Glastonbury transcript part 2
Well, I didn't get washed away, so that's good. Fortunately, Oxfam camping is on the top of the hill so we could just lay in our tent and listen to the rain. By the time we ventured out to breakfast, the mud was already developing from once green grass. We ventured down to the Pyramid stage to see the Undertones. We had been planning to meet Geneva for lunch but she texted to cry off; a bit of an emergency in the Greenpeace field and given that they were rather further down the hill from us we were just pleased to hear from her anyway. The Undertones were pretty good actually, a bouncy fun set and of course the dedicated Teenage Kicks to John Peel. They didn't play it as the final song of their set, which I was surprised by but I think it was a good decision.
After that it was back up the hill for shift 2 and ped gate B was something of a quagmire. It would be an exaggeration to call it pleasant, particularly given that it was the worst shift I could have had for missing bands (Eliza Carthy, Spiers & Boden, Alabama 3) but we made it through. We even got some woodchips down towards then end which kept the whole thing marginally usable but I'm amazed we didn't get any falls. There's going to be a busy night shift too because they closed the camping and set up outside sites (to the annoyance of many) because of the flooding. Anyway, we finally got off at 11 and went to see the White Stripes who did a pretty damn good set. We were a long way back, looking out over the crowd and it was pretty. They played Hotel Yorba and Seven Nation Army so I was happy.
After that it was back to the tent. I was dreading the disrobing stage - my overtrousers and boots were caked - but with the help of Alex and some plastic bags we made it safely to bed. The mud down by the Pyramid stage that morning had been so deep it had even gone over the waterproof level of my boots so they were pretty gross. Sadly my poncho had developed a hole at lunch so I'd had to buy a waterproof after the Undertones and of course as soon as I put it on the rain stopped. Still, worth the money just for that, I think! Wellies sold right out - next year I'll bring some even though they're horrid to wear when it's not wet. Still, better than sandals - it amazes me that people wear flip flops in this or seem to have come with only trainers.
Anyway, now it's Sunday I have plastic gaiters on (less gross than my overtrousers!) and we're in the circus field. We saw some amazing gymnastic stuff (actually, we saw some on Thursday too, but I forgot to write about it. And a juggler type thing in a triangular box.) Anyway, it's all OK and we're going to see the Coral this afternoon then nightshift tonight.
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Ash played Teenage Kicks too in memory of John Peel and Joe Strummer. We shouted for Make Poverty History. Who heard?
After that it was back up the hill for shift 2 and ped gate B was something of a quagmire. It would be an exaggeration to call it pleasant, particularly given that it was the worst shift I could have had for missing bands (Eliza Carthy, Spiers & Boden, Alabama 3) but we made it through. We even got some woodchips down towards then end which kept the whole thing marginally usable but I'm amazed we didn't get any falls. There's going to be a busy night shift too because they closed the camping and set up outside sites (to the annoyance of many) because of the flooding. Anyway, we finally got off at 11 and went to see the White Stripes who did a pretty damn good set. We were a long way back, looking out over the crowd and it was pretty. They played Hotel Yorba and Seven Nation Army so I was happy.
After that it was back to the tent. I was dreading the disrobing stage - my overtrousers and boots were caked - but with the help of Alex and some plastic bags we made it safely to bed. The mud down by the Pyramid stage that morning had been so deep it had even gone over the waterproof level of my boots so they were pretty gross. Sadly my poncho had developed a hole at lunch so I'd had to buy a waterproof after the Undertones and of course as soon as I put it on the rain stopped. Still, worth the money just for that, I think! Wellies sold right out - next year I'll bring some even though they're horrid to wear when it's not wet. Still, better than sandals - it amazes me that people wear flip flops in this or seem to have come with only trainers.
Anyway, now it's Sunday I have plastic gaiters on (less gross than my overtrousers!) and we're in the circus field. We saw some amazing gymnastic stuff (actually, we saw some on Thursday too, but I forgot to write about it. And a juggler type thing in a triangular box.) Anyway, it's all OK and we're going to see the Coral this afternoon then nightshift tonight.
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Ash played Teenage Kicks too in memory of John Peel and Joe Strummer. We shouted for Make Poverty History. Who heard?