I was pretty much a moving target at the Nash, with the Bums, and as Angelic Host to the Poms from Oz who were carefully programmed into the same performing slots. Murphy lives. I did finally see them at the end of the two hour Tony Miles concert. If you use a blender in your kitchen, their voices have been on a fast whisk for two and half minutes. Anyone who claims they can distinguish Judy's voice from Kathy's is a liar, and Alan's has to be the smoothest male voice in folk. We also caught up at the Homebrew Workshop which is the best and also a secret performing venue at the festival, with a 'real' audience, rather than lines of very well-behaved people carefully arranged on chairs.

Well, perhaps another exception was the Queen competition audience, viewed from the stage through dark sunglasses under a 'Tamworth' black Akubra, who looked about to storm up and rip our black singlets and moustaches off. Terrifying.

I was also doing mad chases across town rescuing guitars etc, so didn't see a great deal of the festival. The Cyril Tawney songs were great. I saw Coolgrass but not in drag, and caught Colum Sands. We launched Bruce Watson's song-book, using the books instead of computer keyboards as the sticks in our Morris Dance parody - to the horror of his children who had been told to guard them with their lives.

Other moments were witnessing the mug-washing operation - the beating heart of the festival, the gentleman dressed magnificently as an Indian cavalry officer in the Ball, the friendliness of the instrument lock-up people, the Thai foodstall, the Kids Tent, the Dome (spend $2), Dave O'Neil loooking as though he would have no recollection of the day the following morning, a whole table of dulcimers in the instrument makers', spotting that the pipe band leader was a well-disguised former (female) colleague, and the disgrace of the potted palm blocking off the late-night singers' stairwell in the session bar. What miserable wowser was moved to do that.

But mainly it just went too fast. Come back everyone!

Chris