It was surprisingly quiet as we turned left off the Welsh Bridge on the ‘Festival Thursday’, but traffic built up a little as we hit the rise to the Berwick Road traffic lights. We were waved straight past what I had assumed would be the entrance and down to a field gate, where a rough track gave way to a series of ups and downs that had me a little worried about speed. We arrived at the other side unharmed and undamaged, however, and went through the ticket check and across the lane into the site proper. The first thing to grab my attention was the sign ‘Kill your speed, not a folkie’, which appealed to my sense of logic. Ish was on his phone.

“She says come straight past the office building thing, with the smaller marquee on your left after a sort of picnic area and sandpit---got the sandpit! Straight on, Dad”

Not that many tents thus far, but a few motor homes and caravans and---

“There they are, Dad. Turn left down this sort of lane thing”

I could see a flurry of people moving camping chairs and tables, and then I was parking next to the Woodruff van. There was an immense tunnel tent on one side of a sort of hollow square of canvas, and as I hauled myself out of the driver’s seat, I was hugged by an extremely bouncy Steph.

“Space in the middle is for your tents, Mike. Get them up, but there’s another few tents due, so don’t take all the space, and there’s stew and rice for you once you’re ready. I’ll do the introductions in stages, but you first need to know that the Edifice there is my in-laws’, Bill and Jan. It’s got a dining room if it decides to piss down. That’s their daughter Kelly over there, with her Mark, and…”

She prattled away with names and descriptions I mostly forgot, but our tents were soon up, bedding sorted, and bums on seats in the ‘dining room’ as we got our meal, clearly served well after their own.

“Stewie wanted us to let him know how the car’s running”

“Ah, apart from a flat near Chirk, not even a hint of a problem. We’d have been here a lot earlier otherwise”

“Dim ots, love. Plan for this evening is to rest and refuel for a bi, then wander over to the main bar”

“Already?”

“Sorry? Oh, not drinkies. There’s some coffee and cake outside, and there’ll be a bit of music, some of it planned. THEN we hit the long bar, and that’s for more playing, and probably a singaround. Oh, and beer. None of you play anything, do you?”

Heads shook in unison.

“Pity. Sessions are great here. We’ve got the programme printed off, so we can have a planning session before we go out. Kate should be back shortly with the girls, so don’t want to start that bit too early—ah! Here they are, one lot, anyway”

Enfys and Alys, of course, I assumed, and I was right. More hugs, more queries about our journey, even though we had seen both of them that same morning, Enfys herself seeming slightly on edge.

“It’s in the last bedroom thingy, Enfys. Don’t worry!”

Steph turned back to with a grin.

“Wanted to bring her harp, but that little car of theirs is a non-starter, especially as they both hate long drives. When we went home last time, we put it in the van. We’re due back up in a fortnight, so we’ll reverse the process then”

That late afternoon and evening started exactly the way Steph had proposed, and after plotting our listening tactics, we were soon topping up calories and caffeine near the big sand pit we had passed earlier, several of our friends carrying instrument cases, as were a large number of other festivalgoers. A group of them started playing some morris tunes, which made Annie chuckle.

“Me and Hairy here, Mike: if we started on that, we’d end up over the top so quickly we’d probably get lynched, aye? I mean, we can do it when it’s just one of us, but, well, we’re like mutual catalysts. Ah1 Here’s the next lot”

A solidly built woman with a child attached to each hand was walking towards us, her face split by an extremely wide grin. She was followed by a slightly smaller woman with a mass of red curls, who gave Annie a hug before towing the two children towards the coffee and cake stand. The first woman, having released her hands, was holding both of Ammie’s. only releasing her right to offer it to me.

“You’ll be Mike Rhodes, then. Elaine Powell. Di Sutton was one of mine. And… Maryam? Will you accept a hug from a cynical old woman you made proud?”

Maz looked puzzled, but took the hug, and as the redhead returned with drinks and cakes, plus children with their own cake, she got her explanation.

“I’m Inspector Powell, Maryam. That was my team, aye? I had to change roles, bit of political stuff, as I’m with a different force. Di was my best girl, and Sammy Patel, her new boss, he really brought her on. I’m proud of her, aye? Oh, this is the wife, Siân; kids are Sassy and Tone. Kids—can I introduce them, Mike, Maryam?”

