In yesterday's local paper, they reported that trade was down at this year's Goose Fair, despite a healthy turnout of people attending. The problem is that people are attending, but not parting with the money.
Goose Fair has been dated back to 1284, and aside from the bubonic plague in 1646, and during the two world wars, has happened every year without fail. It has survived through thick and thin, so it is vital that during this period of economic uncertainty, that we keep attending and spending at the fair. The workers have two extra days, and therefore extra ground rent to pay, but people are spreading their spending. There were a lot of people at the fair on Saturday afternoon, and more this afternoon, (or so it seems), but the rides were half empty, and the prize stalls were standing there doing very little.
Of course we all know that as a strictly cash business, whatever they say they have taken isn't a patch on what they actually take, as they won't want to declare the full amount for tax. That is not to single out fairground workers, all self-employed people massage the figures and keep two sets of accounts. But the fact remains that takings at Goose Fair are down, and it is the fault of Nottingham's people.
The people who don't go into town are the same people who didn't go to Goose Fair this weekend. I don't see the point in living in the best city in the UK if you aren't going to take advantage of how great it is and what it has to offer. Goose Fair is only four days out of the year, and it isn't even that expensive. The most expensive attraction is the Reverse Bungee, at ten pounds...
The rides are all modestly priced at between two pounds and three pound fifty. In The Nottingham Evening Post, (as I still call it) they print a page full of 50p off coupons all week, amounting to thirty pounds worth of discount that all the rides accept. A cup of mushy peas only costs a pound. The mushy pea stall, by which I of course mean the mushy pea stall, (the subject of mushy pea-gate), charges one pound fifty, which would be worth it if they used proper mint sauce in a bowl rather than shop bought shite in a squirty bottle. Hot dogs and burgers cost two or three pounds, and candy floss is a pound for a bag, and fifty pence on a stick. None of it is what you'd call steep. Seeing as Goose Fair takes place at the same time of year every year, there is no way that it takes anybody by surprise. If every individual saves two pound every Saturday between next weekend and next weekend, then everyone has one hundred pounds to spend. You can buy a lot of mushy peas with that sort of money.
