BRF Weekend Two – Really Long

Weekend number two has melted away.    Saturday was one of the hottest days at Bristol that I can remember. I probably lost the brain cells that could remember hotter days in the heat though.     Yes it was hot, yes it was at times very uncomfortable, but I still had a great time.

I started the day pretty early, I was onsite at 7:30 helping Chris and some of the other St. George folks carry their things in.  Chris was in need of a ride because of some car issues… After I left the glade area, I went back out and waited in line with the rest of the early morning parking lot crew…  I still cannot believe how early some of these people get there.

I cannot remember a lot of details of the day Saturday just because I was trying not to think much at all.  I know I helped out in FOF garden some. I remember that I helped Karl haul ice at one point.   I did the parade after having been hosed down by a certain bartender with his own song.  😉   I turned it into a bit though.  Every time someone asked me if I was ok because I was dripping wet with sweat… (Really people, I sweat a lot, but come on….)  I would respond. “Oh, I am perfectly fine, I’ve been drenched…  I do  have a bit of advice for you.  It is of great import that when requesting water from a pub, that you must be specific as to where you would like it…  I seem to ‘ave neglected to mention I wanted it in me mug… and before I knew it I was waterlogged…”   It got a laugh out of most people despite the heat.  I didn’t dry out until sometime around 4 o’clock.  Part of that was due to my cap being packed with ice.  I don’t put the ice in a bag or anything so the ice melts and just pours down my front and back.  When I stepped into the sauna box …err… privy it was so hot that there was literally a stream of water pouring from my hat. After a while I got tired of the dripping and dumped the remainder of the ice in my hat so I could begin to dry off.

I have managed to find myself in others photos already for Saturday, which I must admit is kinda wild.  I’m used to being on the other side of the camera.    If you look closely you can see how wet I was at the time of the parade 🙂

The day ended with the Shady Ship Side Sing out Song Set or whatever it was being called. 🙂  Its a revel, and that’s all that matters to me. It’s very free form, and laid back and a LOT of fun.  I also helped move benches for the ever increasing number of patrons who stopped by to listen.

After faire we all met at the usual place for dinner, and Air Conditioning!  God Bless the air conditioner…

Sunday despite the forecast of being hotter seemed in all honesty to be a much nicer day.  I’m not sure if it was because I was wearing the really lightweight nautical garb (yeah pirate… whatever) or because there was a VERY NICE breeze all day, but whoever it was I found myself much more awake, alert, and generally playful.   I managed to crack up Moonie at one point. He and Jen were talking and as I walked by he said something to her about getting carried away, so I shouted out “What? Her? Carried away?” and ran up grabbed Jen around the waist picked her up and carried her away… “Ya’ mean like this right!? (to random patron) Look I got me a souvenir!”

I hung out for a while with one of the regular playtron FOF pirates  and we wandered a bit.  He has been in the parade every day as well so he and I have been playing off each other at times during the parade.  Sundays FOF parade presence consisted of the hench, this pirate (who’s character name slips my mind, it starts with an M though), and myself.   So he and I had to be the big mouths and handle the cheering pretty much by our selves.  I think we did ok, I heard us reverberating off buildings…  I didn’t even loose my voice for a change.

After coming off parade I wanted to stick my fee in a bucket of ice they were pretty scorched. However FOF was short on wait staff, and I and my piratical cohort ended up serving drinks to the nobles.  I had forgotten how frigging heavy those two pitchers of water can get.

After the parade and noble watering was over I went and got some food.  I have been VERY MUCH craving meat the past few days so I paid the small ransom for the giant roast beef sandwich and took it over to the 3 sheets stage to eat it and wait for Jock Stewarts show.   After his show, and the starboard watch show was over I wandered back up to FOF and once again refilled my my mug.   When I left FOF I heard music trailing off from the distance, so I went to investigate, and found Jock Stewart and Michi Regier sitting in the shade playing together.  I dragged over a bench and then noticed a few other patrons standing so I offered it to them and stood taking pictures. At that point I had only taken around 17 or so I think what with all the “on” time where I couldn’t have the camera out.

After they stopped playing and Michi left, Jessie and I sat and talked for a bit about a number of things. At one point while sitting there we must have looked photogenic because a woman came up and asked if she could get our picture.  We obliged, and she sent her little son up to sit with us.  I think he was probably around 6 or 7.  He was very well behaved, and just a little nervous.   I sat him between us and just before his mother snapped the picture I stopped her and handed him my big tankard.  It was full and pretty heavy and he was having trouble holding it up, so I supported it in one hand, and put my other arm around him.  His mother gushed… “Oh that’s so perfect!!! AWWWW!!!” and snapped away… They then both thanked us and left.    I then followed Jessie to the pub for his next show, because it was a heck of a lot closer than the Serengeti.   When I sat down I struck up half in my cups pose and sat there hunched over the table while listening. Sure enough in less than two minutes time I was approached by a random patron wanting a picture with a “drunken pirate”.   She explained her camera phone to her hubby and I pulled her into my lap for the shot.  She had him take at least 4 different poses.  It was enough to cause Jessie on stage to take notice and make a comment about “some guys just have all the luck…” After that Molly and Tinker showed up with a card for Jessie for his 50th birthday.  They then presented him with a giant ice cream crepe and requested he face dive into it, which he did.  Michi then rejoined Jessie and they finished off his show together.

After the pig I returned once again to the FOF garden for privy, and ICE and headed down to the Serengeti.  I stopped in at Happy Viking and picked up more of the glass jewels as I was down to about 2.  The proprietress and I talked for quite a while about Bristol, and the changes over the years.  It still seems funny to me how many people recognize me even though I tend to stick to the shadows.  After we talked I again headed towards the 3 sheets pub and as I approached the MoM half of the Hour of Power they were ending with Mingulay Boat song. I stopped to listen and was sting next to Ron Scott Fry and the sailor (I think his name is Tim) I ended up singing with last Sunday and before I knew it the three of us had our own chorus going in the back of the audience.  Once that ended I moved on again to the Serengeti to finish the day.

When I arrived “dockside”  Barron von Zircle was there performing while Starbord Watch rested from their last set. He seems new to faire, and all, but is catching on to things I think.   The Starboard watch show was an all request show that kept bringing in more people so I hauled over a few more benches to support the audience.

After the Starboard Watch show was over the “revel” aka “Shady Ship Side Song Sing Set” or whatever it’s going to be called started and I found myself hauling even more benches over.  At the peak there were 25 people sitting watching a show that isn’t on the schedule in an area that never existed before, so I’d say that’s a decent start.   I took the liberty of playing hawker and brought a few families over too.  It seemed to work pretty well for the pub too as before the set they were pretty much closed up, and as the set drew people over they would inevitably stop at the pub to get something to drink.

After the revel ended I moved the benches back with some help from Cheryl and Rodger, and then headed off to return Baron Von Zircles mug to him.   At that point I ran into Dan Marcotte, and I gave him the mug to return.  He and I stood and talked for a good ten minutes about a number of things. 🙂 MUAHAHAHA 🙂   I made sure to tell him how thrilled I was with having the revel back. When I mentioned it his face lit up and he begged for full details.  I gave him a good run down and told him of the number of patrons and seats I had to re-arrange.  He seemed thrilled.  He also told me I had full permission to rearrange benches and things down there as needed to accommodate the set, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the merchants.  So I guess I’m the unofficial official schlep monkey for the revel 🙂 Fine by me 🙂  There were other news items as well that made me feel VERY good and gave me a definite moral boost in regards to the general state of the music at Bristol.

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