Festival Fun - Part II

Okay one more long post and we’ll be all caught up on my Irish summer adventures.

I’m getting used to being drenched in sweat during our set ups. Quite the workout I get I must say. Last Friday night and Sunday afternoon, however, I got to fully appreciate the meaning of drenched. After much rushing to protect the merchandise, we returned to our hotel on Friday night completely soaked from a heavy rain that had come up quite suddenly in “the valley”.

Saturday was once again brutally hot, the type of hot under which you melt just sitting still. We closed at dusk with warning streaks of lightening flashing in the distance. Back in our hotel room that evening we never did hear the storm come through but accounts from the locals the next day indicated it had not been gentle.

We returned to our tent in the field on Sunday morning to find we had not left things as secure as we had hoped. One of our cover tarps had blown free leaving pockets in the lighter canvas tent to form dripping bellies of water over some of the clothing displays. One entrapped pool dangled precariously over the center aisle. We tried to gently persuade the water to exit this spot at a reasonable pace into the safety of a bucket which worked for a bit. Alas, the water had other ideas and released itself in a sudden gush. Thankfully the additional damage from this was minimal and to we remained fairly dry.

The sun was shining bright so we began hanging wet clothing and laying out the tarps. Now open on the sides to the elements and without top cover protection, the decision was made to begin the packing process while remaining at least somewhat functional for the day’s sales. Then things changed in a hurry.

The sun slipped away and a light rain began to fall. There was a rush to get side tarps up and merchandise packed. It was not long before the skies opened up completely driving wind and rain from all directions. We rode out the storm beneath the frames of the flimsy easy up tents held primarily in place by the heavy weight of the metal grids that were still attached to them. We spent more than an hour clearing new bellies of water from the top of the tents and standing in ankle deep runoff. Once again when all was said and done we were soaked to the bone.

We must have had the luck of the Irish with us. We stopped at a local laundromat just a few doors from our hotel to dry and fold the few things that had originally been soaked by the previous night’s rain and found complete loss to be minimal. With fingers crossed we opened every last bin and emptied its contents onto tables across the shop parking lot when we returned home. Though it no doubt looked like a garage sale gone wrong, we found that most things had been well protected in the bins and any dampness that had accumulated was quickly eliminated.

Now that we’re all up to date, I really must get packed for Dublin.