laura_seabrook | Fair Day Out

Went down to the Mardi Gras Fair Day today.

Got soaked driving the Scooter to Cardiff Station. Met Chris Baird on the bus down (track work, so it was coaches down and back). Seemed he was going down to Wyong for an annual ham radio/electronics swapmeet (last year he bought an Amiga 500 for $10). Dozed for most of the rest of the trip.

Once at Central Station I walked up Broadway to Victoria Park for the fair. It was as crowded and noisy as the last time I'd been (2006). Had a Kransky/sauerkraut lunch and then went looking for the Amnesty International stall, which was easy to find - just look for the logo.

Paid my $25 for registration and got a T-Shirt with the same logo on it, which I wore over the t-shirt I already had on. Bought some comics from someone I'd seen at the Zine fair last year. Wandered around a bit, but needed to sit down near the leather pride stall as I felt really tired. It might have helped that I was wearing thick socks and bush-walking shoes and denim slacks - just overheating.

I normally do two sweeps of the fair. On the second I met Dr Tracie O'Keefe and her wife who were getting signatories on a petition to overturn the recent change of policy on passports for trans folk. It was nice to finally meet her in person - I have a chapter in one of her books. Seems she may be taking legal action over the issue.

Bought some cookies from the Quaker stall, and was cornered by the guy at the UNICEF stall next to it, when I felt faint. The sun had come out and it was boiling hot. I had two t-shirts on and couldn't concentrate. He sent to the Pink stall which was giving out bottles of water. I sat under a palm tree, stripped off the amnesty shirt, and ate my cookies and water.

Started walking up to the nearest bus stop and bumped into Alex Bainbridge, who was selling copies of Green Left Weekly (I bought a copy). I knew "young Alex" (as I called him back then) in Perth when I was involved with the folk scene there. He used to spruke at Jenny's Place and elsewhere (I still remember his rendition of Rob Charlton's "Bloody Sheilas"). I met him once again back in 1997 when I was going to university. Seems he's found his way in the world quite well.

I caught a bus into China Town and as luck would have it, was just in time for the next session of Jumper at the Reading Cinemas. Not terribly heavy on characterisation, and the plot was very predictable, but it was nice to sit down for a couple of hours. I was going to eat in the food hall but decided to catch the next Rail Bus back to Cardiff (and finally ate at Hungry Jacks on the way home). I slept most of the way.

Just so tired today. I kept meeting people and feeling very fatigued. Looking forward to the march now though, and intend to go to a pre-march party on Wednesday.