Thom Kofoed: Taking his friend's Beer Festival virginity
So guys, it's the Hastings Beer Festival this weekend.
It's that time of year when drinking alcohol in the park isn't frowned upon, when you can sit under a willow with a cider and a packet of salt and vinegar chipsticks without the scornful looks of Mums with their buggies whispering "I hope my child doesn't turn out like him" under
their breath-Some people are so judgemental!
I'm pretty new to the festival. I've been a few times though and my experience has been tres positive.
However, it's come to my attention that people are either pro beer festival or anti beer festival - like alcoholic marmite, you either love it or hate it - and this strikes me as quite sad.
Sure, they are promoting beer and music which, inadvertently perhaps promotes excessive drinking and bad dancing but they are also promoting local businesses AND raising huge amounts of money for charity (last year raised more than 35,000 for local causes) and that's nothing to be sneezed at.
In fact, somewhat surprisingly to the people that know me well, I'm so pro the beer festival that the event feels me with such dizzy inducing joy that you would think Kylie Minogue just invited me to braid her hair and feed her tapas (minature food with the minature Pop Queen, I would die).
And I know it's really loud of an evening and yes I know party-goers leave their plastic beer mugs on the ground but people, let's get some perspective - you near-park living folks knew that the festival existed (you don't move next to an airport and complain about the planes) so you can hush up. Its only two nights after all and as the saying goes- If you can't beat them, join them.
As for the litter - I'm the first to campaign for clearing up after yourself but theres a group of people that roam the park of a morning filling black bags with rubbish...and they get paid to do so. In the end we're all happy. Isn't that what's important here?
"It seems kind of tacky" Lisa said over cream tea. This year we're taking Lisa's Beer festival virginity and despite what she says I think she's excited. She's lived here nine years but is yet to experience the festival delights and I'm more than glad to walk her through the evening.
"Nah, just a good excuse to be merry" I said in reply.
I'm sure Friday will be fun. Most of us from school are going and when we're together we tend to revert back to the 18 year olds that we were then, albeit in better shoes and haircuts.
Nowadays we don't get to see each other as much as we did once and the beer festival unites us for one evening. For that, this year, I am grateful.
So let's drink cider, dance a little bit and stop the complaining.
We'll all be on our best beer-haviour I'm sure.
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Weather for Hastings
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
