Frost Fair delight

I have been very busy in the last two days, too busy for my healths likening, but never mind. My home town or village as it prefers to be know, has decided to build on it's own olympic legancy and reclaim it's village atmosphere.

During the torch relay the whole area gathered together and there was this most terrific village feel. We normally have a carnival, enviromental fair and fireworks, even a token charter fair, which this year was a bigger success due to the Olympics. So this year we had a frost fair on the first weekend of December. Now let me put this into context, we are a small village jammed between bigger towns. There is no Starbucks, or Mcdonalds, but local coffee shops, and bakers. If you want the main stream brands apart from a Sainsburys local or token Co -Op then you go the 2 miles either way to the other towns, they don't exist here.

Nor does late night shopping, except for the Friday just past. Then we had our own Christmas lights turned on by Santa, all the shops stayed open, there was music, free mulled wine and just a really nice village feel,.I spent an hour or so, with mum outside our local Italian family run coffee bar watching it all happen and just able to hop round the odd shop picking up gifts and then heading home thoroughly chilled out.

Then on the Saturday there was the first frost fair in living memory. Well the weather although cold enough for the name, at least stayed clear and dry.So we headed with the car to the near by car park and hopped the rest of the way to the fair, expecting a handful of stalls and  pleasant amount of people, similar to the charter fair earlier in the year. Oh boy were we shocked there were definitely more than a few stalls jammed along a local ponds, there were a good 50+ of them, and as for people there were hundreds. Then there were carol singers, brass bands and so on. If anything it was too much of a success, to the point it was almost impossible for me to get round, due to baby buggies, toddlers, dogs and so on. Instead of giving up we struggled through to the local museum and grabbed the last table outside and ordered some tea, watching the world go mad. Once the carol singing had ceased we attempted it again. This time more successfully and found what can only be described as the best goats cheese in years, and fudge to die for. Unfortunately the fudge was so popular the stall was all but sold out in the first two hours, as was the cupcake stall. On the plus side we have found out they are at the next towns Farmer's market next Saturday so there is another early start.

All in all it was such an overwhelming success there is talk of a bigger version next year and I hope there is, as Carshalton is such a mixed demographic, these village events are the best way to bring all together. I have a great time at both event although I do wish people would watch what they or their wards are doing, as I am nursing a very sore back due to having my sticks continually kicked out from under me. That's said it hasn't put me off the next one.