Completely Bonkers

This mad lot were at the Dickensian Festival in Ulverston today, the event at which, we were told, Christmas officially begins.  They were giving it large on their home-made, er, instruments, and having a great laugh. Essentially drain pipes, bellows, flexible tubing - mad as cheese!

Extras one and two are Die Brombeere and the man working it.  What look like packs of cards are the music, which he tells me you can still buy.  They are punched with holes and work like pianola rolls, but are folded concertina-style.  He recently paid £85 for the one he is holding.  Brombeere is German for blackberry.  I wish I had asked him why it's called that.

The third extra is Owen (or Owain) Jones, the bodger, or green woodworker, shaping strips of willow for a swill-basket.  He told me he knows a mate of mine, who is also a bodger.  Goes to the Bodgers' Ball every year.  Don't ask!

Fourth extra illustrates the theme of the day: Dickensian dress and fare (please, not fayre!), which largely seems to consist of mulled wine.  Keeps the cold at bay.

Fifth extra is Ian Douglas, who is a story-teller. Again, I have several acquaintances who are story-tellers, and Ian knows them all - quite a close-knit brother/sister-hood.  Ian lives on a narrow-boat and plans to travel the country telling stories on the canal banks and in adjacent pubs.  He made the little caravan himself.

Sixth and last extra: Ooom Pah Pah!

A good day out.