Wherever we have been so far in England, we have been surprised at the number of bookshops. They seem to be everywhere. I guess they may not have a lot of online competition as the prices are so good in the shops, but it is certainly different to the Australian situation. 

Which leads me to Hay-on-Wye, a town in Wales just on the English border. This town is famous for second-hand book shops - it is what the town revolves around, and it is where we went today. And it just so happened that the renowned annual Hay Festival started this week. This literature festival has readings, talks and QA sessions and attracts authors, musicians etc as well as some celebrity speakers. Think this year Damien Lewis, Jeremy Irons, and Terence Stamp.
 
 
 
So we wandered the streets, had some lunch and then came upon groups of small children excitedly practising their flag waving. We assumed some royal personage must be coming, heard it was a 'he', and thought maybe it was Prince Harry. Finally it turned out to be Prince Charles and Camilla. They were very late, and a lot of the little paper flags were in shreds by the time they got there. We were basically stuck in town for a while, as the road near the carpark was blocked by police. We later heard that the couple 's helicopter had to do an emergency landing and they had had to complete the trip by car. As a result they were two hours late.  
 
 
 
When we could leave town we drove over the Black Mountains. The most lovely green hills at the start, and then those bare hills we have seen before in Wales. We stopped for a walk in Abergavenny (such a nice name for a town) and drove home through some rain. But it starts and stops, and was soon sunny again. But it was cool, so we stopped at a pub near home for dinner. The fire was going, and the bangers and mash too good to resist.