Saturday morning, started with a massage, macaroons, a found coin and a perfect sunny-day-drive to Edinsborough Gardens with an all-day free car park right out the front of the Village Festival. 

Perfect.


I spent the whole rest of the day in the sunshine with my friends, lounging on cushions in front of tented stages and flitting around the stalls and shows, getting my cards read... The most difficult thing I did was decide on which flavour organic ice-cream I wanted.

(that's not actually true - I endured three very intense renditions of 'Happy Birthday' that bordered on frat boy hazing... But it was amusing)

I think my favourite thing (aside the shows 'Greedy Boy' and the been-dying-to-see-them Porcelain Punch) was the game 'The Curse' run by the marvellous Pop Up Playground. A fabulous game that had seven of us all running around the fair ducking behind tents to hide from child clowns (I don't fear clowns....usually...but they weren't really clowns and they ran fast) and trying to decipher our curses before time ran out 

(I may have threatened/gently kicked my old house mate to get him to go faster... But to be fair I helped free my friend's date from his curse... balances out, right?)

With our curses lifted we regrouped for licorice, music and recounted our adventures (and the details of curses for those unable to complete their quest... Poor Nikki will never taste salt again!) and watched baffled and charmed as giant ravens, puppeteered smaller versions of themselves and played curious instruments.

The night ended with one more horrible rendition of 'Happy Birthday'  and I wove my sleepy way back home.

I definitely recommend keeping an eye out for The Village Festival and all of the above mentioned performances...I personally will be attending many more Pop Up Playgrounds.

Photos are of the wolf I dubbed the guardian of the Ticket Booth and an attractive gentleman I met outside Detrimental Wonderland - which my dear friend described as 'like Roz's house, only without couches'.

Shaking off the last droplets of the rain we ordered our drinks and took a seat (well, ok...I jumped up on stage to play, but I did sit down before anyone else showed up...so shhh!) to watch the bar fill up.

Willow bar is a lovely little place, made all the nicer when on stage, looking out into a bright, smiling audience from perhaps the comfiest old leather chair I've ever sat in (my monster chair is not leather so doesn't count).

The night is run so comfortably that you really do feel you are around the dinner table with friends...the glass of wine in my hand may also have contributed to that sensation.

This was my first night at Willow Tales, but I don't think it'll be my last, as, while the Halloween theme really floated my boat, I don't think the event will get any less charming and I do feel that my personal storytelling gets left in the cold a bit, hiding under the shadow of my more fantastical tales.

Perhaps I should set a goal to tell more personal tales, especially scary ones.... I'll call it my ghoul goal.

If anyone is looking for a nice night of tales, I recommend you tag along to the Willow Bar on a storytelling night and perhaps pick up the mic yourself!