, aunt and her kids, we said a quick hello before moving along to other random stalls, we bumped into our uncles old neighbours too and had a catch up which was nice, we looked at a few more stalls before bumping into our mother who decided to take our little sister and lodger Chelsea out for the day, walked over to the pub which was very cheekily closed but they had opened a bar outside and were charging 4 pound a pint! and 3 pound for a large coke, we bumped into our friends Andy, Izzy and Will and sat down for a chilled drink by the river.
We decided we were going to go punting so after we finished our drinks we headed towards the exit, on the way we bumped into our dad, kate (wicked step mum heh) and the kids and had a little chat before making for the exit, we popped into sainsburys to grab some bread and meat for sammiches and some crisps and cakes and shiz for punting snacks, we then stopped for a toilet break in the "Lion Yard" shopping centre. As we were leaving there was a drunk pair of tramp-like men trying to walk up the stairs, they got to about the 4th step of about 7 before wobbling a bit taking a step back then falling over, one of the guys managed somehow to stay on his feet but the other guy he went flying and fell onto his back and did half a backwards roll, I nearly wet myself a little as one yelled to the other "Gert meh uppp". Added a bit of excitement to the day to say the least.
We continued down to the river to get ourselves a vessel, we piled onto a punt pulling off pirate accents on the way, on the punt was myself, Charles, Emma, Izzy and Will (awesome name I know right?) we set sail "off to Tortuga" according to captain Charles, we were actually only going down the river but eh let the boy enjoy his adventure! Everyone took it in turns to punt but myself as I am lazy and partially scared of the shakey slimline boat, for our friend Will it was a first punting experience and it took him a little while to get the hang of it, dodging trees and bushes along the river as he learnt to steer, when it was Izzy's turn to punt Charles decided to strip down to his boxers and go for a dip, clambering back into the punt poor Izzy nearly went for a dip, bending over to keep herself from going for a swim she timed it well with a whoosh of air taking her dress up and giving a group of South African passers by a nice view of her behind!
For my american viewers who are nubs here is what a punt is! A boat powered by the "Punter" who pushes it along using a long pole and steers with the pole in a rudder like fashion.
By the time we returned the punt my face was bright red with sunburn, my neck even moreso, we stopped off at the pub for a pint before returning home, I applied some aftersun to my burning face and settled down to a bit of "Casualty" with the nana, sadly I just missed a Curry which would of been a lovely dinner, may just have to settle with a pizza tonight.
A pretty early entry today as I am not sure if I will be up long and I am fairly certain nothing interesting will happen before I go to bed.
Check out the burn!
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