Window display

Today's the day ........................ for a book town

We headed south today to Wales because tomorrow we will be visiting the Annual Agricultural Show in the village of Trap.  This year, unlike last year, we have no duties to perform and so we can just relax and enjoy ourselves.

It took us all day to drive down because there was an enormous amount of traffic on the roads - and we just went from one queue to the next.  We took some time out though to stop in the small town of Hay-on-Wye right on the Welsh border.  We're very fond of Hay for several reasons - not least because it is full of second-hand bookshops and every year it hosts a famous literary festival.

What I didn't know until today was that back in 2007 Hay-on-Wye was selected by Timbuktu (in Mali) to be its UK twin town as a result of a nationwide competition. In October of that year, the Mayor of Timbuktu visited Hay, and a 'declaration of friendship' was signed at the official launch ceremony.  Both towns have a shared love of the written word. Timbuktu is an ancient site of Islamic scholarship, and is famous for its huge collection of medieval manuscripts.  It's obviously a thriving association because there have been several exchange visits and on-going projects between the two towns since 2007. 

Well I never ........................!