The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #146500 Message #3405676
Posted By: Richard Bridge
16-Sep-12 - 12:11 PM
Thread Name: Deal Maritime (folk) festival
Subject: RE: Deal Maritime (folk) festival
Well, that did not work. The Astor would not permit us. Quite a few of us spent most of Saturday fruitlessly tramping the town looking for a session with song.
The tune people at the Walmer Castle let us do a few songs - but what a dive the pub is and the nearest thing to proper beer was John Smith's Smooth (which is not very near at all) and a large gin and tonic was £7 - and there was no Tanqueray nor Bombay Sapphire so I had to make do with Hendrick's.
Then a man with an amplifier arrived and by the time he had got as far as "Ernie" (drove the fastest milk-cart in the West) we were gone.
Several pubs later we finished up drinking Shepherd Neame (ah well, at least it was beer) in the Royal Hotel who would only let us sing if we went to the garden terrace but alas that was the other side of the hotel from the sun so it was chilly.
You can't do Deal without locally caught fish, chips, and mushy peas, so we did that and it was OK.
A blank in the proceedings allowed us to get as far as teh RMA (via the microbrewery where a mixed unamplified collection of French and Dutch folkies were competing with a barrage of noise from drinkers. The most offensive song I could think of in my repertoire was "O'er the Hills and Far Away" with the British brag about beating the French and Spaniards, so I did that).
Since nothing was happening we started and Roger Resch (who is a nice man) arrived to lead his advertised session at 8 pm but various things then spoiled the mood (including one thing that put me off so much I screwed up "A living Wage" which normally I don't) and I taxi'd back to the campsite at about 2130.
Apparently the Ship was empty, and the Deal Hoy much the same - but perhaps they had had neighbour problems.
Oh to have the back garden of the Bohemian back!
All in all rather a disappointment.