On the morning of the 28th, I woke up early to get some reading in before I packed and dragged my little faithful cabin bag out of Pearl House towards the train station. For the record, I am terrible at walking with a suitcase. I must have said 'sorry' at least 5 times to different people who received an assorted selection of suitcase over toes, suitcase bumping into them, or just being stuck behind girl who pulls along suitcase and takes up 3/4 of the pavement.
I stopped in at St Paul's church, to drop by the Cambridge Vegan Fair. I remember trying to get tickets on World Vegan Day, and being put on the waiting list because it was such a popular event! Thankfully, a couple of weeks later a spot cleared and I managed to get a ticket, which made me so so excited! It would be so great to go to a food festival where I no longer had to check the stall for the off-chance of a vegan dish.
I listened in to the sea shepherd booth lady explaining their work and the state of sea poaching (we will have fishless oceans by 2048 if the current rate of fishing remains constant - and it is predicated to rise as the world population grows), and talked to the people who run the UK vegan society. I think the amount of support vegans have here is so encouraging, and makes changing your diet and lifestyle so much easier, healthier and comprehensible. I got a apple, carrot and ginger juice from the Fresh juice stand, and had a chat with the stall owner about how to use the cold-press juicing machine (I always thought it would be a very complicated contraption, but it actually looks simpler to use and clean than the normal juice machines I've seen!) and also ideas for a vegan Christmas meal (hello nut roast!)
I bought a couple of Ombar chocolate bars from the Ombar Raw Chocolate stand, which had free tasters (I tried EVERYTHING before settling on the Ombar coconut and vanilla centered chocolate and the Ombar 60%) Ombar has to be my favourite chocolate - it's sweet with that tiny tinge of bitterness that I love, and it's made of raw cacao, coconut sugar, cocoa butter, creamed coconut and ground vanilla pods, all of which are so good for you. I know I sound like an advertisement right now and that's exactly my intention - everyone should try Ombar chocolates they are just the bee's knees.
I also bought a kofta from a man who thought I was either British or Australian, and then a chocolate fudge tart from a lady who told me that coconut oil is very good for the brain, and possibly helpful for Alzheimer's.
I rushed to the train station, then, with just 10 minutes to spare to get my ticket and rush onto the platform - only to find that the Cambridge-Bury train wasn't working that day and I'd have to catch a coach instead. It was a very comfortable coach compared to national express, although it was probably relativity given that I'd been on the national express coach for 3 and a 1/2 hours while I was only on this on for about an hour. I slept quite a bit on the coach while trying to read Mrs Dalloway, and as I blearily walked off the coach, someone from behind tapped me:
'You forgot your gloves.'
'Thanks,' I mumbled, taking the little black bundle from the kind stranger behind me. By the time my brain woke up and I realised that I hadn't brought gloves along and the little black ones I was holding weren't mine, everyone from the coach had dispersed and Uncle John was in front of me, saying hello.
The gloves proved very useful, however, because as Uncle John, Auntie Sarah, Connie and I walked around the Bury Christmas Fair, it was bitterly cold and my hands were snug in a stranger's gloves.
The fair was a symphony of lights and hot food stalls and local produce and art and Christmas merchandise. There was also fair games, including one which Auntie Sarah and I played where you threw balls at targets with strange names like 'Saucy Sue' and 'Naughty Nora'. I managed to hit 'Naughty Nora', but not knock her down, but the stall owner was a sweetheart and still let us 'Pick a prize, any prize!'
We also walked by a Dr Who display, including a robot which zipped around speaking in a crackly voice, telling one group of giggly children 'Listen to you parents - or you will be exterminated!'
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