A season ticket

This was the year I became a fully fledged folkie and bought a season ticket to the National Folk Festival. Four glorious days of folk music (technically five, but I didn't go on Thursday afternoon, I had to work). I bought the ticket back in September last year in the early bird special deal, and I was nervous ... what if I can't handle every day? What if I get bored? What if it's all a big waste of money? In the end, it was awesome. Just awesome. Four days of folk music is barely enough... especially when it's the National's definition of folk music. It is a fairly broad church.



My husband took number two son and a friend down the beach, and my Dad stayed at home and looked after number one son, who is the middle of his first set of exams (two year continuous assessment to get a university entrance score, good god). So I was there when it opened at ten and left again at dinner time as the sun went down and the bars started to heat up ... which was fine. In my next life I will be the kind of person who props up the session bar until sunrise, but I don't think it's going to happen this time round.



I really wanted to stay till 9 on Sunday night and see All Our Exes Live in Texas (awesome, but the pressure of seeing a favourite band! I wanted everyone in the room to like them too) so I went in after lunch so I wasn't neglecting my Dad too badly. We went to the arboretum and admired the bonsai and of course the view. I hadn't realised Dad hadn't been there before - it's still clearly got a long way to go but the trees are starting to grow. And it's a great concept.



All weekend was beautiful late summer weather - high twenties during the day and cooler in the evenings. And, to top it off, I managed to persuade my husband to come with me on Monday when he came back from the beach. It appears that our taste in folk music does not overlap at all (he did not like the Western Flyers, who play Texan swing, and I did not like the finals of the David Bowie cover competition) but we could meet regularly for a debrief, some curry puffs, and a beer. I don't know if I'll persuade him into the season ticket but I am completely sold! Can't wait for next year.