(By Muriel Young, a former Outside the Box Community Development Worker)

My plans for the weekend had fallen through and I was facing a long empty weekend on my own. I knew that I had things to do in the flat but I had really been looking forward to the company.  I suddenly remembered I’d seen an article in the local paper about a local craft fair and I decided that I’d go along as it would fill a couple of hours.

I’m glad I went, it was much better than I expected and I actually spent hours there.  I spent ages talking to different people.  Each stall holder was happy to tell me about what they did and some explained how they made things.  There were paintings, jewellery, things made from wood, photographs,  cards and calendars, scarves and woolly hats and lots more.  I know that they were hoping I’d buy something but I’m the sort of person who needs to go away and think before I buy.  I’ll watch out for the next craft fair and see if I can go then.  I bumped into a couple of people I knew and we went to the café and had soup for lunch.  So I ended up spending lots of time going round the craft fair, chatting to lots of people and had lunch with old friends.  My lonely weekend wasn’t so lonely after all.