Prince Hamlet o’ Denmark is reet oot o’sorts

It was good to be back at Words by the Water, in Keswick, after a gap of 5 years. I love the buzz of a book festival and this one is especially good as the foyer and cafe is central and there is a lot of coming and going, a bookshop, authors signing books and lots of chat, but also comfortable places to just sit and read.

Today we were there for only one talk. Gordon dropped me off at the theatre during the afternoon and then went into Borrowdale for a bit of a wander. I looked round the books - one was bought - and then sat in the foyer, people watching and reading my book. That’s where Marjorie (walkingMarj) found me - ‘the lady with her head in a book’!

It was great to see her and we chatted for a while, then she went off to a talk in the Main Hall and I read my book until Gordon arrived and we went to a talk in the Studio.

Well it wasn’t really a talk, it was a celebration of the Cumbrian dialect. Gordon has known Tim Barker since school when they both lived in Silloth. Tim became a professional actor and we have followed him in many productions over the years. He has been very interested in dialect and started writing stories from Shakespeare in Cumbrian dialect and that’s what he performed tonight - just fabulous. Interspersed with comments about how he came to write these and explaining some of the words, although the audience seemed to be almost all local who had no problem with following along.

Back in Keswick tomorrow.