I waved at LC.

“This is Carolyn, kids. Carolyn, these are Sassy and Tone”

“Can I play in the sand, Dad?”

“The sign says that is what it’s for, so yes”

‘Sassy’ looked up at Elaine.

“Can we, Mam?”

“Yes, but don’t eat too much of it”

Three children were off like rockets, just as another three people appeared, their own child breaking away to join the others, as Diane hit Maz with another monster of a hug. I found myself laughing, out of sheer joy, I suppose.

“I thought we were meant to be meeting you in bloody Cardiff!”

“Yeah, and? The boy likes camping, and so does the bigger boy here. Lainey’s in the Edifice, where all our kids will be, so it’s just a bit of adulting for those two, and me and Blake here. Oh: Blake, Mike, Mike, Blake, and the unguided sand-seeking missile is Rhod. Hiya, Enfys!”

There seemed to be half of Steph’s house party guests with us, from lovely Shan with her ‘two Mums’ to a tall couple with a mixed race teenage child, also collected by one of Shan’s mothers. Jan, Steph’s sister in law and provider of bloody good stew and rice, confirmed that there was enough room for their two tents, and the group started to fragment, in a nice way, along lines of age.

I couldn’t place the accent of the tall man, but ‘Pablo’ confirmed he was actually Cuban, which was a surprise.

“Ah, I am at the Embassy, in London, but we live in Crawley”

Maz, joined to me yet again as closely as she could decently manage, asked the obvious question.

“How did you meet, given the sort of, well, political issues?”

Pablo laughed happily.

“Oh, I am the foreign man gathered up by the tourist woman, the dishy waiter, as they say, although I am neither a waiter nor dishy”

His wife simply said, “I disagree with the latter, of course, and will refute that later”

“As you wish, Caroline. No… Mike? I heard them speak of you. Mike, I was a professional birdwatching guide in my country, and now I am a cultural attaché, a very junior one, in London”

Maz had, of course, sat up a lot straighter at his words.

“You are… Both of you?”

I sat up straighter myself, and did a mock introduction.

“Pablo, Caroline, my wife Maryam, Maz. Pablo, does Caroline also mutter bird names all the time?”

Caroline laughed out loud, ending in a snort.

“No, but he bloody does! Have you been to Gibraltar, Maz? For the migrations?”

“No. We live in Australia. Bit far for a weekend, and, well, this trip is a big enough one. I’ve seen loads of life ticks, though, just in the UK”

The two of them were off, naming birds I hadn’t realised existed, while Pablo just relaxed with a happy smile, before beckoning to their teenager.

“Rita, this is Mike. The lady sharing an interrogation with Caroline is Maz. She also likes birds. Have you found the right cake?”

“Si, Papa”

He handed her a tenner and rattled something off in Spanish; she grinned, and trotted away.

“She knows what we like, Mike, so we will leave it to her. Who are you here to listen to, in the music?”

“Ah! Thompson, of course, and Steeleye. Plus Lindisfarne and Show of Hands. You?”

“Ah, Carlos Nuñez, and of course Steeleye Span”

“They are popular in Cuba?”

“Not as far as I know, but they were the very first music my lady here took us to see, and Rita adores them. Do you know of someone called ‘Keelhauled’?”

“Never heard of them”

“There is no loss to you, then. As we entered, one of the people checking tickets said that they have illness, and will not be here. They have a replacement I am familiar with, though. Have you heard of a Chrissy Morgan?”

“Oh, indeed! She is a superb musician. This weekend is getting better!”

“I hope so. It is new to me, and my daughter. Our daughter, now, I should call her. Caroline has shown us a lot of music, and we have done much camping in tents, but this is a new experience. Is there an etiquette?”

“Um, have fun, nicely?”

“I will do my best. Thank you, Rita: that looks nice. Can you place hers in front of Caroline to distract her?”

It worked, and we got our wives back.

“There’s a pied-billed grebe in the Quarry Park, love”

“There’s a free bus into town, love”

“Could we just…”

“We can go in when they do the big dance thing there, and a detour might be in order”

I got a kiss, of course.

