Well let me assure you it isn’t traffic. Admittedly this was traffic from Hell…. the type of traffic where you sit and sit and sit, not moving an inch for what seems like ages and just when you think all hope of ever moving has gone…. you sit some more. This was our situation yesterday driving back from Oudtshoorn – having enjoyed ourselves at the KKNK (more on that later). Suddenly it was All My Fault we were stuck in Worcester not moving a millimeter (let alone an inch). Gmf* Suffice to say my constant nagging to take over the driving paid off – and after awhile… somewhere between Villiersdorp and Franschoek – I had a moderately happy hubby again. (All my fault… se moer)** It may have been a round about way of getting back home but at least it was free flowing all the way.
As for the festival – the few shows we went to see were great. (Again…. all my fault we couldn’t see more – ties in with the having to return home on an Easter weekend – you see…. silly me went and found herself a new job, and as is custom in ANY company – one is not allowed to take leave in one’s final month of work. The fact that the new job will bring much joy, a higher salary and a new lease on life – was apparently not taken into account when we were trapped in Worcester trying to find a way out of the mess. Not to repeat myself…. but GMF!!!) So, it took us nearly 7 hours to get home and Wouter nigh broke his back sitting in one position the whole way – there were silver linings along the way. We had a lovely lunch at Clarke of the Karoo in Barrydale, I got to read my book and we got to see some fantastic scenery all the way home – especially on the detour we took in order to get home.
But back to the festival…. things were quite a bit different this time. I don’t claim to be an expert on the festival – I’ve only been to around four or five but even I could sense things were different. They’d re-arranged the entire layout of the show and now instead of being able to browse the various stalls at will – one needs to pay an entrance fee of R40. Ok, so the entrance fee does include whatever musical performances are being held at the stage within the cordoned off area,  but if you’re not a Kurt Darren/Theuns Jordaan type fan…. you’re stuffed. There also seems to be fewer people going – I remarked on this last year as well – which is understandable really. It’s expensive, you have the shows at R80-R100 a time, there’s the accommodation, food, entrance fees etc. Still every time we go we enjoy ourselves and I’m sure we’ll be going again – preferably when I haven’t decided to re-invent my career. :-)
*For the uninitiated…. Gmf does not mean something rude with the last word ending in ..ck – it is an expression of disgust…when spoken out loud it has a very satisfying sound. Try it, I’m sure you’ll be using it constantly in next to no time.
**[Afrikaans festivals have a tendency to rub off on one’s vocabulary].