Glastonbury 2003
Jul. 1st, 2003 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fluffymarkYay Glasto! Yay Suede! Yay Radiohead! Yay Manics! Yay Yes! Yay to the fab people I had the pleasure of going there with! :)
It almost didn't happen for me, however. I'd just arrived at London Paddington, when I realised I'd left my mobile at home charging. Oh well, I thought, who needs it? Went to arranged meeting point.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited.
Bother.
No sign of Val, Joe or Penny. No way for us to contact each other. No way of finding each other. I felt my stupidity would force me to do glasto on my own, which would be far less fun. Decided to choose to travel on the train leaving platform 3, which I had booked. Stopped by the platform guard:
`Passengers for Castle Cary go to platform 8'
Looks over at the huge queue on platform 8.....
`But i'm booked on this train? It goes to Castle Cary too'
`Passengers for Castle Cary go to platform 8'
`I've got a reserved seat on this train!!!'
`Passengers for Castle Cary go to platform 8'
It was like talking to a robot. I cried and almost gave up and considered going home right there and then. :( :( :(
Things improved suddenly. I went to platform 8, and talked with the guard there, who was much more sensible. He got me on my train happily. And there I was delighted to find a very worried looking Val. So not only was I going there, I had someone to travel with, and find the rest of my friends. Yay! After many hours of queue, we finally got into Fortress Glastonbury (with SuperWall TM), and found a Penny by the gate who showed us where the others were camping.
There are many things that make glastonbury festival great. True, there are often good bands playing. But its the things that aren't bands that make it a festival, as opposed to just a huge outdoor concert, which too many summer `festivals' are condemned to be. The multitude of shops selling all sorts of strange and exotic goodies and food. The bizarre artwork and performances around ever corner to distract the unwary. The multitude of colourful banners. And above all, the friendly people who just get together and make it magical. Comparing it to last year, I felt I saw a different side of glastonbury revealed. Working during rather than pre-festival made everything much more rushed and less relaxed. Last year was a whole week, and was at a slow and happy pace. This time the afternoons were eaten by my shifts, meaning I had only 4 mornings and evenings to rush around and make the most of everything. I felt rushed instead of relaxed. Going there as part of a group changed the way I did things - I camped with Val, Joe, Penny, Matt, Pennie, and Pennie's friend David and other of her friends. Oddly, despite this, I spent far more time on my own this time than last year.
Didn't see many bands in full, the exceptions being Suede, Radiohead and of course the Manics. Mainly, I wandered (or was shuffled places while on-shift) so I caught odd bits and pieces here and there. I even got sent backstage a few times (and you should see what they have there! *shock* it's not real glastonbury back there!!!). This led to me seeing many bands I would never ordinarily have considered watching. Find of the weekend was the band named Yes on the One World Stage. My musical taste suprises even me when I found out I totally liked their kind of sound. Which I can't really describe at all. They showed themselves as first rate musicians, and put on a very memorable performance. Wow!
The Poi shop in the marketplace tempted me, so I now have a shiny twirly new pair of Poi to play with. I thusly spent mornings training my co-ordination so I can twirl them without too much of banging them into my knee, back of my head, or other more painful areas (use your imagination.....it did hurt lots). Yay. Pretty!
I'ts not everyday that I see a naked woman masturbating in public. I was called to the marketplace to sort out a litter problem near the bandstand there. Upon arrival, found a upturned litter bin, and huge pile of litter. Sitting in the litter, in full public view, was a woman not wearing...er..anything at all in fact. Many shocked onlookers trying not to look or stunned onlookers watching her...um....play with herself. It was not a pretty sight and I had to look away. The security people turned up and took her away. I got much congratulations picking up the litter afterwards. Most Odd.
And in many other ways, being on shift during the festival was bizarre. Not only the above incident, but I felt a part of the whole thing. People appeared to not tire of taking endless photos of the gothic litter picker with pink hair extensions in a sarong, who would have occasional water fights with the front stage security. I cleaned up the mess in front of the cider bar, which included me finding a abandoned can of stella, and the nice cider people gave me free cider for doing that. Yay - instant snakebite. Random strangers offered me drinks when I collected their litter. Standup comedians included me in their performance. Lots of smiling people when I cleared the grass around them. Job satisfaction wow!
