Hello! I’m back! After a blogging break of a few years, I’ve returned to continue telling stories of my adventures as the Town Crier of Glastonbury.  The Covid Pandemic restrictions prevented many gatherings and as a result, jobs for all Town Criers, pretty well dried up.  Even when the restrictions were lifted, I have to admit to not venturing out in my regalia immediately. I was worried about being infected by total strangers parking themselves next to me, requesting selfies and possibly infecting me!  I have to confess to getting out of the habit of producing blogs. Work pressures have not helped, either! I’m glad to say that things have now changed, and the writing of blogs can start to flow again.

The comment, at the top of the page, or variations thereof, is frequently made by passers-by on hot sunny days when they see me crying on a hot dusty street. When the mercury soars into the 80s or 90s and everyone is wandering around in shorts, T-shirts or vests, busy licking ice creams, those comments come easily to concerned folk as they see this strange gentleman, dressed in a thick, heavy, full-length eighteenth-century Great Coat with double capes, waist-coast, jabot, tights, gloves and wearing a large black hat, shouting for all he’s worth, in the blazing sun.

In full cry!

In the past, I have had people come up to me, very worried about my fluid equilibrium, expressing a willingness to go and buy me bottles of water. But the folks who buy me and proffer half pints of cider from the Crown Hotel, next to the Market Cross…..these are my real heroes!

The reason why I do not simply “melt” and flow away can be summed up in a single word:  INSULATION.  It’s simple physics really.  It’s like this: The powerful sun’s rays hit my outer cape and probably heat it quite intensely. But that is where the heat stays!

The “Double Cape”-a boon both in summer and winter!

Below that outer cape is a layer of insulating air and then another cape below that and yet more insulating air underneath. So, I could stand there for hours on end, and I would not get appreciably hot.  My head is a different matter.  That DOES get hot. A black hat, adorned with black feathers, notoriously absorbs radiant solar energy like a sponge and the temperature below it, simply soars. I’m sure that every time I raise my tricorn and declare “GOD SAVE THE KING!”, there is a mini saline waterfall!

Under such conditions, staying hydrated can be quite a challenge.  It’s not easy to carry a lot of water on my person.  However, today that was not a problem.  I was asked to publicise the “Spirit Fayre” in the Town Hall and the organiser, my good friend Karen, stated in advance that I could have “unlimited drinks (and food) – on the house” for my efforts. 

Karen (left), myself and Jacqui (right) outside the Festival

No sooner had I walked into the Town Hall’s refreshment canteen, than a mug of refreshing tea appeared on the counter, hastily prepared by Jaqui, their Head Caterer. They know how to look after their Town Crier!

My next “thermal challenge” will be the Catholic Pilgrimage.

This always takes place in early July, when the Civic Party will have to sit for hours in the Glastonbury Abbey, possibly, in the baking sun.

My Mace-bearer friend Terry and I often joke that for this “gig”, we either; “sit in puddles of sweat or puddles of rain water”.  Wish me luck!