The Glastonbury Experience

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Jamie, Shane, Ali and I made it to Glastonbury by late afternoon on the Wednesday. A hot Wednesday. Jamie had a particular campsite in mind, so we lugged our bags and paraphernalia to the Pennard Hills site. It was already quite full - even 2 days before festival kick off. There was only a small space left in the original 'ideal spot' and it would have been a tight squeeze for our 3 tents, so Jamie and Shane were dispatched to hunt for a better posi. As it turns out, the original 'ideal spot' would have been less than ideal in the event of a freak thunderstorm. So it was all for the best that we set up base on some sloping ground not too far away.

Getting there well before the music started was great. Had heaps of time to explore the different fields, to chill out, meet up with other folk etc. The weather was very toasty - hats and sunscreen required. That was until 4am Friday morning. Shane and Jamie were heading back to the tent at about that stage (Ali and I had retired earlier) thinking that a light splattering of rain was a good sign to head home. The splattering turned into heavy rain by morning. I was thinking how fantastic it was to have the sound of rain on the tent instead of drumming and blokes yelling "eggy bread... anyone got any eggy bread". Having been woken by the sweltering heat from the morning sun on Thursday morning, it was also lovely lying in the cool darkness at around 8am.

Being the 'man about the tent', Jamie had braved the thunder and rain at this point to check that all our tents were holding up to the onslaught. He came back in shaking his head, and grabbed his camera. It was an amazing sight, just at the base of our little hill. A river sweeping through where tents once stood, and some still kinda stood. As the spot was on the path to the loos, there was a continuous trail of people coming upon the sight and 'oh my god'ing.

The river site was bad - but the lake at the other side of our field was worse. Or at least deeper. It wasn't a foot or two of water - the tents were up to their ceilings. And to add an extra bit of magic to the moment, there were portaloos on the foreshore, so a festival steward was placed there yelling 'those with bare feet, please wash them. the water is contaminated'. mmmm yum.

Shane had the festival radio tuned in, and advised that it could be a slow start to the festival that day. Areas near the stages were flooded, and a tent or two had been hit by lightening. Apparently it was a complete freak thunderstorm which had not been predicted at all. Bucketloads of rain coming upon a weeks worth of sunny weather dirt meant mud mud MUD!

It wasn't my first intimate experience with mud, having played mud footy in Derby (that was quite an experience... a football field of mud... the feeling as you sunk up to your knees in it the first time... )However, I don't think I've ever experience so many varieties of mud as I did over the weekend... slippery... watery... deep & trudging, grassy (a sub-variety of the slippery species) and by the end of the weekend spongy.

Apparently there were some who abandoned the festival after they woke in the submerged tents. But most stuck around and made the most of it. One random guy even gave Jamie one of his new pairs of socks as he was feeling so awash with the good karma of those who had helped him when his tent drowned.

Mud aside... hmmmm well not sure what to say about it. You would be hard put to be bored there. So many fields and tents and stages and random shit. I was still finding new nooks and crannies in the last hours.

Musicwise, I loved New Order. I have never seen them live. They hark back to my high school days, when we thought we were really cool blaring it from my friend's Datsun tape deck on the drive to Lancelin. So a definite sentimental value there. Mainstream perhaps, but I thought Coldplay were great. Chris Martin is amazingly talanted, and didn't seem to have an ego to match - just carried the talent, which was refreshing. I enjoyed Billy Bragg's rather long set. Brian Wilson really rocked, and had the pyramid stage the most packed and pumping (i reckon). Everyone just seemed to know the words of these old classics! A great sunny Sunday singalong!

Fallow year next year, but maybe 2007...