We were, as said earlier, in subgroups now, with little ones in the sand, big ones awaiting the spliced yard arm brace or whatever for their ale, and a bunch of those in the middle who all seemed to be doing something with their mobile phones. The morris session was ticking along nicely, I could hear an Irish or whatever session starting up inside the bar, and more and more people, many in unconventional clothing, were gathering in knots to sit at picnic tables or sprawl on the grass, amid an utterly relaxed atmosphere. I turned to ‘Hairy’, and smiled as nicely as I could manage.

“You just knew this would be right up our street, didn’t you?”

“Yup!”

“Is there anyone else due?”

“Of our people? Not as far as I know, Mike. I mean, there are loads of people we already know, that’s ‘we’ on my side, and we’re expecting to run into a couple of friends of Alys and Enfys, but that’s it for our little army. Where’s Carolyn sleeping tonight?”

“Next to us, I would imagine”

“Well, what we often do when we have kids with us is bed them down together in a pile of duvets. You’d call them dooners, Maz. Anyway, one of the compartments in the Edifice, big nest of quilts, no torches. Would Carolyn feel safe doing that?”

Would she feel safe? She still surprised, sometimes shocked, me with occasional comments, such as that about ‘the man with the axe’ or that flat statement to Clara that ‘crying doesn’t help’. The answer couldn’t be a simple one.

“I don’t know, Steph. Still so many little twitches. Shall we see how she gets on with the others first, and then I’ll ask her. She might panic, or she might see it as a continuation of her playing. She’s… She’s never had friends. That’s what she called her bear, the Malay word for ‘friend’. She’s doing a lot of growing up, sort of other way round, in a very short time”

“Got you. Shan has said she’ll watch her for us, as she sort of has skin in the game, Annie’s Darren as well”

“I just know I don’t want to hear the answer, but…?”

“Darren was used by a Fagin type. The beater, fences, even the cow’s lawyer, were paid in kind. With Shan. Starting around nine years old, and before you ask, the ‘Fagin’ in question was her grandmother”

“Oh, fuck”

“Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s the only way I can get that out. She’s a bloody strong young woman, and Darren is an absolute gem. You can trust their instincts here, Mike”

She looked up into the sky for a few seconds.

“Dunno why, but I get fascinated by the clouds here. When I came the first time, I thought I was going to stay hiding in my tent, and I have just realised what I said, so it isn’t just you who makes those slips, Maz. How do your two get on?”

That was a far easier question to answer, and it brought a smile from my wife.

“Ah, he is utterly protective, and she says things every now and again, mostly about her ‘Big Brother’ being there to keep her safe. They lost six years of each other; I think they’re trying to cram them all in at once”

“That sounds good, love. Now, I do believe it may be time for a first visit to the bar”

The next morning was another bright one, but Maz was still snoring beside me. I could hear the chatter of the four little ones, though, and my bladder was issuing warnings, so I slipped out of our bedding and pulled on some shorts and ‘thongs’ for a slip-slap to the loo. That stirred Maz, who groaned “Bring tea”

“Hangover?”

“Oh god yes. That Elaine, once she got the taste, oh dear”

I crawled out of our tent, making a beeline for the ‘Berwick Bar’ and its toilets. Once pressure was released, I walked back at a slower pace, finding the front of the Edifice open and Jan agitating a large teapot.

“Morning, Mike! You in a fit state to help with brekky?”

“I think so. Got a cuppa I can take to my wife?”

A happy laugh.

“She enjoyed herself fully last night, then”

“It would seem so. What’s the plan?”

“This is when the bulk of people arrive, so it’s off to the gate to get our wristbands, then wander round the shop stands to see what’s what and who’s there. Some of us will be off to a session workshop at about four, from memory, then it’s an early meal and a dance before a couple of the people we don’t know followed by Steeleye, which will most likely be followed by ale and a session”

“Sounds good to me”

“Ah, it’s basically the same pattern each day, just with different music. Here’s that cuppa”

I delivered the mug, finding several people gathering round the table, some trying to help with the cooking, just as four excited children and a bear ran past me.

