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thames festival south bank

Went to the south bank (again) for the Thames Festival between Westminster bridge and Tower bridge held on the weekend of 15th/16th with Ella, Leila, Rosie and Rae on the Saturday.

Enjoyed the belly dancing and aerial trapeze in the Jubilee gardens, coffee and blackberry meringue in the Festival hall by the water sculptures, a walk down to Southwark bridge where we spent the rest of the afternoon on the bridge which had been closed to traffic and featured a beach, a grassed area, lots of different styles of seating from straw bales to street party benches and tables to cosy armchairs, a stage, many sideshows and of course the gingerbread house.

The set up reminded me of the street parties after the war.

Ella and Leila spent most of the day in the gingerbread house making gingerbread men, icing fairy cakes, magic cakes and later made pumpkin hats. We joined them as they took part in apple bobbing and having their Tarots read.

The Tarot readings were mainly for young children although the woman with the deliberately smudged lipstick and the flower stuck behind her ear, was not averse to entertaining older `children' (fortunately for ella and leila). I include some of her lines for the younger kids:

After they donned the magic hat she held out a mirror for them and asked,
"Do you know who this is?" and
"Are you sure?"
"Do you have a teacher at school?"
"M'mmm, I thought so."
"Tomorrow will definitely be a new day."
"I see cereals for Breakfast?"
"Today, you will see a (pause) mermaid." (There was one right next to her booth.)
...

If I remember any more of her sayings I'll add them here.