What a Weekend!!

Well the Cheltenham Literary Festival has been and gone and I was there for the last weekend of it and had a brilliant time! I drove to Cheltenham on Thursday and had booked a B&B for 3 nights. On the way up I went to a mine where Iron was mined and still is to this day. It was called Clearway Caves and was pretty amazing to go around. It was a damp day and the caves really did just feel like an extension to this. Also when I got there a tour of people had just finished going round and so I ended up going round on my own! This was a really creepy experience. The dark, dripping water and just plain lonely mine was enough to make me a bit nervous without then coming across a sign talking about the old miner who haunts it!! It was fun though and a lot of the cave was great to see. I've added a couple of photos I took (they're a bit dark but it was very deep underground and lacked natural light!)











After going to Clearwell Caves I made my way to Cheltenham. The B&B I had booked turned out to be really nice. The owners were an old couple who were really friendly and they had put me in the large twin ensuite room. This meant that I had an armchair and large TV instead of just a bed! This worked out quite well as I was there on my own and were times I just wanted to sit there and watch a bit of tv! And of course the beauty of B&B's is the full cooked breakfasts in the mornings! I took full advantage of those.


Well getting to the festival itself! I went to 7 events; Kate Atkinson, Alan Davies, Lisa See & Xinran, Jack Dee, Philippa Gregory, Al Murray and finally Patrick Gale & Marina Lewycka. I was most looking forward and excited about the Alan Davies event. I have always loved Alan Davies and fancied him to bits! Ok so he's a bit old for me but still very gorgeous! I wasn't disappointed in the slightest and not only did he autograph his book for me but I also got a photo of me with him!!! I totally acted like a teenage girl faced with her favourite boyband member. So much so I could barely say two words to him!! So funny but definitely my highlight of the weekend!

The session I was most disappointed with was Jack Dee. It was obviously a book promotion event and I'm fine with that but the interview was quite dry. He literally just went through some events that he's included in the book and wasn't even particularly funny with it. I think it was probably more to do with the guy who was interviewing him than Jack Dee himself. I say this because when it was opened up to the audience for questions it went a lot better and he was really funny. Not only was the whole thing not that funny the cost of the ticket was expensive. Most of the author events were between £6 and £8 with Alan Davies being quite a bit more at £12 and Al Murray was £10. Jack Dee skyed this completely at £18. For an event where he is just promoting his book I reckon that's an extortionate price especially as they then expect you to buy the book for the same price! Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it it was just the one event that was not as enjoyable as the others and not as good as I was expecting!

Apart from meeting Alan Davies and getting to listen to him for an hour and a half the best event was Patrick Gale and Marina Lewycka. When I saw that there was an event with both of them being interviewed together I was a bit surprised. I read both of their books but could not get any connection between them at all. I wouldn't have thought that putting them together at an event would work but I was proved wrong! It turns out that the two of them know each other and they worked so well together. They bounced off each other and it was a really interesting interview. They both read a bit from their latest books and it was great to hear them read their own books. It confirmed 'their voice' in my mind! They both seem really nice people and they were funny too! I got autographs in my books from both of them like most of the other people I saw!

As well as going to a literary festival one of my tasks is to get 4 books autographed and I totally did that over the weekend! I got books signed by Kate Atkinson, Alan Davies, Lisa See, Xinran, Philippa Gregory, Patrick Gale and Marina Lewycka. So I think I am safe in saying that I have completed that task! I also got some books signed for Christmas and birthday presents for people I know.

While in Cheltenham I also went to Gloucester one day. I wasn't very impressed with the place! In fact there isn't really much I can say that's good about it. Although I didn't go in it the Cathedral did look impressive but that's as far as the attraction of Gloucestor goes! I went swimming on the Saturday morning at the Leisure Centre in Cheltenham which was good. I enjoyed the swim and to get to the centre I walked through a really nice park. There was a lot of people walking dogs and there was a pond that went right through the park with ducks in.

Going away to Cheltenham has taught me that I have got to do the things I enjoy whether I have others to go with or not. I enjoyed having the time to myself and to be able to do the things I wanted when I wanted. Not being with someone else meant that there wasn't someone else I had to make sure was happy. I was completely selfish for 4 days and enjoyed it loads! I went to bed when I wanted (including an afternoon nap!), I ate what I wanted where I wanted when I wanted, I traipsed round the shops I wanted for as long as I wanted, and I went to the events I wanted. I chatted to various people around the festival which was good too. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't want to do things by myself all of the time but it was a breath of fresh air and fun to do it for that little bit! In fact I did the one thing I never thought I'd ever do on my own and that was go to the cinema!!