Well, that worked!
So here it is. The interview with Chris from Wednesday morning.
My voice is a bit squeaky, but I was a touch nervous!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Wed 23rd 04.30 - 05.45
So here goes. It’s now Wed 30th June and I’ve officially had two days to recover, but you wouldn’t think so.
Where to begin?
Tuesday evening was spent watching more of the Glasto documentary from the previous weekend. WW disappeared off to bed fairly early, but myself and Ben persevered until close on 10pm when common sense dictated that the best thing to do was to grab some sleep.
4.30am and the alarm went off. Quick shower, a final shave, then came the task of hauling the gear downstairs and into the car. Coffee was on the go, but we had agreed that food could wait until we were on the way.I got myself and Ben’s stuff in the car. By the looks of it, I was taking marginally more than him but then again, he was the one who had to manage on a train.
The clock ticked round WW happened to mention that Chris Hawkins had just mentioned on BBC 6 Music that if anyone was going to Glastonbury he’d play them a tune. I asked Ben if he fancied anything, but we were both happy for anything so I sent off a quick text. I fully expected nothing to come of it, I mean let’s face it, over a million people listen to it every week.I went to watch out for Jo & Andy. Soon afterwards, my phone rang – private number.
“Hello”“Hi, is that Tom?”, said a female voice.
I thought it was Jo ringing to say that they were five minutes away or something. “Yes, that’s right”
“Hello, it’s Clare from 6 Music here. We thought it would be great if you were to have a chat with us on air”
Was this real?!?! I didn’t doubt it, but was still a little shocked. We had a bit of a chat and she promised to phone back in 5 mins from the studio. I explained the situation to Ben & WW and rushed through to the lounge. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later my phone rang again, it was Clare. She put me through to Chris and we had a brief chat off air, then as the record finished he introduced me and we had an exchange lasting 2-3 minutes. What a great start to the day!!!
Last night, I managed to find it find it on Listen Again from the Beeb website. Using a bit of technical trickery, I managed to record it and later on today, I shall try and upload it to here as a memento. Watch this space.
At the end, Chris said that I should let him know how we got on, so yesterday I emailed him and sure enough, that got read out on air at about 6.45 this morning. Again, I should be able to grab that and chuck it on here after I’ve posted some pics.
So that’s the first instalment. See you later for the photos!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
So here we are. Glasto Eve.
I'm really going to use this blog as a record of the next five days. Obviously, I'm not going to post "live", but I do have a notebook and, most importantly my cameras!
My emotions over this trip have been very variable. They have gone from terror (seriously) to ecstasy and everything in between. Currently, I'm feeling what I have been mostly. A mixture of apprehension, nervousness and excitement.
Apprehension - mostly centres around sleep... or lack of it. I think that as you get older, you need sleep more. Now, I can go without and have done on many occasions, but we're talking five days here! I seem to have lost the ability to lay in these days. So we'll see. Your body is very good at adapting.None of the other things bother me so much. Rubbish toilets? Crowds? Mud? Nah, I'm fine with all of that.
Nervousness - what to expect? I'm going with Ben (Reg's housemate). I sort of know him, but only been out with him a couple of times. Two others - Jo & Andy, are both from Dereham and I have no idea what they are like. It's a car share thing. Still, we're likely to have 6 hours in the car to all get to know each other. Getting there should be fine. Hopefully the queues won't be any where near as bad as last year. I don't mind queuing a bit. A bit of a trek across the fields to get to wherever we decide to camp. I have a massively full big rucksack, a jam-packed small rucksack, a bit tent and an Ikea bag full of cider and port! It weighs quite a bit, but I'll cope. Pics to follow!
Excitement - what can I say? To a lot of people, Glasto is the best thing to happen.... ever. They say it's the best party in the world. You meet strangers who become friends for life. You meet randoms who you share precious moments with. Lots of tears (of joy). 175,000 people all in one place, all desperate to enjoy themselves and have a good time. That, in itself, bodes well. They do say that the weather can make it awful. This year, we're set for wall to wall sunshine. What a 40th it's going to be (and me being 40).
It all begins tonight really. H is bringing Ben back from Peterborough. He got the train down from Lincoln. An early night calls. Had a few late ones lately and suffering.
Tomorrow, up at 4.30am. Andy & Jo get here about 5.20, then we're on the way. Satnav says 4.5 hours. I just hope to get in and set up by about 12. Then it's off down to the pyramid stage to watch England at 15.00. What an atmosphere that's going to be. Apparently, the last time it was the biggest audience to watch the game in one place.
I shall look forward to reporting back here with many photos next week.
Okay. Let's do it!
I'm really going to use this blog as a record of the next five days. Obviously, I'm not going to post "live", but I do have a notebook and, most importantly my cameras!
My emotions over this trip have been very variable. They have gone from terror (seriously) to ecstasy and everything in between. Currently, I'm feeling what I have been mostly. A mixture of apprehension, nervousness and excitement.
Apprehension - mostly centres around sleep... or lack of it. I think that as you get older, you need sleep more. Now, I can go without and have done on many occasions, but we're talking five days here! I seem to have lost the ability to lay in these days. So we'll see. Your body is very good at adapting.None of the other things bother me so much. Rubbish toilets? Crowds? Mud? Nah, I'm fine with all of that.
Nervousness - what to expect? I'm going with Ben (Reg's housemate). I sort of know him, but only been out with him a couple of times. Two others - Jo & Andy, are both from Dereham and I have no idea what they are like. It's a car share thing. Still, we're likely to have 6 hours in the car to all get to know each other. Getting there should be fine. Hopefully the queues won't be any where near as bad as last year. I don't mind queuing a bit. A bit of a trek across the fields to get to wherever we decide to camp. I have a massively full big rucksack, a jam-packed small rucksack, a bit tent and an Ikea bag full of cider and port! It weighs quite a bit, but I'll cope. Pics to follow!
