Okay, time for a rant. Haven't had one for a while, so here we go.
Car Insurance. It really is the work of the devil, isn't it?
I though it used to be straight forward. You started out with your first car. You got insurance - generally TPF&T, as that was all you could afford, and your first car was never worth that much anyway. Barring any claims, your insurance was pretty high and stayed static allegedly until you were 21 when it was rumoured to go down (don't remember that happening) and then down again at 30 (don't remember that happening either).
Statistics dictate that the older you get, the less accidents you have, so naturally it should be cheaper to insure.
Anyway... my renewal has come up. I have been with the same broker for many years and they've normally given me a good deal. So I phoned them up and asked what the renewal was. "Ah, Mr Brown, that will be about £50 more than you paid last year". Erm, hello? How can this be? I haven't claimed, my circumstances haven't changed. I am one year older, therefore less likely to have an accident. "Well, that's just the renewal rate" I'm told when I query the increase!
Now the thing with a really annoying advert is that, despite the annoyance, you do tend to remember the product. I'll not totally give it away, but make a well known comparison website out of these words..... "Compare Go". So I did. Within seconds I was delivered a page full of quotes ranging from half my renewal rate right up to £3.5K (I kid you not).
So today I phoned the broker again and told them my good fortune. "Well Mr Brown, let's see what I can do with your renewal rate to try and keep your custom". What? So the price that you originally quoted me wasn't the best one? You just thought that you'd try it on and see if I coughed up? "Oh no Mr Brown. You misunderstand. The renewal rate is the same, I will just apply an increased discount for you. Now, can you just tell me how much you've been quoted?". Yeah, right. How's about you give me the best price you can. And she did. And it was still nearly £150 more than one I'd found myself. So that's who I'm going with. She even took a "tone" with me when I said I wouldn't be renewing with them. Tee hee.
Rant over. For now.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Generate Some Music That Makes You Feel Better
Friday was the first gig of three planned before the end of the year. This one being Mr Scruff. Third time of seeing him, so to say that I was looking forward to it would be an understatement.
An added bonus this time was that I was taking a Scruffy virgin along. We shall call her Liz, because she answers to that. I think the most amusing thing leading up to the gig was our indecision about what we were going to afterwards. Hotel? Drive? B&B? Even considered camping - yes really. In the end Liz volunteered to drive. Absolutely top volunteering if you ask me. I did suffer some pangs of guilt as, in the hours leading up to the start, she realised that it was a full on DJ set running from 9pm through to 2am. She had made a hasty assumption that it would be a standard gig i.e. doors from about 7pm and all over by 11pm. Still, there we were.
I can't even try to describe the set. To say it was good would not in any way do it justice. If you like music, you should go. That is all.
Memories - warning!, fish, ghost town, cherry perry, skittles (especially the green ones), Prof Em Jay
Two gigs to go...
!!! 4th Nov
Foals 10th Nov
An added bonus this time was that I was taking a Scruffy virgin along. We shall call her Liz, because she answers to that. I think the most amusing thing leading up to the gig was our indecision about what we were going to afterwards. Hotel? Drive? B&B? Even considered camping - yes really. In the end Liz volunteered to drive. Absolutely top volunteering if you ask me. I did suffer some pangs of guilt as, in the hours leading up to the start, she realised that it was a full on DJ set running from 9pm through to 2am. She had made a hasty assumption that it would be a standard gig i.e. doors from about 7pm and all over by 11pm. Still, there we were.
I can't even try to describe the set. To say it was good would not in any way do it justice. If you like music, you should go. That is all.
Memories - warning!, fish, ghost town, cherry perry, skittles (especially the green ones), Prof Em Jay
Two gigs to go...
!!! 4th Nov
Foals 10th Nov
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday 12th September. Thorpe Park, stood in a queue of idiots.
Eventually we actually get to the front of the leviathan of a queue and take our place in the little cars that make up the rollercoaster. The usual hush descends as we await the commencement.......... and we’re off.
Again, I have cause to question people's actions. Rollercoasters – why do people raise their hands up high in the air? The only logical(?) explanation is that it’s people showing how brave they are at not holding on. But excuse me. What is this bloody great u-shaped bar that is pressing down on my shoulders and chest? Take all of that away, then see how many people raise their hands in the air. Actually, thinking about who was on the ride, I suspect that at least 50% still would.
The rides these days seem to have a to have a “claim”, a “best of” so to speak. Colossus being no exception. Apparently it’s the rollercoaster with the most inversions - ten. There you go.
I’m quite a fan of rollercoasters, but this one really didn’t do it for me. There was no great drop, there was no extreme speed. There were inversions though, although I’m not sure if there was ten, I wasn’t counting. No-one threw up on our turn.
It was somewhat of an anti-climax and not the best way to start the day.
What next? Rapids. Woop woop, only a fifteen minute queue. The ride itself? I will give it 7 out of 10. It’s didn’t disappoint, but only in the way that expectations to be thrilled weren’t especially high.
Right. Really need to lift our spirits. Let’s go for an old favourite – Nemesis. Good news too, only a 45 min wait! That will do for me....
Except it wasn’t.
It was over two hours.
At one point, we were debating jumping over the fence and just leaving, but we stuck with it.
As a ride, it was quite good. It was typically Nemesis-like. But we were so hacked off with the whole place that we couldn’t really enjoy it.
Should we have stayed and got our money’s worth? Well no. Firstly we hadn’t strictly paid, and secondly why put ourselves through yet more queuing and disappointment?
So that was it. Between four and five hours spent at Thorpe Park, and 95% of that was in queues, full of retards. Chavvy retards.
I’m soooooo looking forward to Alton Towers next year.
Again, I have cause to question people's actions. Rollercoasters – why do people raise their hands up high in the air? The only logical(?) explanation is that it’s people showing how brave they are at not holding on. But excuse me. What is this bloody great u-shaped bar that is pressing down on my shoulders and chest? Take all of that away, then see how many people raise their hands in the air. Actually, thinking about who was on the ride, I suspect that at least 50% still would.
The rides these days seem to have a to have a “claim”, a “best of” so to speak. Colossus being no exception. Apparently it’s the rollercoaster with the most inversions - ten. There you go.
I’m quite a fan of rollercoasters, but this one really didn’t do it for me. There was no great drop, there was no extreme speed. There were inversions though, although I’m not sure if there was ten, I wasn’t counting. No-one threw up on our turn.
It was somewhat of an anti-climax and not the best way to start the day.
What next? Rapids. Woop woop, only a fifteen minute queue. The ride itself? I will give it 7 out of 10. It’s didn’t disappoint, but only in the way that expectations to be thrilled weren’t especially high.
Right. Really need to lift our spirits. Let’s go for an old favourite – Nemesis. Good news too, only a 45 min wait! That will do for me....
Except it wasn’t.
It was over two hours.
At one point, we were debating jumping over the fence and just leaving, but we stuck with it.
As a ride, it was quite good. It was typically Nemesis-like. But we were so hacked off with the whole place that we couldn’t really enjoy it.
Should we have stayed and got our money’s worth? Well no. Firstly we hadn’t strictly paid, and secondly why put ourselves through yet more queuing and disappointment?
So that was it. Between four and five hours spent at Thorpe Park, and 95% of that was in queues, full of retards. Chavvy retards.
I’m soooooo looking forward to Alton Towers next year.
TP Part 1
As mentioned, Sunday 12th was to be Thorpe Park day. Been?
Satnav said 2.5 hours and who am I to argue?
So off we go.
Breakfast to be had ‘on the hoof’. Promised ourselves a McDonalds breakfast. I don’t mind Maccy Ds. I wouldn’t say that I crave them, but by the same token, I’m certainly not in the anti-fastfood brigade.
