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Tuesday 6 April 2010

Monday: Milford on Sea Food Week Diary

Having spent the last week listening to various conflicting weather reports it was still unclear whether we were going to have a heat wave or monsoon rains today. Waking at 6am I thought it might be best to just look out of the window. Clear sky, gentle wind and calm sea – this could be our lucky day! I turned to inform my wife, but her side of the bed was empty – what a time to choose to leave me. Ah well, I will have to make my own breakfast. On arriving at the kitchen, I was quite relieved to find that my wife had actually got up just before me, which was great news, as it now meant that I did not have to make my own breakfast after all. Getting set for the eleven o’clock start I decided wearing shorts would be appropriate. My wife quickly disagreed. Ignoring her ladyships advice I set off for the Needles Eye Cafe, legs in glorious view. By now the wind had decided that it would whip off the sea with an icy chill. It was not long before the wind claimed two victims for the day. The Charity Candy Stall soon found out that their gazebo would not survive the wind, they were soon followed by The Plonkers who could not play in the now semi arctic conditions. Disappointed, but undeterred we set up the BBQ, the Recipe Book Swap Stall and Feed Your Brain Stall, whilst our Raffle Ticket & Programme sellers stocked up & disappeared on their mission like an SAS platoon.

At eleven o’clock the seafront was full of hoards of people, (in warm coats!, no one else had shorts on?) within minutes the stalls were crowded, and queues forming for burgers & sausages, which had been homemade with the compliments of our village butchers Dave Gates of The Butchers Shop & Dave Gregory of DJ Gregory Butchers. Simultaneously, the Children’s Egg Hunt & Face Painting at the Pre-School kicked off. We were to hear later that the attendance was busier than previous years, with many holidaying campers braving the weather. Many were impressed with our vibrant village, and were already planning to visit other events in Food Week. The funds raised by the Pre-School will be spent on plants and wheelbarrows etc for the ‘Children’s Growing Garden’. At The Marine the new building was resplendent in white, & the hog roast was well underway with over 250 servings made in the first hour.

Back at the Needles Eye Cafe 100 of the village butchers sausages & burgers had been sold by twelve thirty & the cafe had sent out search parties to find more BBQ food & buns. By one o’clock The Marine was rocking with the music of ‘Saxuality’, a girl saxophone duo. Due to the weather Richard had decided to open the unfinished downstairs bar in addition to his outside terraces. The replenished stocks & constant queues at the Needles Eye Cafe lasted until three o’clock with many hungry people fed. (Yes, Jon & I did have one!) Recipe books were flying off the table, & the strategically placed raffle girls were not letting anyone pass without an approach to part with some cash, although I don’t think any of them actually helped themselves from anyone’s pockets.

By the time I arrived The Marine, the bar was awash with happy revellers enjoying the special offer bar prices & more than one bottle of champagne could be seen on the tables. By two thirty it was standing room only, & it was quite an amazing atmosphere, particularly as the walls were still un-plastered breeze blocks & the floor bare concrete. It soon became clear that all people from Milford on Sea need for a party is a bar, band & friends. It was not long before ‘Saxuality’ had dozens of people up dancing & a full party was underway.

Whilst all of this was happening The Smugglers had started their Pirates of the Caribbean day, the team were all resplendently dressed as pirates & the pub decked out in pirates themes. It wasn’t long before the bar was three deep, every inside table taken, & the garden full with friends & families partying to the quite amazing Caribbean Steel Band. The dancing was not restricted to The Marine, as the Smugglers customers also showed that they could move with the best. As the late afternoon arrived, we saw the sun appear just as the wind dropped & the Smugglers garden was a great place to be.

As the afternoon events drew to a close we had met or seen hundreds of people, consisting of many locals, day-tripper’s & holiday makers from far afield. Many had been well fed, & after the food had run out several made their way to the village to find sustenance, so we hope all of our village eateries benefited. I had also discovered that having extremely attractive legs does not protect you from cold winds!

No sooner had we arrived home for a quick sit down & check of the e-mails, we discovered reports had been received from friends that had been on food (pub) crawls & we heard that Belle Époque had been really busy in the afternoon with a fabulous atmosphere. Soon it was then time to pop into the Britannia Thai Restaurant to watch & photograph the Thai dancing. The two dancers were charming & looked beautiful in their traditional Thai costumes. The intricacies of their dancing was much appreciated by the evening diners. Over at the Smugglers the night band was underway with a full bar in good spirits.

On returning home my wife & I realised we had forgotten something, we hadn’t eaten! It was too late to go back to the village, so there was only one thing for it – cheese on toast with Worcester sauce! We won’t make the same mistake throughout the rest of the week.

Milford on Sea is always a special place to be, but today it became just a little bit more special.

Today’s weight: 19 stone 4 lbs
See the photo’s & stories from each day at: www.milfordonseafoodweek.org/2010-diary

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