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Scarborough!
So, being memorial day weekend it was of course the final weekend of Scarborough Faire, which meant I absolutely had to wander around in the heat drinking beer and being slightly less nerdy than the professional RenFair Cast. Well, sometimes I end up being just as nerdy as the garbed masses, but I hide it by being drunk and rude.
This also explains the lack of artistry of the photos from the trip. I always mean to go down with an artist's eye and take some amazing shots, and always end up enjoying being a tourist too much and taking shots of costumes and hilarity.
I am annually impressed by the sophistication, wit and general chutzpah of the barkers, performers and merchants at the Faire. It may come from trying to squeeze money out of dubious tourists eight hours a day, but they are still some of the most amazing face-to-face marketers and salespersons I have ever seen.
Case in point, we went to the turtle races this year, where a 70+ year old man (Englebert Hawwmp, apparently) spent fifteen minutes building up, with all the camp and absurdity he could think up, a 30 second random wandering of a group of box turtles. This performance included a call to support the charitable efforts of the drug rehab center for racing turtles, and a reminder that "if you're ever feeling too full of yourself, just remember you spent 30 minutes of your life watching turtles race." (found a clip online of the outrageous Mr. Hawwp)
Also sat through the Cristophe the Insulter show in the middle of a pouring rain storm, which was entirely worth it, as his show always is. He has a fairly good website for a man who spends 5 months out of the year in the 15th century.
Also, no Guinness this year at the pubs... How can you wander around in the Texas heat astounded at the bizzareness of the RenFair when not blitzed on Guinness?
