THE signposts all said Hay as the crowds arrived for the annual literary festival but the weather was certainly more like Glastonbury.
A sea of sou’westers and umbrellas formed the order of the day as the rain teemed down over the weekend.
And, with the fields being churned up to leave mud everywhere, it was appropriate, in an oblique sort of way, that Monday’s programme included an item on The Soil Association.
The association’s new president Monty Don – now, happily, well on the road to recovery after a recent slight stroke – and its director, Patrick Holden, spoke articulately and with feeling about the problems surrounding food production.
In a wide-ranging discussion prompted by some intelligent questioning from the floor, the pair stressed the need to return to eating seasonal produce and underlined the difficulties faced in deciding between ‘organic’, ‘fair-trade’ and ‘local’.
There were no easy answers to the problems facing food producers and a major food crisis in this country was not out of the question.
There will be questions there exercising the minds of politicians, one of whom, Wales’ first minister, Rhodri Morgan, was also on parade on Monday as part of a panel discussing sports writing.
Morgan, a passionate and knowledgeable sports enthusiast, more than held his own in discussion with former Wales rugby captain Eddie Butler, who was educated just over the Herefordshire border at Monmouth School, rugby writer Carolyn Hitt and academic Gareth Willams.
Williams is the editor of the Library of Wales Sports Anthology, which provided the starting point for the quartet’s fascinating and entertaining discussion.
Their talk at least brought some sunshine into the dismal day.
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