So the Tomtom came into its own (again). Plenty of Burger Kings en route, but no signs for McDonalds. The last time that I had a Burger King breakfast burger it was, let’s be honest, awful. A quick search and a preferred purveyor of lard-in-a-bun was found within yards of the M25. Time was approaching 9.30 and I was amazed at quite how busy it was. Anyway, enough rambling for now. Double sausage & egg McMuffin complete with hash brown and fresh orange. Onwards.
I’ll spare you the rest of the journey as it was not of any interest whatsoever.
And so we begin my worst visit to a theme park... ever.
Entry is fairly straight forward. A little bit of a queue, nothing major. Hand over our vouchers courtesy of Tesco Clubcards (other loyalty deals are available) and in we go.
On entry we choose to dive into the first available ride – Colossus. As we walk in, the sign says 80mins. That was an under-estimate. Fortunately it’s a nice day, so we act ever-so-British and queue politely.
After a good hour and a half, we get close to the front and across the tannoy comes an announcement that they are stopping the ride as someone has been sick. What? Are they not prepared for this sort of eventuality? No-one else seem particularly bothered by this, so I immediately start to wonder why. Is it...
a) Me that is being grossly impatient.
b) Others that are very mild mannered with regards to queuing
c) The average person in the queue has a very low IQ and therefore the concept of queuing amongst similar ‘beings’ for over an hour and a half, and then being told to wait for another indefinite amount of time just passes them by without worry.
I’m not sure. What do you think?
Satnav said 2.5 hours and who am I to argue?
So off we go.
Breakfast to be had ‘on the hoof’. Promised ourselves a McDonalds breakfast. I don’t mind Maccy Ds. I wouldn’t say that I crave them, but by the same token, I’m certainly not in the anti-fastfood brigade.
So the Tomtom came into its own (again). Plenty of Burger Kings en route, but no signs for McDonalds. The last time that I had a Burger King breakfast burger it was, let’s be honest, awful. A quick search and a preferred purveyor of lard-in-a-bun was found within yards of the M25. Time was approaching 9.30 and I was amazed at quite how busy it was. Anyway, enough rambling for now. Double sausage & egg McMuffin complete with hash brown and fresh orange. Onwards.
I’ll spare you the rest of the journey as it was not of any interest whatsoever.
And so we begin my worst visit to a theme park... ever.
Entry is fairly straight forward. A little bit of a queue, nothing major. Hand over our vouchers courtesy of Tesco Clubcards (other loyalty deals are available) and in we go.
On entry we choose to dive into the first available ride – Colossus. As we walk in, the sign says 80mins. That was an under-estimate. Fortunately it’s a nice day, so we act ever-so-British and queue politely.
After a good hour and a half, we get close to the front and across the tannoy comes an announcement that they are stopping the ride as someone has been sick. What? Are they not prepared for this sort of eventuality? No-one else seem particularly bothered by this, so I immediately start to wonder why. Is it...
a) Me that is being grossly impatient.
b) Others that are very mild mannered with regards to queuing
c) The average person in the queue has a very low IQ and therefore the concept of queuing amongst similar ‘beings’ for over an hour and a half, and then being told to wait for another indefinite amount of time just passes them by without worry.
I’m not sure. What do you think?
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Ramblng Rose
Right, a little bit of neglect, blogwise. Must try harder! Now that I've (re)started it, I ought to make the effort.
So this one's just going to become a bit of a natter really.
First day back after two weeks off, was last week.
What did I do with my two weeks off? Not a great deal to be honest, but that's what I wanted to, so it's not all bad.
The first week was pretty damn wet for a start, so lots of messing about. I rediscovered the up to date version of Elite and messed about on that quite a bit. Squeezed in a bike ride.
The middle weekend was spent a bit of a mess, and come the second week, I actually decided to do something. A few good walks, a few more bike rides and lots more relaxing.
Yep, come last Monday I was pretty refreshed.
It's been a while since I've had a whole fortnight off work and it WAS a shock to the system. Soon got into it though and was firing on all cylinders within a couple of hours.
The week has shot by. Duty on Monday night. A visit to Norwich Air Ambulance on Thursday to present them with a check for £10K from our Snowdon walk.
So here we are, Saturday! A bit of a sod. Ordered a new 40" TV. That arrived this morning. I unpacked it, and starting setting up. As usual, I got rid of all the polystyrene as I went. It was only when I set it up and went to turn it on that I realised that all the screen was cracked. Next steps - retrieve all of the packaging from the bin and try and package it up again.
Today was supposed to be Thorpe Park, but it was light rain today versus sunny tomorrow, so that's when I'm going now instead.
My God, what a boring post. Only marginally better than none at all...
So this one's just going to become a bit of a natter really.
First day back after two weeks off, was last week.
What did I do with my two weeks off? Not a great deal to be honest, but that's what I wanted to, so it's not all bad.
The first week was pretty damn wet for a start, so lots of messing about. I rediscovered the up to date version of Elite and messed about on that quite a bit. Squeezed in a bike ride.
The middle weekend was spent a bit of a mess, and come the second week, I actually decided to do something. A few good walks, a few more bike rides and lots more relaxing.
Yep, come last Monday I was pretty refreshed.
It's been a while since I've had a whole fortnight off work and it WAS a shock to the system. Soon got into it though and was firing on all cylinders within a couple of hours.
The week has shot by. Duty on Monday night. A visit to Norwich Air Ambulance on Thursday to present them with a check for £10K from our Snowdon walk.
So here we are, Saturday! A bit of a sod. Ordered a new 40" TV. That arrived this morning. I unpacked it, and starting setting up. As usual, I got rid of all the polystyrene as I went. It was only when I set it up and went to turn it on that I realised that all the screen was cracked. Next steps - retrieve all of the packaging from the bin and try and package it up again.
Today was supposed to be Thorpe Park, but it was light rain today versus sunny tomorrow, so that's when I'm going now instead.
My God, what a boring post. Only marginally better than none at all...
Thursday, August 19, 2010
No Parlez
As many of you will know, the old folks have a place En France. Wanna know where?
Here it be. If you can’t be bothered to look it up and you know France, it’s partway between Bergerac and Poitiers.
I tend to go there most years for the obvious reasons – the weather, the food, the drink and not forgetting that it’s nice to go and see one’s parents every once in a while.
So come 24th July, that’s where we're heading. Normally, being just the two of us, we’d fly. This time we were taking the car. Up at 4-ish and crack on down to Folkestone to get the Eurotunnel. We were in pretty good time and so stood a really good chance of getting a slightly earlier crossing. Here is where we encountered the first problem.
My TomTom is one of the earlier models. It’s served me well for quite a few years now. The one that I own takes an SD card. If I want to switch between countries, I need to select that on the device itself. Sat in the Eurotunnel car park seemed a good place to do this. And so it was, but the Tomtom didn’t like it. Oh no, it didn’t like the France map at all.
So there we are with about 20 minutes to board the shuttle with no Satnav of France and no road atlas. Great.
I’ve driven down there before.... once. The route takes us through the centre of Paris. Great.
So how was this problem overcome? It just so happened that I’d got a new Blackberry through work a couple of weeks before. This particular model has GPS reception and I had recently downloaded Google Maps onto it. As soon as we got a signal at Calais, I quickly looked up the route. Fortunately, it’s fairly straight forward (despite still going through Paris). One other thing was that I had a charger for the phone, but not a car charger. GPS tends to soak up the battery. Back up plan was to check the route and make a quick note of the directions. That was it, simple as. But it worked. Seven hours or so later we arrived, to a well earned drink and some food.
The rest of the week was fairly straight forward. The intention was to have a totally relaxing time. Wind down from work, soak up some sun, and eat, drink & be merry.
It’s all too easy whilst there to be very lazy and you end up feeling very sedentary and generally out of condition. We decided to try and do something active most morning and then wind down from lunchtime into the evening.
Sunday – walked back from Aigre (the nearest town), about 6.5Km
Monday – a circular walk from Chillé, about 12Km
Tuesday – canoeing on a small river not too far away
Wednesday – a walk to Aigre AND back, 13Km
Thursday – can’t remember!
