Not suitable for those with heart problems

I had a thoroughly exciting day yesterday. It started off with some frantic bathroom cleaning (trying to get the place tidied up before our friends arrive tomorrow) and culminated in going to a potato festival. There were interviews across the tannoy system with tractor drivers; displays of woven baskets; a stand featuring some truly horrendous amateur artwork on canvas (for sale); and a throw the potato through the chipboard lion's cut out mouth game. Now that looked like fun, so we encouraged the kids to join in. They didn't notice the chipboard lion and instead just stood to the side of it and threw potatoes at the chain link fence beside the road. Admittedly they were whooping with pleasure, my young vandals.

Orla made a beautiful REAL Mr Potato Head, as can be seen above as it is now being proudly displayed in my kitchen. I think it was more a case of directing the lady with the hot glue gun as to what bits she wanted, or rather I hope it was. I was off discussing Nazi head offices and drinking my beer as fast as possible while Orla was doing this.

We went to the potato festival with someone from Stevie's work and his lovely German wife and little girl. I think they made the potato festival for me. It was the background info that they provided that kept me laughing for the 2 long cold hours we seemed to be there. Apparently they had parked the 'amusements' in the wrong places which meant that there were just 3 stands with things for children: one selling toffee apples and toffee grapes (4 on a skewer, in case you're wondering), one selling inflatable tigers, and one doing the potato men and face painting so vague that you'd get a prize if you could work out what any child was meant to be. Anyway, apparently these festivals are a relatively new thing for the East German's and it was agreed that it was positively better that there was not more for the kids, as anything else could easily have tipped things over the balance into that dangerous region called fun.