Very pleasant it was too, with supposedly 130 different beers (mostly Sussex) to be had, though seeing as how it started Friday lunchtime and through the evening, by the time we arrived on Saturday lunchtime there were, apparently, only 66 beers to be had! Still very nice they proved to be.
I arrived first at the front desk with our group to be met by a grim-faced meeter-greeter, who enquired if I'd been 'here' before.
"Er, no" I said.
"Right, go straight ahead to the end, turn right, and collect your glass and beer tokens" he said.
"Can ya remember?" he added.
"Well" I said. "It seems straightforward enough. Straight ahead and turn right."
"Are you a CAMRA Member?" he asked again, more grim-faced and through gritted teeth this time, thinking "What a bloody joker" we've got here.
I wasn't joking, I just couldn't hear him properly.
My friend's retort behind me of "I think I can remember" was met with equal iciness. Oh well.
And, some poor chap collapsed and died sometime in the afternoon too. Heart attack. After we'd spent some time away from him while the ambulance response unit tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate, and eventually was taken away, the family insisted the festival should carry on, as that would have been the chap's wishes.
