One thing about beer festivals is that once it is all set up, it tends to flow fairly smoothly. Not so in the period beforehand . It has been a very intense week with problems (they used to call them opportunities when I was at work) galore. I have been directly involved with various Health and Safety issues, design issues and even, reluctantly, pricing. Others on the Working Party that oversees the National Winter Ales Festival are in the same boat. It is quite stressful. No matter how carefully you plan there is always these two fellows, Mr Wibni and Mr Osintot making their presence felt in no uncertain manner. Who are they then? Mr Wibni (Wouldn't it be nice if...) and more commonly, Mr Osintot (Oh shit I never thought of that). I think it fair to say that the nearer you get to the beer festival, the more focused you become, with all the little things you blanked out, or put off, pouring out like water from a burst pipe. The enormity of it all and the sheer level of detail is quite daunting and the margin for error almost nil.We start set up on Friday this week believe it or not. I can safely predict that it will be chaos at first until we get ourselves organised, but the time the paying customer gets there next Wednesday, it will hopefully all feel like a calm, ordered, well oiled (that's quite possible) machine, but underneath, those of us that are responsible for the success or failure of the whole thing, are, like ducks in a pond, paddling frantically to keep afloat.
But you know what? We will do it and we will make it a great success. Come along and see for yourself.
9 comments:
Sounds like fun, all the same. :)
I'll be there next Thursday. Looking forward to it!
It was a really good festival last year, don't fix what ain't broke.
See you Wednesday. Sorry I'll miss Pete Brown.
All the best if luck Tand, every success mate. I'll do my best to come along and support your endeavour if only to moan about the cost of entry, the price of beer, the presence of beardie beer geeks and the lack of lager. I might even try the Thursday so I can walk up to Pete Brown and say “You’re that Zak Avery fellow, you’re the best beer writer, better than that Pete Brown, can I have your autograph, Zak?”
Will Sid Boggle be going, that's what I want to know. Still, that Zak Avery's very good, isn't he?
Thursday lunch/p.m. is looking good for me. Hope to see everyone there (except Dave)!
(Er, I mean I *would* hope to see Dave, but he won't be there. Not that I don't hope to see Dave. Although in actual fact I don't hope to see Dave, because he's just said he won't be there. But I would have if he hadn't said he wouldn't. Hi Dave!)
I don't envy you one bit - keep up the sterling work.
I'll be going, but I'll be dressed as Cooking Lager.
I'd love to go but caring commitments mean a trip like this is usually out of the question... 8-(
Good luck with the festival, Tandleman. Wish I was able to attend.
Cooking - no shortage of larger:
http://www.alefestival.org.uk/winterales/foreign.htm
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