Hello all
I went to the Cheltenham Literature Festival last week - well part of it. I drove down on Wednesday and spent 2 nights there at Central Hotel.
I had prebooked everything I wanted to do - well not everything, I could have done so much more and stayed the whole week - when I win the lottery that's one of my plans :) I hadn't booked to see oads of things due to cost, which for each individual talk, wasn't that expensive. but when you add it all up, including the hotel stay, it amounts to more than you'd think/
So on Wednesday I had booked to see The History of Magic books - looking at Grimoires throughout history. which was at 2pm. I'd arrive in Cheltenham just before 12pm and was too early to check in but they let me keep my car in the car park. So I just left my stuff and wandered around Cheltenham, getting my bearings and I picked up a few tickets from the Box Office that I'd bought too late for them to be posted to me.
I found where I needed to be - the HSBC Book It! tent which was a small marquee at the back of the Town Hall, but I was still too early, so I went and had a look around the Waterstones tent they had up, selling books from the author's and actors and comedians who were there during the week. It was here as well that you could get your book signed after an event, should you so wish to purchase it :-)
I went and had my lunch on a bench in the park, which was unfortunately a little chilly but there was nothing to be done about that! Finally it was time for the talk. The tent wasn't very full, maybe about 25 people. The talk itself was very interesting and was looking at magic books throughout the ages and explaining the power various peoples gave to these books. The guest speaker also told of how these books, mostly he mentioned the sixth and seventh books of Moses, were banned, yet still managed to spread throughout cuontries. I did buy this guy's book at the end and got him to sign it - I think it may be helpful with my bigger story idea I have as it involves magic and magic books, so that should help with my research.
My next talk wasn't until 8:45pm that night, so I decided to make my way slowly back to the hotel to check in, stopping in a variety of shops along the way, and not being able to help myself in buying things :) but they had pretty shops! And one thing was a very important purchase - a cupcake Christmas tree decoration. I also stopped in Caffe Nero for a hot chocolate and a bit of a relax and a write - I love coffee shops, they're definitely a place of their own brand of magic - I've yet to figure out what that is though.
The downside togoing somewhere alone is you spend more time in the hotel than you would were you with someone. So having checked in, I made dinner and ate it my room and just watched a bit of TV and played Professor Layton until it was time to leave to go to the Playhouse Theatre. Unfortunately I didn't know how to get there, though I knew it wasn't far but since it was dark and I was on my own, I called for a taxi. This talk was more of a comedy act and was called Fruitcake: the ten commandments of the psych ward. it was a one man show and the guy was telling tales of things he'd experienced while he was a psych nurse (while obviously maintaining confidentiality). It was very good and I'm glad I went although I'm sorry it was at the expense of the Vampires Bite Back talk I'd originally booked to go and see, yet was cancelled :-( that would have been very interesting!
Ah well - on to Day 2...
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