Excitement - what can I say? To a lot of people, Glasto is the best thing to happen.... ever. They say it's the best party in the world. You meet strangers who become friends for life. You meet randoms who you share precious moments with. Lots of tears (of joy). 175,000 people all in one place, all desperate to enjoy themselves and have a good time. That, in itself, bodes well. They do say that the weather can make it awful. This year, we're set for wall to wall sunshine. What a 40th it's going to be (and me being 40).
It all begins tonight really. H is bringing Ben back from Peterborough. He got the train down from Lincoln. An early night calls. Had a few late ones lately and suffering.
Tomorrow, up at 4.30am. Andy & Jo get here about 5.20, then we're on the way. Satnav says 4.5 hours. I just hope to get in and set up by about 12. Then it's off down to the pyramid stage to watch England at 15.00. What an atmosphere that's going to be. Apparently, the last time it was the biggest audience to watch the game in one place.
I shall look forward to reporting back here with many photos next week.
Okay. Let's do it!
Friday, June 04, 2010
Fat Bottomed Girls
So I finally got round to it.... biking to work.
I need to do this for several reasons...
I need to do this for several reasons...
- It's a nice thing to do, especially in this fine weather
- It helps keep me fit(ter) and holds the weight at bay
- It save money on fuel and wear & tear
- As I bought this bike through a "cycle-to-work" scheme, I'm supposed to be using it as my primary means of getting to work. Oops.
The fact of the matter is, it's not just down to motivation - or lack of. I do have meetings away from site fairly frequently so I need to tie this in with a pool/hire car. Also if I'm on duty, time would be too tight. All that said, I would like to be able to cycle in at least twice per week.
Anyway, yesterday. All geared up (no pun intended). I do enjoy the ride in. At 7am, it's still nice and cool and the country is a lovely place to be at that time. Wildlife is aplenty and I still feel pretty fresh. As usual, I push myself along at cracking pace and was feeling it by the end. I do have a tendency to do this - in all sports like this. If I know I'm doing, say 7.5 miles, I will push myself to match that distance. I CANNOT take it easy, and this is annoying at times.
So, a good journey in. Going home was, as you'd expect, much warmer. I thought it would be harder but I really enjoyed it. There is a particular hill (yes, in Norfolk) that is painful, last night was fine. I put it down to the clipless pedals, but that's probably psychological.
Roll on next week. I'm looking at Tuesday and Thursday.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Demon Days
A quick bit of feedback on that last post - clipless pedals.
I did actually manage to give them a bit of a test (once) before the actual sponsored ride (Sun 16th). A bit of a change for the ride this time as it was from Sandringham. As it turned out, this was probably a better venue. There was definitely an increase in participants.
Ideal conditions - slightly cool. I set off steadily, pacing myself despite being hassled from Barbara & Natasha. As usual, the first hill sorted out a few people. I kep to my usual pace and ploughed along. A good halfway point is the drinks station. I never usually stop here, as I have drinks onboard and prefer to go right through. Immediately after this point are a couple of demon climbs. I went to shift gears partway up one, and my gears were playing up. I desparately tried to get it sorted without losing too much momentum and then it happened...... broken chain! Damnation.
Nothing for it but to turn round and freewheel back to the drinks station.
I was totally gutted, not just because personal pride made me want to complete the whole thing, but there was also a lot of sponsorship money riding(!) on me completing the course. Lots of people were stopped at the drinks station, and I stayed there for a good 20 mins. Zoe & Steve turned up. Steve looked a little worse for wear as he had a bad back. I think we both had the same idea at the same time - use Steve's bike!!!
So this is what I did. It was a lot heavier than mine, I was wearing cleats, the seat was at a ridiculously low height, but hey.... it was a bike!
Sure enough I got round. Pride was spared and, more importantly, all monies were honoured. I'm not totally sure how much was raised in my name, but BS are kind enough to double it.
Photos can be seen HERE. Note - none of me. I really don't like any of the publicity side of things and tend to load up my bike and head home as soon as I've finished the course.
Bring on next year - another year older!
I did actually manage to give them a bit of a test (once) before the actual sponsored ride (Sun 16th). A bit of a change for the ride this time as it was from Sandringham. As it turned out, this was probably a better venue. There was definitely an increase in participants.
Ideal conditions - slightly cool. I set off steadily, pacing myself despite being hassled from Barbara & Natasha. As usual, the first hill sorted out a few people. I kep to my usual pace and ploughed along. A good halfway point is the drinks station. I never usually stop here, as I have drinks onboard and prefer to go right through. Immediately after this point are a couple of demon climbs. I went to shift gears partway up one, and my gears were playing up. I desparately tried to get it sorted without losing too much momentum and then it happened...... broken chain! Damnation.
Nothing for it but to turn round and freewheel back to the drinks station.
I was totally gutted, not just because personal pride made me want to complete the whole thing, but there was also a lot of sponsorship money riding(!) on me completing the course. Lots of people were stopped at the drinks station, and I stayed there for a good 20 mins. Zoe & Steve turned up. Steve looked a little worse for wear as he had a bad back. I think we both had the same idea at the same time - use Steve's bike!!!
So this is what I did. It was a lot heavier than mine, I was wearing cleats, the seat was at a ridiculously low height, but hey.... it was a bike!
Sure enough I got round. Pride was spared and, more importantly, all monies were honoured. I'm not totally sure how much was raised in my name, but BS are kind enough to double it.
Photos can be seen HERE. Note - none of me. I really don't like any of the publicity side of things and tend to load up my bike and head home as soon as I've finished the course.
Bring on next year - another year older!
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