The Nervous Time

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.