Red Cathedral

Time is the deadliest and stealthiest of killers. Old age will come for many of us and if we're really lucky, all it will do is prevent us from covering 3 different events in one weekend and from carelessly drinking during each of those. Alas for many people aging is much worse . Elftopia was my 3rd event of the weekend and I'm one of those lucky ones.. although I was already in full zombie-mode after Friday night and 100% exhausted after enjoying the Antwerp Pride Parade . To throw an axe and drink some mead were my goals for Elftopia. I would have loved to add pancakes to that list. Because eating pancakes in a kilt while drinking a single malt and throwing axes at rotten apples balancing on the heads of those who destroy our forests, hunt our wildlife and plunder our Mother Earth, is the most manly thing one ( m/v/x ) can do on this planet. . For those I ran into before or after twisting my ankle and curing it's discomfort with Tramadol & mead: The pictures of

Elfia 2023 : rain. Fotofair 2023 : heatwave. El Mundo Fantasia 2023 : heatwave. Castlefest 2023 : rain. Seeing a pattern? In recent visits to the Netherlands the weather has been rather unwelcoming.. Luckily the volunteers, the visitors, the creatures & the inhabitants of Castlefest are a véry welcoming crowd of wandering ( may I say: festive ) souls. There needs to be some balance, right? . Admittedly, on Sunday there was less rain, less super-hard rainshowers and less stormwind than previously announced and as in other parts of this region of Europe ( as I noticed when retuning to Belgium ). And a few times the sun even peeked out of the clouds for a moment. Still; it had been raining for weeks without end so there was only so much much the organisation could do in lands which are 5m below the sea surface.  . It was wet: RUBBERBOOTS!   There was rain: PONCHOS! The crew I strolled around with were suffering excruciating pain: PLENTY OF PITSTOPS! The mead was selling out q