Mark's Blog

20 August 2007

The Great British Summer

I’m writing this during a rare dry spell, as anyone who has spent the summer in the UK knows, the weather has been truly awful. For most of July Stratford was empty. Torrential rain and flooding kept many visitors away. Henley Street is usually buzzing this time of year with voices from all over the world and the sounds of buskers playing their songs. However this year there seems to be a general air of depression around, until the sun comes out and things get back to normal.

During the worst of the rain in July, it seemed that the world’s press were gathered in Stratford beaming pictures of the floods around the world. This gave the impression that the area was a disaster zone, when in reality it was all over and done within two days. The small towns, further downstream, bore the brunt of the flooding. To prove a point, on the Friday of the monsoon like rains, at about four o’clock, I received a text from a friend in Perth, Western Australia, asking me if I would like a loan of a brolly!

Working in Stratford gives you a fascinating insight to what is happening in the world. There is a definite shift in the countries from where Stratford’s overseas visitors are coming from. For so many years visitors from the USA have been so important to the economy of the town. However with the dollar being so weak against the pound, the ones who have come over are finding it very expensive.  There has been a greater increase in Chinese, Indian and Russian visitors this year, and thankfully for us at Vinology they all seem to have a taste for fine Malt whisky and plenty of cash. Long live the new world order!

Even though the weather hasn’t been kind to the busker, a few brave souls have managed to ply their trade this summer.  However, although the record for the worst act has not been broken, currently held by the Becks bottle man, we have had some truly shocking performers. I’m not sure whether it is down to the weather, but we have had some very depressing music this year - the young lad who plays Romanian peasant songs on his violin and the hippy on the lute spring to mind. The prize for the worst so far goes to a pair of middle aged men armed with a washboard and a Kazoo who played songs from Jungle book for about three hours. What a couple of goons!