Friday – lunch out, so we didn’t bother
All good fun. M&D had never been canoeing before and went for a 2-man kayak. Myself & H were on small canoes. These were very little, highly manoeuvrable, BUT not the most stable of craft. H really didn’t get on with hers and spent most of the time trying to aim forwards. To say she didn’t really enjoy would be a bit of an understatement. The French country air has never been so blue!
These photos aren’t in any particular order, they’re just thrown in to break of my ramblings.
A major sad part of this visit is that it was to be our final one. After six years, M&D have decided that they would like to be back in England and are selling up. In actual fact they received an agreeable offer on the Thursday that we were there.
Friday lunch is also worth a mention. One of the best restaurants in the area is called Le Cheval Blanc (The White Horse, for the non-French speakers). It is very popular with Brits and the food there is superb. There are a couple of fixed menus which prove most popular. Our choice is the five course one for €18. Exceptionally good value for what you get, and it includes wine.
The shop above is in Aigre and owned by the same people who own Le Cheval Blanc. It sells some wonderful things. Lots of typical French foodstuffs, as well as kitchen ornaments, and decorations.
So, the end of an era. But such a lovely era. The long-term readers of this blog will know how the house started out and what a wonderful job M&D have done to convert it and make it such a lovely place. The new owners are very lucky.
However, M&D have made many friends in the area and there are ample opportunities to go and stay in the area – not least M’s sister, who only lives a few K’s away.
We had a bit of a wobble with the Satnav on the way there, but it earned it’s keep on the way back! I shall explain...
As per most modern cars, the BM has a readout of miles left in the tank. I tend to let it go down to about 50 before refuelling. We set off back with over 200 in the tank. We cracked on and decided to stop, refuel and grab a sandwich (kindly provided by M).
The service station was completely RAMMED. Queues of about 5-6 cars at each pump. As we got nearer the front we realised we were in a line for diesel only. No choice but to pull over and go round again. I found us a place in the car park and we ate. As the service station was a major one, I suggested that we crack on to the next (hopefully) quieter one.
It was a bit further than we expected but, with 12 miles to go (in the tank), we arrived. It was just as busy as the previous one. We made the same mistake and got in the wrong queue!!! This time we HAD to go round again, so I followed the exit and went to go round... except the exit led straight out onto the motorway, with no way back!!! Not good. Not good at all.
I slowed right down to 50mph, turned off the air con and basically tried to conserve fuel! In the end we decided to pull in next to an emergency telephone. Best try and do something rather than totally run out on the motorway.
One last chance. I looked on the Satnav for the nearest petrol station. After much trawling I found one 11 miles away. 11 miles in the tank. Nothing for it.
Both myself and H were very, very tense for the next ten minutes. We followed the directions and pulled off the motorway. Off down some back roads and entered a town. There it was! I pulled up at the pump and glanced down – 1 mile left in the tank.
I filled up. My tank holds 70 litres. It took 69.65 to fill.
The rest of the journey was, thankfully, uneventful. After all of that gorgeous French food, we had takeaway fish & chips when we got back.
Here it be. If you can’t be bothered to look it up and you know France, it’s partway between Bergerac and Poitiers.
I tend to go there most years for the obvious reasons – the weather, the food, the drink and not forgetting that it’s nice to go and see one’s parents every once in a while.
So come 24th July, that’s where we're heading. Normally, being just the two of us, we’d fly. This time we were taking the car. Up at 4-ish and crack on down to Folkestone to get the Eurotunnel. We were in pretty good time and so stood a really good chance of getting a slightly earlier crossing. Here is where we encountered the first problem.
My TomTom is one of the earlier models. It’s served me well for quite a few years now. The one that I own takes an SD card. If I want to switch between countries, I need to select that on the device itself. Sat in the Eurotunnel car park seemed a good place to do this. And so it was, but the Tomtom didn’t like it. Oh no, it didn’t like the France map at all.
So there we are with about 20 minutes to board the shuttle with no Satnav of France and no road atlas. Great.
I’ve driven down there before.... once. The route takes us through the centre of Paris. Great.
So how was this problem overcome? It just so happened that I’d got a new Blackberry through work a couple of weeks before. This particular model has GPS reception and I had recently downloaded Google Maps onto it. As soon as we got a signal at Calais, I quickly looked up the route. Fortunately, it’s fairly straight forward (despite still going through Paris). One other thing was that I had a charger for the phone, but not a car charger. GPS tends to soak up the battery. Back up plan was to check the route and make a quick note of the directions. That was it, simple as. But it worked. Seven hours or so later we arrived, to a well earned drink and some food.
The rest of the week was fairly straight forward. The intention was to have a totally relaxing time. Wind down from work, soak up some sun, and eat, drink & be merry.
It’s all too easy whilst there to be very lazy and you end up feeling very sedentary and generally out of condition. We decided to try and do something active most morning and then wind down from lunchtime into the evening.
Sunday – walked back from Aigre (the nearest town), about 6.5Km
Monday – a circular walk from Chillé, about 12Km
Tuesday – canoeing on a small river not too far away
Wednesday – a walk to Aigre AND back, 13Km
Thursday – can’t remember!
Friday – lunch out, so we didn’t bother
All good fun. M&D had never been canoeing before and went for a 2-man kayak. Myself & H were on small canoes. These were very little, highly manoeuvrable, BUT not the most stable of craft. H really didn’t get on with hers and spent most of the time trying to aim forwards. To say she didn’t really enjoy would be a bit of an understatement. The French country air has never been so blue!
These photos aren’t in any particular order, they’re just thrown in to break of my ramblings.
A major sad part of this visit is that it was to be our final one. After six years, M&D have decided that they would like to be back in England and are selling up. In actual fact they received an agreeable offer on the Thursday that we were there.
Friday lunch is also worth a mention. One of the best restaurants in the area is called Le Cheval Blanc (The White Horse, for the non-French speakers). It is very popular with Brits and the food there is superb. There are a couple of fixed menus which prove most popular. Our choice is the five course one for €18. Exceptionally good value for what you get, and it includes wine.
The shop above is in Aigre and owned by the same people who own Le Cheval Blanc. It sells some wonderful things. Lots of typical French foodstuffs, as well as kitchen ornaments, and decorations.
So, the end of an era. But such a lovely era. The long-term readers of this blog will know how the house started out and what a wonderful job M&D have done to convert it and make it such a lovely place. The new owners are very lucky.
However, M&D have made many friends in the area and there are ample opportunities to go and stay in the area – not least M’s sister, who only lives a few K’s away.
We had a bit of a wobble with the Satnav on the way there, but it earned it’s keep on the way back! I shall explain...
As per most modern cars, the BM has a readout of miles left in the tank. I tend to let it go down to about 50 before refuelling. We set off back with over 200 in the tank. We cracked on and decided to stop, refuel and grab a sandwich (kindly provided by M).
The service station was completely RAMMED. Queues of about 5-6 cars at each pump. As we got nearer the front we realised we were in a line for diesel only. No choice but to pull over and go round again. I found us a place in the car park and we ate. As the service station was a major one, I suggested that we crack on to the next (hopefully) quieter one.
It was a bit further than we expected but, with 12 miles to go (in the tank), we arrived. It was just as busy as the previous one. We made the same mistake and got in the wrong queue!!! This time we HAD to go round again, so I followed the exit and went to go round... except the exit led straight out onto the motorway, with no way back!!! Not good. Not good at all.
I slowed right down to 50mph, turned off the air con and basically tried to conserve fuel! In the end we decided to pull in next to an emergency telephone. Best try and do something rather than totally run out on the motorway.
One last chance. I looked on the Satnav for the nearest petrol station. After much trawling I found one 11 miles away. 11 miles in the tank. Nothing for it.
Both myself and H were very, very tense for the next ten minutes. We followed the directions and pulled off the motorway. Off down some back roads and entered a town. There it was! I pulled up at the pump and glanced down – 1 mile left in the tank.