Yesterday I met Michael Eavis at lunchtime and he gave me some champagne as a thankyou. In truth, I was underwhelmed - he's a man of very few words and didn't seem comfortable talking. Still, his mind was probably on other things and I suspect he was mentally exhausted after the challenges of the weekend. In any case, it was very nice to be able to congratulate him for a fab festival and shake his hand have a brief chat with him-who-makes-it-happen.
Getting back home yesterday afterwards was the usual nightmare. Glastonbury Festival's lifeline to the outer world is the tiny rural station of Castle Cary. Once a year, it doesn't know what hits it, and it gets overloaded, with long long queues just to get on and off platforms, let alone the queues for the station itself and the shuttle bus queues. The monday after glastonbury, yesterday, is the busiest day of the year for it, as everyone goes home. Last year was bad enough. This year, leaving the main gate, I was pointed at the queue for the shuttle bus. This stetches all the way from the festival bus station back to the main gate (several hundred metres) and then proceeded to extend a sizable distance around the perimeter fence. Eeep! I'd not even got to Castle Cary, and already there was the queue from hell. However, it was moving quickly - I joined the back, and in about half an hour was about a dozen people from the front. Then it stopped. We waited. And waited. And waited. The announcment came:
`There has been a signal failure at Castle Cary, and all trains have stopped running there'
Aaargh! I got out my book (The Life of Pi), stretched out in the grass under the sun and started reading, in preparation for a long wait. Two hours later, we'd not moved anywhere, and I'd read a lot of the book. I hate to think how many miles long the queue must have extended by then. Then a miracle announcment:
`All passengers for London ONLY please board the bus'
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
We were taken to Yeovil Junction station. Disturbingly, this is a station even more rural than Castle Cary (it's a long distance from Yeovil, or indeed, anywhere else!). Most amazingly, it appears to have direct trains to London Waterloo. It was also almost empty when two large busloads of happy smelly festival-goers landed on the platform, and scared the couple of locals waiting for their train. The chaos at Castle Cary was avoided! Yay! I got home a lot lot quicker than I thought I would.
Was the festival good? Yes! Will I go again? Definately! Who wants to go with me next year??? :) :) :)
Joe's fab Glastonbury photos are already available online. Hope you don't mind me linking to them! :)
It almost didn't happen for me, however. I'd just arrived at London Paddington, when I realised I'd left my mobile at home charging. Oh well, I thought, who needs it? Went to arranged meeting point.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited.
Bother.
No sign of Val, Joe or Penny. No way for us to contact each other. No way of finding each other. I felt my stupidity would force me to do glasto on my own, which would be far less fun. Decided to choose to travel on the train leaving platform 3, which I had booked. Stopped by the platform guard:
`Passengers for Castle Cary go to platform 8'
Looks over at the huge queue on platform 8.....
`But i'm booked on this train? It goes to Castle Cary too'
`Passengers for Castle Cary go to platform 8'
`I've got a reserved seat on this train!!!'
`Passengers for Castle Cary go to platform 8'
It was like talking to a robot. I cried and almost gave up and considered going home right there and then. :( :( :(
Things improved suddenly. I went to platform 8, and talked with the guard there, who was much more sensible. He got me on my train happily. And there I was delighted to find a very worried looking Val. So not only was I going there, I had someone to travel with, and find the rest of my friends. Yay! After many hours of queue, we finally got into Fortress Glastonbury (with SuperWall TM), and found a Penny by the gate who showed us where the others were camping.
There are many things that make glastonbury festival great. True, there are often good bands playing. But its the things that aren't bands that make it a festival, as opposed to just a huge outdoor concert, which too many summer `festivals' are condemned to be. The multitude of shops selling all sorts of strange and exotic goodies and food. The bizarre artwork and performances around ever corner to distract the unwary. The multitude of colourful banners. And above all, the friendly people who just get together and make it magical. Comparing it to last year, I felt I saw a different side of glastonbury revealed. Working during rather than pre-festival made everything much more rushed and less relaxed. Last year was a whole week, and was at a slow and happy pace. This time the afternoons were eaten by my shifts, meaning I had only 4 mornings and evenings to rush around and make the most of everything. I felt rushed instead of relaxed. Going there as part of a group changed the way I did things - I camped with Val, Joe, Penny, Matt, Pennie, and Pennie's friend David and other of her friends. Oddly, despite this, I spent far more time on my own this time than last year.
