Scarecrow Festival begins ....

9th July 2021 (Friday)    18.00 .... The villages are buzzin’ .... and so am I: 

Appleton's of Elie scarecrow.... in fact it is Neil!

Mark Cavendish has equalled Eddie Merck’s record of 34 Tour de France Stage wins.    He has a chance to reach 35 but I don’t think he needs to do that.    The last 15 kilometres of today’s stage were electrifying.   Now for  the Hutte update that I forgot about after going to the beach this morning.

I took the bike along to get the paper, the plan being to flatten the battery, which you have to do now and again:  in that I was entirely successful and had to pedal unassisted all the way from the Pavilion Car Park;  with a battery bike that is almost hard work....even in the lowest gear.    I got the battery on charged then had breakfast before donning the wellies and having a walk down to the beach;  the tide was almost full out.... my favourite time for being on the beach.   It was a balmy kind of morning, and it was good seeing folks out enjoying an early morning breath of Elie and Earlsferry’s stress relieving air.... and scenery.

Carol's Ice Cream shop Scarecrow(s).

The bike battery was fully charged by 10.30, so, I had a cuppa, then decided to up to Elie in the middle of the day:  this is the start of the Scarecrow Festival and I thought I’d see what was happening.   Well.... the first thing I can tell you is that the streets are considerably busier at midday than they are at 06.30.   There seemed to be cars coming from all directions .... and going in all directions.    The Car Park at the harbour was almost full.... yes I even went to the harbour.    The bay was busy with folk doing various water borne activities.   I got back up to the High Street relatively easily.... but I suspect there will have been traffic problems later, when some vehicles want out of, and others into, the harbour car park.    With a ‘bottleneck’ between the Harbour Car Park and the High Street there is bound to be problems.

To avoid the traffic I came home by way of Elie Estate... and that road was busy with folk enjoying a walk through the estate.   I was well ready for lunch by the time I got back to Ivy.   I’m going to have another go at Elie in the middle of the day, either tomorrow or Sunday.   The Scarecrow Festival is on for the whole week so there’ nae panic to get photos .... unless the weather changes.

21.00   I am definitely beginning to feel ‘back to some kind pre- pandemic normal’....

being much more relaxed that I was .... though I always carry a mask with me.  I’m hoping that the roads will be calmer tomorrow..... I’ll go to Elie in mid morning and bumble around looking at scarecrows.   If I time it right I should be at ‘arbour ‘ouse before it gets busy.   Seeing people wandering around looking for scarecrows is another step towards ‘a normal way of life’.... though we’re not out of the woods yet.