I filled up. My tank holds 70 litres. It took 69.65 to fill.
The rest of the journey was, thankfully, uneventful. After all of that gorgeous French food, we had takeaway fish & chips when we got back.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
There is life beyond Glastonbury
Okay, hopefully I will get up to date over the next week or so.
I do believe that Glastonbury was worth taking the time over, hopefully you agree and didn't get too bored along the way.
I was back at work on Tuesday 29th July. I purposefully kept that morning free, but needn't really have bothered. I felt surprisingly good to be honest. However, as is always the case after a break from work, there was plenty to catch up on. That week passed rather quickly.
The following week had a "Team Building Event" planned. Basically, it was the Agriculture teams from Wissington & Cantley getting together for a few days (totalling about 20 of us). The peak (excuse the pun) of the few days was to be a climb up Snowdon. All in aid of charity, but more of the money side later.
We set off on the Thursday morning, meeting on the outskirts of Shrewsbury mid-morning. After all meeting up and having a coffee, we travelled in convoy to a "surprise destination". This turned out to be a warm up climb taking on The Wrekin. No, I hadn't heard of it either. Here's a link.... CLICK ME.
It was quite a nice day, if anything a little warm so off we went. Not too long to get us to the top and here's the proof...
That out of the way, off we went again to a nearby hotel.
I shan't bore you with the rest of the day, as it involved work stuff. It did finish with a good fun quiz in the evening mind.
Friday saw an early start, 6am, as we had to get to Snowdon from where we were. A couple of coffee to wash down bacon sandwich and away. I can't remember how far it was, but I'm guessing at just under two hours.
Hands up who's climbed Snowdon? Yep, me too. It's a pretty popular mountain to climb. Last time I did it was in 2005. We did the Llanberis path. There are quite a few ways up the mountain and that path is probably the easiest, it's even tarmaced a lot of the way. Me and H did it fairly comfortably in about 4-4.5 hours. It was nice and bright although still misty on the summit. This time was to be somewhat different. Oh yes.
So here is Snowdon in all its glory (not my pic)...
Now, take your hand and cover up the top three quarters of that photo. That's what we arrived to find, and remember that this is the height of summer!
Behold the car park.
Never mind. We were doing it no matter what. Everyone had gathered within half an hour. We were also joined by a couple of the mountain rescue team, just 'cos they fancied it! Roly, their dog, came along too. He was a seasoned rescue hound, now retired.
I had a good choice of clothes, I would have loved to have started in shorts and t-shirt, but it wasn't to be. Everyone donned full waterproofs. I choose against leggings and stuck with 3/4 trousers. Someone had even ignored all advice and worn jeans! You never, ever wear jeans for climbing/walking. Ever! Doh!
Right, off we go.
Here are quite a few pics, the final one being well on the way down.
We went up the Pyg Track and down the Miners Track. It started with some walking and then gradually got steeper... then steeper. Lots of stepping, and plenty of using one's hands. The wind was really blowing a bit of a gale. The rain never stopped.... at all. At times, it seemed to be coming down horizontally.
Within 30 minutes, everyone (including the pros) were totally drenched. Waterproofs were totally beaten.
I have never, ever been so wet without actually being submerged. We couldn't stand still for long, as being soaked combined with the strong wind soon caused you to get damn cold!
But, we all made it. A welcome thirty minutes were had in the café at the summit. I took my coat off and realised it weighed about five times more than normal. I hung it over a table and it didn't stop dripping for the whole thirty minutes.
Got the message about how wet it was?
The trek down was a bit easier and took maybe half an hour less. Pyg Track is a bit of a trek all the way up, the Miners Track is steeper near the top, but for the lower section, it's fairly easy walking.
So here we all are back at the car park...
The "Gears" thing is to do with work.
The afternoon and evening were spent relaxing, eating some good nosh and having a few beers. Needless to say that we all about ready for bed by about 10pm!!!
So that was Snowdon. ANd the money raised? Well totally, over £15,000. Not too shabby, eh?
I do believe that Glastonbury was worth taking the time over, hopefully you agree and didn't get too bored along the way.
I was back at work on Tuesday 29th July. I purposefully kept that morning free, but needn't really have bothered. I felt surprisingly good to be honest. However, as is always the case after a break from work, there was plenty to catch up on. That week passed rather quickly.
The following week had a "Team Building Event" planned. Basically, it was the Agriculture teams from Wissington & Cantley getting together for a few days (totalling about 20 of us). The peak (excuse the pun) of the few days was to be a climb up Snowdon. All in aid of charity, but more of the money side later.
We set off on the Thursday morning, meeting on the outskirts of Shrewsbury mid-morning. After all meeting up and having a coffee, we travelled in convoy to a "surprise destination". This turned out to be a warm up climb taking on The Wrekin. No, I hadn't heard of it either. Here's a link.... CLICK ME.
It was quite a nice day, if anything a little warm so off we went. Not too long to get us to the top and here's the proof...
That out of the way, off we went again to a nearby hotel.
I shan't bore you with the rest of the day, as it involved work stuff. It did finish with a good fun quiz in the evening mind.
Friday saw an early start, 6am, as we had to get to Snowdon from where we were. A couple of coffee to wash down bacon sandwich and away. I can't remember how far it was, but I'm guessing at just under two hours.
Hands up who's climbed Snowdon? Yep, me too. It's a pretty popular mountain to climb. Last time I did it was in 2005. We did the Llanberis path. There are quite a few ways up the mountain and that path is probably the easiest, it's even tarmaced a lot of the way. Me and H did it fairly comfortably in about 4-4.5 hours. It was nice and bright although still misty on the summit. This time was to be somewhat different. Oh yes.
So here is Snowdon in all its glory (not my pic)...
Now, take your hand and cover up the top three quarters of that photo. That's what we arrived to find, and remember that this is the height of summer!
Behold the car park.
Never mind. We were doing it no matter what. Everyone had gathered within half an hour. We were also joined by a couple of the mountain rescue team, just 'cos they fancied it! Roly, their dog, came along too. He was a seasoned rescue hound, now retired.
I had a good choice of clothes, I would have loved to have started in shorts and t-shirt, but it wasn't to be. Everyone donned full waterproofs. I choose against leggings and stuck with 3/4 trousers. Someone had even ignored all advice and worn jeans! You never, ever wear jeans for climbing/walking. Ever! Doh!
Right, off we go.
Here are quite a few pics, the final one being well on the way down.
We went up the Pyg Track and down the Miners Track. It started with some walking and then gradually got steeper... then steeper. Lots of stepping, and plenty of using one's hands. The wind was really blowing a bit of a gale. The rain never stopped.... at all. At times, it seemed to be coming down horizontally.
Within 30 minutes, everyone (including the pros) were totally drenched. Waterproofs were totally beaten.
I have never, ever been so wet without actually being submerged. We couldn't stand still for long, as being soaked combined with the strong wind soon caused you to get damn cold!
But, we all made it. A welcome thirty minutes were had in the café at the summit. I took my coat off and realised it weighed about five times more than normal. I hung it over a table and it didn't stop dripping for the whole thirty minutes.
Got the message about how wet it was?
The trek down was a bit easier and took maybe half an hour less. Pyg Track is a bit of a trek all the way up, the Miners Track is steeper near the top, but for the lower section, it's fairly easy walking.
So here we all are back at the car park...
The "Gears" thing is to do with work.
The afternoon and evening were spent relaxing, eating some good nosh and having a few beers. Needless to say that we all about ready for bed by about 10pm!!!
So that was Snowdon. ANd the money raised? Well totally, over £15,000. Not too shabby, eh?
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Catch Up
Right. Need to get some writing done!
That's a line drawn under Glastonbury. Next up is the Snowdon adventure, then the week en France.
Watch this space!
That's a line drawn under Glastonbury. Next up is the Snowdon adventure, then the week en France.
Watch this space!