Didn't see many bands in full, the exceptions being Suede, Radiohead and of course the Manics. Mainly, I wandered (or was shuffled places while on-shift) so I caught odd bits and pieces here and there. I even got sent backstage a few times (and you should see what they have there! *shock* it's not real glastonbury back there!!!). This led to me seeing many bands I would never ordinarily have considered watching. Find of the weekend was the band named Yes on the One World Stage. My musical taste suprises even me when I found out I totally liked their kind of sound. Which I can't really describe at all. They showed themselves as first rate musicians, and put on a very memorable performance. Wow!
The Poi shop in the marketplace tempted me, so I now have a shiny twirly new pair of Poi to play with. I thusly spent mornings training my co-ordination so I can twirl them without too much of banging them into my knee, back of my head, or other more painful areas (use your imagination.....it did hurt lots). Yay. Pretty!
I'ts not everyday that I see a naked woman masturbating in public. I was called to the marketplace to sort out a litter problem near the bandstand there. Upon arrival, found a upturned litter bin, and huge pile of litter. Sitting in the litter, in full public view, was a woman not wearing...er..anything at all in fact. Many shocked onlookers trying not to look or stunned onlookers watching her...um....play with herself. It was not a pretty sight and I had to look away. The security people turned up and took her away. I got much congratulations picking up the litter afterwards. Most Odd.
And in many other ways, being on shift during the festival was bizarre. Not only the above incident, but I felt a part of the whole thing. People appeared to not tire of taking endless photos of the gothic litter picker with pink hair extensions in a sarong, who would have occasional water fights with the front stage security. I cleaned up the mess in front of the cider bar, which included me finding a abandoned can of stella, and the nice cider people gave me free cider for doing that. Yay - instant snakebite. Random strangers offered me drinks when I collected their litter. Standup comedians included me in their performance. Lots of smiling people when I cleared the grass around them. Job satisfaction wow!
Yesterday I met Michael Eavis at lunchtime and he gave me some champagne as a thankyou. In truth, I was underwhelmed - he's a man of very few words and didn't seem comfortable talking. Still, his mind was probably on other things and I suspect he was mentally exhausted after the challenges of the weekend. In any case, it was very nice to be able to congratulate him for a fab festival and shake his hand have a brief chat with him-who-makes-it-happen.
Getting back home yesterday afterwards was the usual nightmare. Glastonbury Festival's lifeline to the outer world is the tiny rural station of Castle Cary. Once a year, it doesn't know what hits it, and it gets overloaded, with long long queues just to get on and off platforms, let alone the queues for the station itself and the shuttle bus queues. The monday after glastonbury, yesterday, is the busiest day of the year for it, as everyone goes home. Last year was bad enough. This year, leaving the main gate, I was pointed at the queue for the shuttle bus. This stetches all the way from the festival bus station back to the main gate (several hundred metres) and then proceeded to extend a sizable distance around the perimeter fence. Eeep! I'd not even got to Castle Cary, and already there was the queue from hell. However, it was moving quickly - I joined the back, and in about half an hour was about a dozen people from the front. Then it stopped. We waited. And waited. And waited. The announcment came:
`There has been a signal failure at Castle Cary, and all trains have stopped running there'
Aaargh! I got out my book (The Life of Pi), stretched out in the grass under the sun and started reading, in preparation for a long wait. Two hours later, we'd not moved anywhere, and I'd read a lot of the book. I hate to think how many miles long the queue must have extended by then. Then a miracle announcment:
`All passengers for London ONLY please board the bus'
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
We were taken to Yeovil Junction station. Disturbingly, this is a station even more rural than Castle Cary (it's a long distance from Yeovil, or indeed, anywhere else!). Most amazingly, it appears to have direct trains to London Waterloo. It was also almost empty when two large busloads of happy smelly festival-goers landed on the platform, and scared the couple of locals waiting for their train. The chaos at Castle Cary was avoided! Yay! I got home a lot lot quicker than I thought I would.
Was the festival good? Yes! Will I go again? Definately! Who wants to go with me next year??? :) :) :)
Joe's fab Glastonbury photos are already available online. Hope you don't mind me linking to them! :)
no subject
Date: 2003-07-01 04:23 pm (UTC)