Just back from a flying visit to Sidmouth - now sitting sweltering in the office wishing I was there again and promising myself that next year I'll do the full week again (business permitting).
I caught up with Kevin McGrath, who knocked the Arts Centre audience sideways with his song on the deaths in Dover; even grizzled and hardened folkies were fumbling with their handkerchiefs!
All in all a rather better impression than the one I made when I walked into the Middle Bar on Friday afternoon when it was in full swing. I reached into my bag for the old pewter pot for the first beer of the festival to find that (because it seemed a good space-saving idea at the time) I'd wedged a roll of old-fashioned Izal shit-house paper inside.
It was stuck faster than snot to an oven door, and took a good five minutes of vein-bulging, sweat-inducing tugging to get the bugger out.
Five minutes in which a song was completely ruined because that bloody roll of bog paper became the focus of attention for the entire pub! The singer carried on manfully, unaware of what was going on behind him, but wondered why everyone was beginning to corpse and hoot.
Two songs later and Lugubrious Bob was giviing his instantly composed version of the Middle Bar Bog Roll Blues - the swine!
Dammit, I'm missing the place already!!