Mon 28th Jun @ 09.30 - ish
Ouch! We certainly did see the last night out with a bang!
I remember Andy saying that he woke up to find glowsticks wrapped around his wrists. Took a while to remember where they had come from, "I don't even like raving", were his words.
All things must come to an end.
We quickly got packed up and wearily loaded all the bags. Pretty much taking everything that we had brought, save for the alcohol.
It was a LONG walk back to the car. We dropped Jo off part way. She was getting a bus to the train station to meet up with her mum and her boys for a week's holiday.
Myself, Andy & Ben kept on plodding.
The car was a welcome sight. Everything was dumped inside and we drove straight out. Not one queue. A real blessing.
The journey home was pretty uneventful. We stopped off for food at one point. It was amusing looking around the cafe and seeing the other tired, dirty looking travellers, all wearing the same distinctive wristband.
Ben was dropped off at Cambridge train station to head off back to Lincoln. The final two cracked on home with Andy a further half an hour or so.
So there way go. What an experience.
Can't finish without saying a huge big thanks to the people that I went with. They made it what is was.
Ben - what a character! A genuinely funny guy. Always good to have a good joke with. Came out with some classic, cutting lines. I still remember asking where his folding chair was? "Well, I went into a toilet with it, and came out without it". Brilliant!
Jo - my food-mate! An absolutely lovely person with a heart of gold. I managed to drag her up the hill and we enjoyed some great sights from there. I beat her on the fish curry and she beat me on the Tacos. Half a bottle of port each on the last night!
Andy - hard to believe that we only met on the Wednesday morning. I don't think either of us knew what to expect. Within a couple of days, it was if we had been best mates for years. Shared some really special times, not all revolving around alcohol.
So, what of the future?
I'll see you there!
I remember Andy saying that he woke up to find glowsticks wrapped around his wrists. Took a while to remember where they had come from, "I don't even like raving", were his words.
All things must come to an end.
We quickly got packed up and wearily loaded all the bags. Pretty much taking everything that we had brought, save for the alcohol.
It was a LONG walk back to the car. We dropped Jo off part way. She was getting a bus to the train station to meet up with her mum and her boys for a week's holiday.
Myself, Andy & Ben kept on plodding.
The car was a welcome sight. Everything was dumped inside and we drove straight out. Not one queue. A real blessing.
The journey home was pretty uneventful. We stopped off for food at one point. It was amusing looking around the cafe and seeing the other tired, dirty looking travellers, all wearing the same distinctive wristband.
Ben was dropped off at Cambridge train station to head off back to Lincoln. The final two cracked on home with Andy a further half an hour or so.
So there way go. What an experience.
Can't finish without saying a huge big thanks to the people that I went with. They made it what is was.
Ben - what a character! A genuinely funny guy. Always good to have a good joke with. Came out with some classic, cutting lines. I still remember asking where his folding chair was? "Well, I went into a toilet with it, and came out without it". Brilliant!
Jo - my food-mate! An absolutely lovely person with a heart of gold. I managed to drag her up the hill and we enjoyed some great sights from there. I beat her on the fish curry and she beat me on the Tacos. Half a bottle of port each on the last night!
Andy - hard to believe that we only met on the Wednesday morning. I don't think either of us knew what to expect. Within a couple of days, it was if we had been best mates for years. Shared some really special times, not all revolving around alcohol.
So, what of the future?
I'll see you there!
Sun 27th Jun @ 07.00
And so onto the final day. My memory is lacking somewhat on this and I’m somewhat reliant on a running order to remember where I was at any particular time.
The usual three of us met up and had a walk down to the other stage. We must have had food on the way, but I can’t quite remember what – possibly another Growler.
While I think about food, there’s one dish that I had that I haven’t mentioned so far. I must have forgotten about it. I believe I had it late on Saturday afternoon.
Behold the Goan fish curry...
There was a bit of a queue for this stall 20+ people, but it came well recommended. Definitely worth waiting for! Some huge bits of fish in it and a lovely spicy sauce. I think it cost £7, which is the most that I paid for a meal, but it was good value and very tasty.
Back to Sunday morning...
We found a spot in the shade of a flag (didn’t last long) and listened to the band that were playing – Frightened Rabbit. Again, this is a band that I’d heard mention of before. They were really good actually. All three of us enjoyed it.
I’m not totally sure what we did next, but I do know that myself and Andy had already decided to go and watch the football in the afternoon.
They had put aside a field especially for it. England versus Germany in the World Cup. We found a reasonable spot in the field and had a sit down. It was damn hot and no shade. The field filled up fast. At one point I had a good look round and estimated there to be well in excess of 40K people there.
I’m not going to talk about the game much. There was a great atmosphere though. Lots of inflatables flying around. At half time, as one, 30K all sat down. That was quite sight to see.
The end of the game came round and despite the result, everyone’s spirits weren’t dented at all.
We walked back to the tent. I say “walked”. That amount of people all heading in the same direction was quite a challenge. Typically Glasto though, not one person was bothered by it. We just got on and did it.
Despite it being relatively early, we weren’t going to return, so took supplies (alcohol) with us and went to meet Jo at the Pyramid. It was going to be Jack Johnson followed by Faithless followed by Stevie Wonder. The only variance from this was Andy fancied Toots & The Maytalls rather than Faithless. V & H were also going to try and join us.
Jo had bagged a good spot down near the intermediate railings. This was good as we could stick our bags at the railings, also were less likely to get barged about too much.
Jack Johnson came on after a short while and went down really well. Just what everyone was in the mood for – a nice bit of mellowness for a Sunday afternoon.
And now... one of the moments that I had been waiting for all weekend...
And they didn't disappoint. An absolutely blinding set. Myself and Jo were dancing from start to finish. The crowd were loving it so much too.
V&H managed to join us straight after Jack Johnson and for the start of Faithless, but moved back to get more space to dance.
Another thing about Glastonbury is the range of taste etc. When Faithless finished, we had this huge change in crowd. Many wanted to stay of course, but by the same token, a lot left for elsewhere whilst other came for the headliner...
What can you say about the legend that is Stevie Wonder?
Again, I'd been looking forward to this. Faithless into Stevie? Awesome.
I'm not even going to try and describe the set. Andy had managed to get back to us, so all three of us enjoyed it together. Simply brilliant. All the people around us were loving it too.
V&H came to join us again straight after Stevie. We all chose to hang about and let the crowds die off a bit.
After a while Jo decided to call it a night. Only one thing for it then.... West Holts!
Due to fears about massive queues getting out of the carparks, we had made tentative plans about getting up at 6am to beat the rush.
This was before we had a drink, or several.
I vaguely remember saying to Andy that we ought to head off to bed. This was sometime after 2am. Shall we say that the two of us had thoroughly made the most of the evening! Lots of random strangers to share a cider with and have a natter.
My last memory before falling asleep was sending Andy a text at about 3am. Something along the lines of - "There's no way that I'm gonna make 6!"
The usual three of us met up and had a walk down to the other stage. We must have had food on the way, but I can’t quite remember what – possibly another Growler.
While I think about food, there’s one dish that I had that I haven’t mentioned so far. I must have forgotten about it. I believe I had it late on Saturday afternoon.
Behold the Goan fish curry...
There was a bit of a queue for this stall 20+ people, but it came well recommended. Definitely worth waiting for! Some huge bits of fish in it and a lovely spicy sauce. I think it cost £7, which is the most that I paid for a meal, but it was good value and very tasty.
Back to Sunday morning...
We found a spot in the shade of a flag (didn’t last long) and listened to the band that were playing – Frightened Rabbit. Again, this is a band that I’d heard mention of before. They were really good actually. All three of us enjoyed it.
I’m not totally sure what we did next, but I do know that myself and Andy had already decided to go and watch the football in the afternoon.
They had put aside a field especially for it. England versus Germany in the World Cup. We found a reasonable spot in the field and had a sit down. It was damn hot and no shade. The field filled up fast. At one point I had a good look round and estimated there to be well in excess of 40K people there.
