Today we went to Rye first. We looked in all the little quaint shops, starting with the bookshop. I got two badges saying ‘Future Author’ and ‘To read or not to read; never a question.’ I thought they were both very pretty and funny. Then we went into ‘Craft Magic’, and I bought lots of things; a fairy door for the fairies to leave their gifts and notes for; a wooden heart and a birdy to glue ontop; and Tilly and Mummy got lots of things too. We went in lots of little shops, come to think of it: I got a beautiful ring made of twisted golden matter, with a golden heart encrusted with jewels arranged in a flower-shape.
We went up ‘Mermaid Street’, was this beautiful little cobble-stone street lined with wattle-and-dorb houses from the 1400s. Apparantly they had been rebuilt then since Richard invaded and knocked them down.
Then we went to Hastings, where the Battle of Hastings was fought. We had chips there and went into the Fishermen’s Museum, where we saw lots of old boats and washed-ashore anchors. We had a little look around, but there weren’t as many shops as there were in Rye; well, according to our eyes, for we were just looking for chip shops – we got chips from the award-winning chip take-away!
After dinner, we went to the Junior Talent Show in the clubhouse, which was very exciting. I stood up on the stage all by myself and told everyone my favourite poem: When You Are Old. I said an introduction, and then, with my particularly cold microphone in my hands, I told everyone my poem, slowly and clearly, and then took my seat again in the audience.
“What are you going to do for the show, Tilly?” I asked. She told me she was going to draw Mermaid Street in five minutes. Once all the entries had been written down, the judges decided who came third, second, and first. You’d never guess who did..
“In third place comes [a trio who I can’t remember the names of],” said one of the judges, “and in second place, comes [such-and-such] and Matilda!” (There was a great deal of clapping there), “And in first place comes…
Lavinia!”
I came up onto the stage to listen to the lady and bow. She said, “What you going to win?” Through the microphone, and, not knowing quite what she said, I replied, “Yes.” So the lady beamed back at the crowd and said, “She thinks she’s going to win a yes. Everyone wants to win a yes nowadays..” And she said, “You have won yourself a free…holiday! Just go and get yourself the ticket Steven has there, and on the 8th of October, you can come back and enter the finals of the talent show! And then, if you win that one, you enter the National Finals and who knows what you win then!”
I was very excited – I was going to enter the Finals!