Cheltenham Musings 2 - May 3

There was a stall on the way into the main festival site on Saturday morning covered in blue and starry European Union flags. We were accosted by a gentleman who opened with the line that, being jazz fans we must be concerned at the loss of European touring opportunities lost to many of the British bands at the festival. In return I advised him that no, that wasn’t a concern and that I would start feeling more supportive if any of these bands actually came to our region to play. I told him, I’m less concerned that they can’t go and play in Bratislava than I am that they never play in Newcastle.” He had no answer to that so I paid him for a badge to go on my hat and we left it at that. Inside, near the bar, a man was having a cup of tea and carrying an ‘I VOTED TO LEAVE’ tote bag that looked like it had been given away for free. A Brexit bonus for someone.

One of the most unexpected sights at the festival was a stall encouraging us to adopt an orangutan. In the past I have attempted to adopt a polar bear but was told that you don’t actually get the polar bear and that, in any case, Northumberland wasn’t chilly enough. I had once thought, like the Browns, of adopting a bear from Peru, but again Peru wasn’t Chile enough. I approached the stall and looked at the pictures of orangutans and maps of shrinking land available to them. In the hope that this time we would actually adopt an animal that would come and stay I gave them Lance Liddle’s address. Dave Sayer