I’m not going to talk about the game much. There was a great atmosphere though. Lots of inflatables flying around. At half time, as one, 30K all sat down. That was quite sight to see.
The end of the game came round and despite the result, everyone’s spirits weren’t dented at all.
We walked back to the tent. I say “walked”. That amount of people all heading in the same direction was quite a challenge. Typically Glasto though, not one person was bothered by it. We just got on and did it.
Despite it being relatively early, we weren’t going to return, so took supplies (alcohol) with us and went to meet Jo at the Pyramid. It was going to be Jack Johnson followed by Faithless followed by Stevie Wonder. The only variance from this was Andy fancied Toots & The Maytalls rather than Faithless. V & H were also going to try and join us.
Jo had bagged a good spot down near the intermediate railings. This was good as we could stick our bags at the railings, also were less likely to get barged about too much.
Jack Johnson came on after a short while and went down really well. Just what everyone was in the mood for – a nice bit of mellowness for a Sunday afternoon.
And now... one of the moments that I had been waiting for all weekend...
And they didn't disappoint. An absolutely blinding set. Myself and Jo were dancing from start to finish. The crowd were loving it so much too.
V&H managed to join us straight after Jack Johnson and for the start of Faithless, but moved back to get more space to dance.
Another thing about Glastonbury is the range of taste etc. When Faithless finished, we had this huge change in crowd. Many wanted to stay of course, but by the same token, a lot left for elsewhere whilst other came for the headliner...
What can you say about the legend that is Stevie Wonder?
Again, I'd been looking forward to this. Faithless into Stevie? Awesome.
I'm not even going to try and describe the set. Andy had managed to get back to us, so all three of us enjoyed it together. Simply brilliant. All the people around us were loving it too.
V&H came to join us again straight after Stevie. We all chose to hang about and let the crowds die off a bit.
After a while Jo decided to call it a night. Only one thing for it then.... West Holts!
Due to fears about massive queues getting out of the carparks, we had made tentative plans about getting up at 6am to beat the rush.
This was before we had a drink, or several.
I vaguely remember saying to Andy that we ought to head off to bed. This was sometime after 2am. Shall we say that the two of us had thoroughly made the most of the evening! Lots of random strangers to share a cider with and have a natter.
My last memory before falling asleep was sending Andy a text at about 3am. Something along the lines of - "There's no way that I'm gonna make 6!"
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sat 26th June @ 07.00
Awake feeling refreshed at the usual time. So usual routine it is. Another morning of glorious sunshine.
Jo joins me after an hour or so and we head down the usual path. Toilet Talk. Long Drops.
Spoken to many people about Glastonbury, both before and since. There are two things that generally put people (well, women) off. Firstly is the lack of showers, secondly is the toilets. WW is no exception to this.
I think that I’ve covered off showers and their availability. I’ve also touched on toilets, if you’ll pardon the expression. I mentioned port-a-loos and I think that everyone is reasonably familiar with the design etc. There are also proper flushing toilets, should you desire to seek them out – I never bothered.
The most common toilets though are the Long Drops. I had never really come across theses before. Behold a photo (not mine) for illustration purposes...
Basically they consist of a long line of booths, all fabricated from tin. The interior consists of a bench type seat with a hole in it and a fitted wooden toilet seat. The whole arrangement sits over a large, deep pit. That’s it.
They’re as clean as the last person who used them. They don’t smell. Everyone uses them.
Key things to take with you are toilet paper (either rolls or packs) and/or wet wipes plus hand gel cleaner. Even if you forget toilet paper, there will be supplies close by.
Toilets – not an issue and really nothing that anyone should worry about. So moving on.
Myself and Jo had a bit of bimble. Didn’t fancy a growler this morning, but I remembered a stall next door to it that always seemed quite busy. I also remembered an item that they were selling – the Garlic Guzzler. That’s breakfast agree then, so off we went.
They were as good as they sound...
We then went our own way. I had only passed through Greenfields up to now and did fancy having a look round. My shoulders were still a bit stiff from Wednesday. Healing Fields were right next to Greenfields and I reckoned that a massage would be ideal. Off I popped.
Both Greenfields and Healing Fields are what they sound like, quite spiritual. Really nice, peaceful places. It was lovely just having a wander round.
There were numerous treatments in the area – everything you could wish for really. I found somewhere that was just opening up and waited for my masseur to get her final things ready.
32 year old Lucy has been coming to Glastonbury for 14 years and totally loves it. She explained that they get their place free, but obviously it is a bit of a living for them and still have to pay for food, drink etc. I asked what she would think the “essential” things are to do whilst there.
Her recommendations were a naked sauna, some chai tea, and some Guinness & chocolate cake. She was really insistent on the sauna, but there was no way that I fancied that, no matter how enlightening it was supposed to be! She told me where to get the tea from and I went there straight afterwards, but it was really busy so I skipped it. I didn’t go anywhere near where the cake was for sale, so that was all three of her suggestions not done. Maybe next time.
The massage was very welcome though and made my shoulders feel heaps better.
After this, it was time for much more bimbling, photos and to buy a few things. After the fun yesterday, I also decided to give the Outside Circus Arena another look too. On my way round to that area, I took the higher path across the Pyramid area. The Lightening Seeds were playing and they just went into “Football’s Coming Home”. Now that got the crowd on their feet and dancing.
A really good look around at the stalls etc. You could spend all your time wandering round these. Some great stuff to be had and not silly prices.
On my way round I stopped off for a sit down at the Other Stage. A female was playing who I half recognised and was pretty good. Mostly piano stuff, but with a great voice. A random came to the rescue – Imogen Heap.
Head back to the tent to drop off some stuff, pick up a few ciders and warm top for later. Definitely Delphic today, so off to the John Peel tent.
A massive crowd, and I just about got to the edge of the tent. After a couple of tracks, the sun was right in my eyes, so I squeezed past a few folk to actually get inside.
Down to my right was a guy sat on the floor. He was bent over a little and had a soaking t-shirt on. His friends were trying to get him to drink some water. This was probably my only encounter with someone who had overdone it a little! In the end, they fetched some stewards, who assisted out through the crowds to get some fresh air.
A great set from Delphic although I didn’t get to see that much due to the location.
My plan for the evening was...
Other Stage – The Cribs
John Peel – Foals
Other Stage – Editors
Other Stage – Pet Shop Boys
I dropped Vicky & Hannah a line, as I knew that they were to see The Cribs too. Typically right round the other side from me, but not a worry. I stuck to the main thoroughfare around the outside and eventually found them.
A quick summary of the next couple of hours – Cribs were good. Had a few ciders. Decided to stay with the girls and forego the Foals. Editors were very good. Much people watching and general larking about.
V&H decided they needed warmer clothes, their campsite (specifically for litter people) was round the other side, so we had a wander.
As we were quite close to the Pyramid Stage, we chose Muse over Pet Shop Boys. I’m not a massive Muse fan, but it was a really good set, especially when The Edge came on for Streets Have No Name.
12.30 finish, where else to go but West Holts! A good old sing-a-long and a dance with loads of randoms having a good time.
We called it a night at about 1.30.
Jo joins me after an hour or so and we head down the usual path. Toilet Talk. Long Drops.
Spoken to many people about Glastonbury, both before and since. There are two things that generally put people (well, women) off. Firstly is the lack of showers, secondly is the toilets. WW is no exception to this.
I think that I’ve covered off showers and their availability. I’ve also touched on toilets, if you’ll pardon the expression. I mentioned port-a-loos and I think that everyone is reasonably familiar with the design etc. There are also proper flushing toilets, should you desire to seek them out – I never bothered.
The most common toilets though are the Long Drops. I had never really come across theses before. Behold a photo (not mine) for illustration purposes...