“Going to the sand, Dad!”

I found myself tearing up, as it was so utterly normal, and Jan noticed, handing me a tea towel for my eyes before pushing me towards a frying pan.

“Bacon, love, and some of it needs to be crispy, for Kate. Chop-chop!”

Maz, Jan and I took our breakfasts last of all, as the earlier diners attacked the pile of dirty dishes or simply sat and drank more tea. More and more vehicles were pulling in, and I understood why my friends, new and old, came the day before. As I finally sat in the sun with my own cuppa, a bald man in a kilt called out as he passed, “Morning, Mike! Great singing last night!”

How many pints had I had? I called out a sunny “Cheers, mate!” and left it at that, as the safest option. I…

“Wake up, Dad!”

How long had I been asleep? LC was tugging at my arm.

“Can we look at the shops and things?”

“Of course, love. Where’s Mum?”

“She’s arguing with Ish”

“What about?”

“He wants to buy something”

“What?”

“A cooly aily”

“Ukelele?”

“Yes. What does it do, Dad?”

“Makes a noise, love”

I walked over to wife and son, realising as I did that Maz was clearly not arguing but teasing.

“Husband of mine, our son wants to perform”

“It’s a learning thing, Dad! You learn basic stuff, and then there’s a concert, all the learners. Last night, I didn’t have anything to play, and I can’t play, and they say they’re easy, and the ones here are really cheap”

“Right… us two are off to the shops, so maybe we could look. If the shopkeeper can let you have a go, it might show you if your idea’s a goer, okay?”

He nodded.

“The kids’ stuff is over that way as well, Dad. Lainey was saying her kids love it”

“What is it?”

“There’s a sort of theatre thing, plus circus skills stuff, and the website says lantern making. Would you like to check that out, Sis?”

A rapid series of nods, and by the time we were halfway to the service road, we had three more little people in tow. The four of us converted our tickets to wrist bands before heading to the play area, which was definitely a success as far as four children were concerned. We left them there to mingle with others around their age, while we nominal adults made our way around the tents and stalls until Ish arrived at the musical instruments.

I mean, a ukelele, for god’s sake.

The man selling them was nice, showing Ish a few chords and getting him to strum it in various odd ways, and the look on our son’s face as he made sort of musical sounds was too much to ignore, and so he got his ‘cooly aily’, along with a little bag for it, and a ‘uking for idiots’ or something booklet.

We were heading back towards the children’s area to assess whether we should just leave them there, when the lad’s mobile started to cheep and chirrup in his pocket. He looked at the screen, and blushed.

“It’s, er, Clara. Hiya, Clar. We’re in Shrewsbury now”

His face twitched.

“How… Where are you? Okay… Stay there. I’ll tell my parents”

He cut the call, turning to us with a frown of confusion.

“Clara. She’s at the main gate”

Maz looked up at me with her ‘WTF?’ expression at full power, and Ish continued.

“I had no idea she was coming, Dad, Mum. I don’t know how, but I better go and collect her. Bring her here?”

I nodded.

“LC’s here, so best place for now. Is she inside or outside the gate?”

“What?”

“Has she got a ticket or not?”

“She’s inside, Dad”

“Right… Sort her wristband out first, then bring her back here”

He was off at a run, phone already back to his ear. We walked around a few more shop tents, as a displacement activity, until we spotted the two approaching, hand in hand. She had a large rucksack and something in a long bag that I guessed, correctly, was a camping chair. The closer they got, the more her embarrassment became clear.

“Mr Rhodes, Mrs Rhodes… Sorry. It wasn’t planned. We got home, and…”

She stood up straighter.

“It was Charlie and Tiff, mostly. They got together with the rest, and they all put money in, and there were still tickets. Nana bought me a train ticket, and she said… She said that I might be right when I said this was stupid, and I might be wrong, but I’d never know if I didn’t try, but I feel really stupid now”

Maz gave her a hug, then took her spare hand, dropped by Ish, and simply said, “Come along, girl”

We walked back to the play area, where our daughter was doing something with ropes and wooden planks. As soon as she saw Clara, her face lit up, and she sprinted into her own hug, prattling away about ‘backwards bike-a-sills’ and ‘cooly ailies’ until pausing.

