About a month ago Julia and I helped David man the Fife Chairs tent at the Big Tent Festival in Falkland. The BTF (not to be confused with WTF) is a festival of stewardship held annually on the grounds of Falkland palace and is basically an excuse for grizzled local artists to huddle together in yurts and talk about sustainability. Oh, and save the planet.
Highlights of the BTF for me were:
- Meeting a man with mutton chops who smoked a pipe and called himself Ed.
- Eating delicious curry from Henderson's alongside a man with three fingers. Also in a yurt.
- Watching helplessly as gale-force winds toppled a massive paper maiche globe onto the craft tent.
- Explaining over and over again exactly why we had a tent about chairs and no, you can't buy them. They're historic.
We spent three days getting battered by the wind. But hey, I met Prince Charles, so I guess all was not lost. You can see pictures of the Prince (and read about how the BTF is saving the planet) by clicking here.
On a related note: Prince Charles has very rough hands; not unlike a lumberjack or professional rock-breaker. He is also quite short.
Now for some photos:
There is almost nothing as amusing as watching David Jones walk across a field in the early morning with a chair over his shoulder. The man is in his element for sure. It's kind of like what I imagined Johnny Appleseed to look like.
Julia being awesome in an ANGUS GLENS CHAIR.
Here is Julianna, Marianna, and Davidanna. Julianna is a talented stone carver, Marianna a fabulous visual artist (read about her here) and well, David likes chairs. He is sitting on my kreepie stool.
Yurts make Julia excited. As they do.
Watch Lauren interact with Scottish school children. It usually goes something like this:Kid (in thick Fife accent): wheeyare you frum?
Lauren: The United States of America
Kid: [shocked silence] Heow old are ya?
Lauren: How old do you think I am?
Kid: Dunno, 70?
There is a new movement in Edinburgh called 'Slow Food' and man, they aren't kidding. I waited an hour for vegetable curry.
When you simply don't have time for that, try an Arbroath Smokie or dog kebab. The BTF isn't snobbish about saving the environment; if you want a burger you can have a burger.
Aforementioned paper maiche globe; post-topple and looking a wee bit squashed.
Look! Jamie came!
David looks like he is graduating from chair college. I guess he sort of did. We all look very tired and damp. Well, Julia looks good and so does David.It was a fun weekend regardless of the weather. The festival wrapped up on Sunday night with a rollicking Scottish ceilidh and piss-up. You know, for the environment.