Basically they consist of a long line of booths, all fabricated from tin. The interior consists of a bench type seat with a hole in it and a fitted wooden toilet seat. The whole arrangement sits over a large, deep pit. That’s it.
They’re as clean as the last person who used them. They don’t smell. Everyone uses them.
Key things to take with you are toilet paper (either rolls or packs) and/or wet wipes plus hand gel cleaner. Even if you forget toilet paper, there will be supplies close by.
Toilets – not an issue and really nothing that anyone should worry about. So moving on.
Myself and Jo had a bit of bimble. Didn’t fancy a growler this morning, but I remembered a stall next door to it that always seemed quite busy. I also remembered an item that they were selling – the Garlic Guzzler. That’s breakfast agree then, so off we went.
They were as good as they sound...
We then went our own way. I had only passed through Greenfields up to now and did fancy having a look round. My shoulders were still a bit stiff from Wednesday. Healing Fields were right next to Greenfields and I reckoned that a massage would be ideal. Off I popped.
Both Greenfields and Healing Fields are what they sound like, quite spiritual. Really nice, peaceful places. It was lovely just having a wander round.
There were numerous treatments in the area – everything you could wish for really. I found somewhere that was just opening up and waited for my masseur to get her final things ready.
32 year old Lucy has been coming to Glastonbury for 14 years and totally loves it. She explained that they get their place free, but obviously it is a bit of a living for them and still have to pay for food, drink etc. I asked what she would think the “essential” things are to do whilst there.
Her recommendations were a naked sauna, some chai tea, and some Guinness & chocolate cake. She was really insistent on the sauna, but there was no way that I fancied that, no matter how enlightening it was supposed to be! She told me where to get the tea from and I went there straight afterwards, but it was really busy so I skipped it. I didn’t go anywhere near where the cake was for sale, so that was all three of her suggestions not done. Maybe next time.
The massage was very welcome though and made my shoulders feel heaps better.
After this, it was time for much more bimbling, photos and to buy a few things. After the fun yesterday, I also decided to give the Outside Circus Arena another look too. On my way round to that area, I took the higher path across the Pyramid area. The Lightening Seeds were playing and they just went into “Football’s Coming Home”. Now that got the crowd on their feet and dancing.
A really good look around at the stalls etc. You could spend all your time wandering round these. Some great stuff to be had and not silly prices.
On my way round I stopped off for a sit down at the Other Stage. A female was playing who I half recognised and was pretty good. Mostly piano stuff, but with a great voice. A random came to the rescue – Imogen Heap.
Head back to the tent to drop off some stuff, pick up a few ciders and warm top for later. Definitely Delphic today, so off to the John Peel tent.
A massive crowd, and I just about got to the edge of the tent. After a couple of tracks, the sun was right in my eyes, so I squeezed past a few folk to actually get inside.
Down to my right was a guy sat on the floor. He was bent over a little and had a soaking t-shirt on. His friends were trying to get him to drink some water. This was probably my only encounter with someone who had overdone it a little! In the end, they fetched some stewards, who assisted out through the crowds to get some fresh air.
A great set from Delphic although I didn’t get to see that much due to the location.
My plan for the evening was...
Other Stage – The Cribs
John Peel – Foals
Other Stage – Editors
Other Stage – Pet Shop Boys
I dropped Vicky & Hannah a line, as I knew that they were to see The Cribs too. Typically right round the other side from me, but not a worry. I stuck to the main thoroughfare around the outside and eventually found them.
A quick summary of the next couple of hours – Cribs were good. Had a few ciders. Decided to stay with the girls and forego the Foals. Editors were very good. Much people watching and general larking about.
V&H decided they needed warmer clothes, their campsite (specifically for litter people) was round the other side, so we had a wander.
As we were quite close to the Pyramid Stage, we chose Muse over Pet Shop Boys. I’m not a massive Muse fan, but it was a really good set, especially when The Edge came on for Streets Have No Name.
12.30 finish, where else to go but West Holts! A good old sing-a-long and a dance with loads of randoms having a good time.
We called it a night at about 1.30.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Fri 25th June @ 5pm ish
After seeing the outdoor circus, we all had a slow walk back. We all had different plans for the late afternoon evening. Without having the running order for the stages in front of me, I’m not sure what Jo & Andy were doing. Like I mentioned before though, it was very easy for us to go off bumbling and do our own thing.
Not eaten since before Rolf, so was getting a bit peckish. Nothing in mind either. I could have quite gone for what Jo had (the Tacos). I wandered around one of the roads, taking in all the sights and sounds again. Mmmmmm, definitely Mexican. A quick assessment and decision made. A big tray of chilli beef on rice with cheese and sour cream. £6, thankyou very much. Very tasty it was too. Certainly filled me up.
Next up.... Vampire Weekend. Big fan, so wanted to see them play the Pyramid. I had tentatively arranged to meet Hannah & Vicky there, but they were working until 6pm with the band playing at 6.30. Didn’t leave much time for a shower etc
In the end I watched the band by myself – well, me and 30-40,000 others. Really good set and the crowd got into it. A good timeslot for them with the sun going down in the sky.
After this, I fancied seeing Delphic, another fave band of the moment. They were playing one of the dance tents, so a gentle stroll across the Pyramid area. Nowhere near as busy as earlier and lots of people moving about as it was the end of a set.
The main drag from the Pyramid area was quite interesting. It followed the rout of a power line. Camping field on the right although I’m not sure which one it was as I don’t have a map with me. On the left hand side, your usual stalls. One area called something like Cocktail Delight. This was like a mini club. I think they had karaoke there in the evenings, but I didn’t find time to pay a visit. Further along was a fully fitted salon. Hair dressing, make-up, nails the works! Quite busy too. Further still was a place that you could have pre-ordered camping stuff and picked it up at the time. Lots of people making use of the service.
Towards the end of this route and it split up leaving the John Peel tent to the right and the Dance Village to the left.
I was still quite early for Delphic, so had a good wander round. Loads of people having fun. I grabbed a quick cider. Surprised to see the bar really empty, but it was early.
Both East Dance and West Dance tents had things on. One was significantly busier than the other, but can’t remember who was playing. I had a wander into the quieter tent and had a listen.
I really like dance music, but my taste is more for trancy, house type stuff. This was quite hardcore, and fast.
Twenty minutes of wandering and I’d had enough really, so decided to have a wander away from here. The beauty of having non-rigid plans. Rather than spend another half hour or so waiting, go off and do something else.
I headed off to an area behind the other stage. Loads of folk wandering around and I had a sit down and just people watched.
9-ish now, so I set off again. Round to the cider bus area, stopping on the way to watch whoever was playing at the bandstand. It is what it says, a small bandstand!
Grabbed another cider from the bus and had a slow walk into the Pyramid area. The view I’d got earlier was quite good for Vampire Weekend, so I went for the same area.
Half an hour so to go, so I had a sit down. After a short while, I got a buzz from Andy asking where I was. He was towards the back of the field near a large tree, so quite a way to go.
Make it through he did though and we settled in for the Gorillaz set. I’m quite a fan and got their albums, including their latest. Andy not very familiar at all. Should have a balanced view then.
There was quite a few people leaving during the set, that’s fair to say. I think they expected sort of a “greatest hits” and that’s what it wasn’t. A lot of tracks were from their latest album, Plastic Beach, which is a cracker. Hence why all the big guests too – Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bobby Womack. They even dragged Shaun Ryder on. Then to finish with Snoop Dog really rounded it off nicely. I thought it was a great performance, although I can see why others didn’t like it. Andy enjoyed it a lot too.
“What shall we do?” Best have a beer and we made for one of the bars that was quite close. The crowd leaving a main stage at the end of the night is something to behold. I think the phrase “go with the flow” works well.
We dived to the side though and grabbed a beer. Various randoms stopped to have a natter, as seems to be par for the course. One guy in particular told us loads about why he was there and how last year he’d came with his ex-wife and his new wife hadn’t know about it. He must have noticed my raised eyebrow. “No, don’t get me wrong, I still can’t stand the bitch, but we just came here together”. Like I said before, you can’t make it up.