“Are you going to Cardiff now?”

“No, Carolyn. I am here for the music, or I hope I am”

Maz looked her up and down.

“Apart from the chair, what do you have with you?”

“Um, my sleeping bag and mat, clothes, usual stuff. Nana said I should bring a couple of bottles of something as a present, so there’s two bottles of Chardonnay as well”

“Right. We need to head back to the tents, get that lot stowed, and then confirm our plans with the others. I don’t know how much… Clara?”

“Yes?”

“Where did you intend to sleep? Some friends have a very big tent, but I suspect it might be full up”

There was a flicker of the girl’s eyes towards Ish, and my wife sighed.

“Thought so. Discuss it later, but dump it in his FOR NOW, okay?”

We left three children to play while LC led Clara back to our encampment, where various other alleged adults were lazing about, and Di smiled at her.

“How was the train ride, Clara?”

“Hi Di, Blake. Bit spur of the moment, this. You expecting me?”

“Deb dropped a massive hint, love, but it was a ‘probably’ rather than a ‘possibly’. Gives you the option of a ride back with us rather than the train”

She pointed at her hand, the one now back in our son’s possession.

“That explains a lot, but it leaves me with a dilemma. Who do I threaten?”

Both young people said “Threaten?” in unison, and Di laughed.

“Oh. Traditional. Someone goes out with someone I care about, and I tell them I’ll kill them if they hurt my friend. Now there’s two of you I care about, so what do I do? Mister Rhodes?”

“Yes?”

“Is our own offspring having fun?”

“Well, he was screaming when we left him”

“Sounds good for ‘fun’, then. Time for a walk, Big Boy? And grab some lunch? Carolyn?”

“Yes?”

“Did you want to go back to the circus things?”

“YES!”

“Come with us, then. Anything she doesn’t eat, Maz?”

“Neither of us is a fussy eater, Di”

Just a little darkness, yet again.

“Right. We’ll feed and water them, but no guarantees about their energy levels. See you all later!”

We were quickly left as a foursome, obviously deliberately, but it was clear that the Edifice was pretty much full, Steph’n’Geoff having eschewed their own camping kit in favour of that belonging to Annie and Eric, who had come by train and bicycle. The Woodruffs also had a certain harp, of course. Maz sat in silence as Clara talked through her journey, a surprisingly simple one via a direct train from Cardiff and a taxi from the local station, before she began listing the acts she wanted to see, which was when Maz interrupted.

“Ish, please go and sort out your girlfriend’s bedding. Best to let the bag loft early”

She waited until Ish was some distance away before returning to her interrogation.

“Clara, this isn’t meant to be rude, or nasty, but what are you hoping for with Ish?”

“I… I don’t know, Mrs Rhodes”

“You’re a dreamer, aren’t you?”

“I suppose I am. When I… I left home far too young. Kicked out, really, but I didn’t mind”

I couldn’t help my own “What?”, and she smiled, rather sadly.

“Too young, too naïve. Too much of a dreamer, really. I wasn’t worried, because I had a boyfriend, or thought I did. Ritchie. I let him know, and he picked me up, and that was the last time I was outside until the police broke in. There was me, it was all going to be hand-in-hand at posh coffee shops and meals with other couples, and all I saw was the inside of his flat. Still had my dreams, though. Ish is lovely, been lovely to me, but it’s all so limited. I mean, time. Not like Gemma, or the swots, or Charlie and Tiff’s. He’s going to be in Australia, and, well, I get some more time with him, recharge my dreams, yeah? And I don’t sit there years later wondering ‘What if?’, like Nana said she did too many times”

Maz was so soft in her tone as she took the girl’s hands in hers.

“And if this is all?”

“Then I come out ahead, for I get something rather than nothing. So does Ish, I believe”

My wife nodded.

“Do you want to go and help him sort your stuff out?”

Once Clara was with Ish, Maz sighed.

“Let’s leave them to it, darling. I mean, it’s not as if she can end up pregnant, unfortunately. Shall we join Di and Blake when those two are done? Get some lunch?”