Thank you ever so much for the poem, MA. Tickets to the Book Festival!!! Lucky you.

There is a Book festival programe.Superb place to take children.There is a tent..then within other tents.Book shops with comfy sofas and coffee shops.
Writers workshops.all in Charlotte Square just off George Street.
There is a chance to meet the authors..Tony Benn is returning..as his his daughter .Each does a reading.Garrison Keillor Ian Rankine.. (local lad )Then a sihning. My sweetheart Jackie Kay who I have such regard for is a frequent reader. She is worth a mention.Wendy Cope..Both these woemn also give workshops to the O.U. Lola so I am familar with meeting them.
I can travel from the nearby station to Edinburgh for 50p and just to mingle and see some authors is an injection of energy for me.
I catch favourite poets there and at Aberdeen where there is a smaller similar festival in May.
So who knows what I shall hear and experience. Also the fun of the street musicians from the Festival ..
Mountain ash

Oh that sounds just like my kind of day! Just beautiful. Hope you get a chance to share your own poems Mountain Ash. They deserve recognition.

MA, I'm another fan and look forward to purchasing your book one day! Have fun poking around at the festival.

Tony Benn, as in the former Viscount? Gosh! I can only swoon.

Lola, wow, I am grooving on the idea of the shared Christmas ritual between your daughter's family and mine! Aren't moments of such synchronicity in life amazing??!? And to hear DT read in Welsh must be music indeed! His Collected Letters, yes, I read them years (and years) ago; I'm inspired now to pick them up again.

I believe Dickens is required reading for most school students, many of whom are hard pressed to appreciate him. I certainly preferred other authors in those days, but one's tastes change, and I really ought to give him another chance. You've led by example.

Before I polish off the last piece of pissaladiere (a take-home from today's potluck luncheon with the LLG), I must take a moment and thank you all for this talk of poetry, literature, shared ritual and the marvelous Edinburgh Festival. Mountain Ash, I feel privileged to have read the vivid beauty of "April," and I, too, will watch for your book.

Lola
Tony Benn
The best PM Britain never had.
Met him several times....shaken his hand (firm handshake) listend to every word..saved the memory share it now.
My daughter bought him a huge bunch of red roses..gave him them when we all met..he then handed them to the lovely young interperator for the deaf..an Aha moment.
My late Father in law..was a politican of note..same mould..
alas the mould seem to be broken now.
Mountain ash