Here comes the rain again...

Yes, yes, I've heard if from a few people, "You knew you'd have to get wet at Water Fest, yuck yuck!" C'mon y'all, this is ain't Waterworld, it ain't the Log Ride at Six Flags. It's looking at things along the water, whilst staying out of it yourself. Cold (as I usually am in England) and wet just isn't the most fun I can have with my clothes on. And I was feeling a little puny. So I'm a wimp, deal with it, you big bad toughie-wuffies, you.

Anyhoo, here are some pics of a drenched Reading Water Fest (which apparently dried up and became party central as soon as I hit the road).








That last pic was just an attempt to capture the rain, though I inadvertently showed how much rubbish gets in the canal. I took a photo last week of a scenic little spot with a Dell monitor floating along with the ducks (I'll post that at some point). WTF? There's surely an interesting story behind that ...

A dismal Water Fest

Last Saturday was the annual Water Fest, something I look forward to every year. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain while we were out. We went home, and of course it soon looked to have cleared up, so I started to go back out after a couple of hours. Looked out the window just before I left, and BAM! it had started raining again. I gave up for good and all, only to see it stayed clear the rest of the day. Major disappointment, really.

I'll upload some wet, rainy pics of my Water Fest experience later. They pretty much depict what the "summer" has been like so far -- wet, chilly, and icky. Here's an official video from the event, it looks like lots of fun was to be had if you managed to be there when the heavens weren't crashing down bucket loads of rain.

Dipping into Water Fest

The River Kennet bustled with brightly colored canal boats and the occasional bellow of a steam whistle Saturday during one of my favorite local events -- Water Fest.

People crowded the walk along Blake's Wharf and up through the abbey ruins, browsing booths and jockeying for a spot to watch the activity on the water. I really love the canal boats -- the long, lean craft are designed to go through narrow passages and to be somewhat homey. Many have flowers and other homey touches, and the insides of at least some had stoves and places to sleep. I'd rather like a long cruise on one. If there are decent facilities for when nature calls that don't require some gross tank-cleaning procedure, that is.

The booths included fairly professional stalls offering food, clothes and crafts, to flea-market type stands run for various charities. Many of these offered several tickets for a quid to try and win a variety of items -- mostly also flea-market type stuff, but it was still fun to play. I won a bottle of chardonnay that my husband thought was awful yet drank anyway, a tiny teddy bear, and a couple of kid's toys I left for the next winner to take. There were also a few costumed people making the rounds, including the two women on stilts that "swam" through the crowd.



We also took a ride on a little boat with a green pavilion on top. I don't know what you'd call it, as it wasn't a canal boat and just held a few passengers. I loved the view of familiar sights from the water, and noticed a few things I'd never seen before.

All in all, it was a fun day that I wish came more than once a year.