I was feeling a bit iffy last night, and so
had an early night. I slept for the best part of eight hours. I do hope I’m not
sickening for something.
A minor disaster – the “My Boy TM
–mobile” has failed it’s MOT. As
is always the problem with cars, when one needs to take a car to a garage and
leave it there, how does one get home again? This morning before work I
collected “My Boy TM ” from
the depths of Kingsnorth after he’d dropped his car off for fixing, but I had no
idea how he will collect the thing later.
I hope he sorted something out.
A couple of days ago I mentioned about the recent
news that the June kite festival at Teston has been cancelled. I’ve spent quite
a bit of time thinking about what’s been going on lately.
Reading some of the postings on the Internet
kite forums, I think the general feeling in the kite flying community is one of
frustration with the County Council. Many kite festivals are subsidised by
local councils because they are a fun event for the public. However Kent County
Council seems to want to have a fun weekend put on for the public, and those
who are putting on the event will be charged for doing so.
Apparently last year KCC wanted to charge Teston
kite festival’s organisers hundreds of pounds for putting on the event (but they didn’t get any).
Something similar happened with the kiting
event at Capstone a few months ago.
Much as I like the kite festivals at Teston,
I’ve commented in the past that the attendance of kite-fliers has been dropping
off. A lot of kite fliers have not been going to Teston for a few years because
it is quite a way off the beaten track: it’s in no way a central location.
And reading the forums, it would seem that
the attendance at next year’s only Teston kite festival will be even less
because the rank-and-file kiter doesn’t like the council’s greedy attitude.
The organisers have said on their website that rather than
having a weekend-long event next June, people might just turn up for an
informal kite day. I don’t think people are going to travel the distance just
for a few hours. I certainly don’t want to.
I can’t help but feel that the event has had
its day. Best to let it be a happy memory rather than being something which
will slowly fizzle out as more and more people become disillusioned with a
greedy council.
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