If you've not been before the great thing about the festival is that the High Street in Rochester is pretty much the only main street in the town centre so anything and everything that happens during the day is in relatively easy reach from there. There is so much to do and take part in throughout the day once you are there! As well as the usual street performers & characters dressed in Dickensian costumes to meet, greet and have a photo taken with there are processions, stall holders, carol singing sessions, craft fairs a LOVELY fair ground full of fun AND 'oddities' like an ice sculpting demonstration, the chance to try your hand at bell ringing and the odd impromptu theatre re-inaction of 'A Christmas Carol' which also calls for a lot of audience participation! That's without the usual array of interesting 'curiosity' shops, museums and Churches to explore.
I got a VERY 'warm glow' whilst visiting a craft fair that was being held in (hilariously) a 'Gentleman's Night Club' (not sure what either Santa or Charles Dickens would make of that!) that was very sparkly and (ironically) Christmassy when I found just the right Christmas Present for a special friend! The lady who sold it to me was lovely and even modelled the item for me. We got on very well and she told me that she had imported the item from Dubai after holidaying there. I asked her if she liked poetry? To which she said enthusiastically that she was and was a 'creative sort'. Because it is Christmas and I liked her I then offered her a free copy of my 'In Words, In Music...Of Life, Of Death' CD. She was very surprised at this but accepted gratefully (she hasn't heard it yet! - I hear you, Ro Gardner! (lol) and we then shared a few more words. She told me that my lovely gesture was very kind and helped make up for the fact that she was actually having to sell the items I had bought one off at a loss. I'm so glad that we shared a few 'nice moments' together and I hope she enjoys at least some of my CD. I did explain a bit about a couple of the tracks because I recorded a tribute to Top Of The Pops on that Cd on which I (unfortunately as it later turned out) do a Jimmy Savile impression on! Trust me to record a 'tribute' to an iconic character who turns out to be a vile 'wrong un'! I won't forget that lady and I really hope that she had a good day at the craft fair and made a lot of money...
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| Scrooge is that way, I shouted! (lol) |
What made going with Clive so brilliant is that we had plenty of time (about 5 hours) to be able to take our time looking around the shops, taking part in the carol singing or just soaking up the atmosphere! I hate it when you go on a Coach trip to something special and then all you have is 2 hours to 'whip round it'. Christmas is such a 'stressy' time anyway that its great when you can just 'chill' and 'watch the world go by' if you want to for a bit. I met a few nice ladies at the Carol singing session in front of Rochester Castle and even took the mic and told the crowd my 'heartwarming Christmas story' of the day I dressed up in full Santa Claus outfit (boots, bells, sack of presents, bear, bell - you name it!) and was then subsequently LET DOWN by a friend who'd promised to give me a lift to my 'newly joined' writing clubs Christmas do. Did I get a taxi? NO! I walked the mile and a quarter from my house to hilarious effect! (lol)
That was a 'long time ago' now and it's been a while since I have 'sprung' one of my festive tricks on the universe but I'm planning one for my old mate, Mr.Belton and all at The Conquest Hospital come our radio show on the 23rd!!! HA HA HA
Back to Rochester though and I have to say that the most magical part for me of the day was when I visited the huge craft fair and fairground situated in the middle of Rochester Castle! Once the light began to dim and the thousands of fairy lights and fairground ride bulbs could be seen in their full glory it was just like taking a trip back in time to my childhood!
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| Spinning Magic! |
As much fun as I had though, not all of the things I saw and witnessed in Rochester made me happy. There were quite a few homeless people about and many looked so down trodden and ignored that I could hardly bear to look at them. Charles Dickens would be gutted I feel to think how, all these many years later, there are STILL people living in such a way in our country. Shamefully, the pain of engaging with these poor souls frightens the hell out of most of us and so - as thousands (for it was pretty packed) passed them by few took any notice of them. I also noted one or two 'dodgy characters' hanging around - probably looking to pick-pockets. I would not say that they were homeless but instead seemed to trying hard to dress as if they were. How rotten can you get to not only pick a persons pocket but in the same breathe try to blame it on a homeless person? Then there was a certain amount of 'disturbing graffiti' about the place. Rochester is so old fashioned and historic that to see horrid graffiti daubed about the place was deeply upsetting - especially as some of it was political and so one- sided in its view. Councils everywhere need to do more to clamp down on Graffiti and see that it is REMOVED as quickly as possible because there is nothing more unwelcoming for a visitor to see vile, biased slogans written on walls and (in one or two cases) left to stand on raised banners.
Overall though, if Charles Dickens and the story of 'A Christmas Carol' is your thing then you should definitely make sure to visit the Rochester Dickensian Festival at least once in your life. It does get a bit too busy at times during the day and I did find it hard to find a reasonably priced place to get something to eat but the spirit of Dickens, of Bob Cratchit - and occasionally of Scrooge seeps out of every pore at this time of year and helps to bring the true meaning of Christmas to life...
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