And that, ladies & gentlemen, brings us to the end of the first official day of the festival. Myself and Andy decided to turn in, relatively, early. Back at the tents for 12.30 and ready for the next day....
Not eaten since before Rolf, so was getting a bit peckish. Nothing in mind either. I could have quite gone for what Jo had (the Tacos). I wandered around one of the roads, taking in all the sights and sounds again. Mmmmmm, definitely Mexican. A quick assessment and decision made. A big tray of chilli beef on rice with cheese and sour cream. £6, thankyou very much. Very tasty it was too. Certainly filled me up.
Next up.... Vampire Weekend. Big fan, so wanted to see them play the Pyramid. I had tentatively arranged to meet Hannah & Vicky there, but they were working until 6pm with the band playing at 6.30. Didn’t leave much time for a shower etc
In the end I watched the band by myself – well, me and 30-40,000 others. Really good set and the crowd got into it. A good timeslot for them with the sun going down in the sky.
After this, I fancied seeing Delphic, another fave band of the moment. They were playing one of the dance tents, so a gentle stroll across the Pyramid area. Nowhere near as busy as earlier and lots of people moving about as it was the end of a set.
The main drag from the Pyramid area was quite interesting. It followed the rout of a power line. Camping field on the right although I’m not sure which one it was as I don’t have a map with me. On the left hand side, your usual stalls. One area called something like Cocktail Delight. This was like a mini club. I think they had karaoke there in the evenings, but I didn’t find time to pay a visit. Further along was a fully fitted salon. Hair dressing, make-up, nails the works! Quite busy too. Further still was a place that you could have pre-ordered camping stuff and picked it up at the time. Lots of people making use of the service.
Towards the end of this route and it split up leaving the John Peel tent to the right and the Dance Village to the left.
I was still quite early for Delphic, so had a good wander round. Loads of people having fun. I grabbed a quick cider. Surprised to see the bar really empty, but it was early.
Both East Dance and West Dance tents had things on. One was significantly busier than the other, but can’t remember who was playing. I had a wander into the quieter tent and had a listen.
I really like dance music, but my taste is more for trancy, house type stuff. This was quite hardcore, and fast.
Twenty minutes of wandering and I’d had enough really, so decided to have a wander away from here. The beauty of having non-rigid plans. Rather than spend another half hour or so waiting, go off and do something else.
I headed off to an area behind the other stage. Loads of folk wandering around and I had a sit down and just people watched.
9-ish now, so I set off again. Round to the cider bus area, stopping on the way to watch whoever was playing at the bandstand. It is what it says, a small bandstand!
Grabbed another cider from the bus and had a slow walk into the Pyramid area. The view I’d got earlier was quite good for Vampire Weekend, so I went for the same area.
Half an hour so to go, so I had a sit down. After a short while, I got a buzz from Andy asking where I was. He was towards the back of the field near a large tree, so quite a way to go.
Make it through he did though and we settled in for the Gorillaz set. I’m quite a fan and got their albums, including their latest. Andy not very familiar at all. Should have a balanced view then.
There was quite a few people leaving during the set, that’s fair to say. I think they expected sort of a “greatest hits” and that’s what it wasn’t. A lot of tracks were from their latest album, Plastic Beach, which is a cracker. Hence why all the big guests too – Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bobby Womack. They even dragged Shaun Ryder on. Then to finish with Snoop Dog really rounded it off nicely. I thought it was a great performance, although I can see why others didn’t like it. Andy enjoyed it a lot too.
“What shall we do?” Best have a beer and we made for one of the bars that was quite close. The crowd leaving a main stage at the end of the night is something to behold. I think the phrase “go with the flow” works well.
We dived to the side though and grabbed a beer. Various randoms stopped to have a natter, as seems to be par for the course. One guy in particular told us loads about why he was there and how last year he’d came with his ex-wife and his new wife hadn’t know about it. He must have noticed my raised eyebrow. “No, don’t get me wrong, I still can’t stand the bitch, but we just came here together”. Like I said before, you can’t make it up.
And that, ladies & gentlemen, brings us to the end of the first official day of the festival. Myself and Andy decided to turn in, relatively, early. Back at the tents for 12.30 and ready for the next day....
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Fri 25th June @ 2pm – ish
The reason for the “ish” in the title and a bit of an explanation for the detail (so far) in these ramblings. The “ish” is fairly straight forward. I haven’t worn a watch for years and rely on my phone for the time. The battery on my phone is not so good, so a lot of the time I left it switched off. Besides, Glastonbury isn’t really a place for timings.
And the detail? Well, I went with the best intentions of keeping a really good record of what I did, the sights, the sounds, the smells etc. With notebook in hand, I meticulously made notes..... for a while. This didn’t last though, so the details may become more vague from now on.
The Stranglers set was pretty good actually. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, and they played some good crowd-pleasers. That done, Jo said she needed some cash, so a quick glance at a map and we bimbled off to find some ATMs.
Where next? We decided to stick together for a while, but no bands that we were especially bothered about seeing, so it’s off for some of the other performances – to the circus tent!
Have a few pics to be going on with...
A nice slow walk and we arrived. Probably due to the beating sun, the tent was full up – imagine a full size circus tent, with a small stage and the rest of the area taken up with the crowd sat on the floor, all watching.
We sneaked through one of the side entrances. Not a lot cooler inside. The choice was beating down sun, but some air movement versus shade, but still, humid air. Still, no real complaints.
We hung around inside for a few minutes and watched a couple of girls squeezing themselves into a tiny perspex box.
We had a bit more of a meander around in the general area, taking in all the great sights. We wandered past the Outside Circus Stage. This was quite a small arena. A small stage at the front with maybe 5-6 tiered benches around the outside with some seating on the floor towards the front...
The next hour or so turned out to be great, great fun.
The guy on stage was called Bill Ferguson. He had a brilliant interaction with the audience and was really funny. The basics of his act was to ask for items from the audience – anything. He would then attempt to juggle them. However, much piss-taking took place and banter with the crowd, mostly the kids. Some real belly-laugh moments.
In between acts was a compere – again very amusing. Rapier wit and general humiliation of anyone who dared to walk past rather than come in and sit down.
And the detail? Well, I went with the best intentions of keeping a really good record of what I did, the sights, the sounds, the smells etc. With notebook in hand, I meticulously made notes..... for a while. This didn’t last though, so the details may become more vague from now on.
The Stranglers set was pretty good actually. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, and they played some good crowd-pleasers. That done, Jo said she needed some cash, so a quick glance at a map and we bimbled off to find some ATMs.
Where next? We decided to stick together for a while, but no bands that we were especially bothered about seeing, so it’s off for some of the other performances – to the circus tent!
Have a few pics to be going on with...
A nice slow walk and we arrived. Probably due to the beating sun, the tent was full up – imagine a full size circus tent, with a small stage and the rest of the area taken up with the crowd sat on the floor, all watching.
We sneaked through one of the side entrances. Not a lot cooler inside. The choice was beating down sun, but some air movement versus shade, but still, humid air. Still, no real complaints.
We hung around inside for a few minutes and watched a couple of girls squeezing themselves into a tiny perspex box.
We had a bit more of a meander around in the general area, taking in all the great sights. We wandered past the Outside Circus Stage. This was quite a small arena. A small stage at the front with maybe 5-6 tiered benches around the outside with some seating on the floor towards the front...
The next hour or so turned out to be great, great fun.
The guy on stage was called Bill Ferguson. He had a brilliant interaction with the audience and was really funny. The basics of his act was to ask for items from the audience – anything. He would then attempt to juggle them. However, much piss-taking took place and banter with the crowd, mostly the kids. Some real belly-laugh moments.
In between acts was a compere – again very amusing. Rapier wit and general humiliation of anyone who dared to walk past rather than come in and sit down.
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