Update-Planning for Glasto

Planning for Glasto

It’s been too long, much too long since I’ve updated and/or posted anything here. There are no real excuses except that I’ve just been spending the last three weeks or so finally editing “Totally Shuffled” and getting it published. In fact, the editing was done between January and March and I spent nearly all of April just trying to come up with a title. But it was done in the end, and it’s that “finally put it to bed” feeling and onto the next one. Which I have no idea about, and probably will leave starting properly until I get back from Glastonbury in July.

And that takes me neatly onto Glastonbury-which is something I said I would blog about more and more as it got closer, yet I don’t really seem to have done. Maybe back in October or January or February it still seemed too far away. Maybe because the winter seemed to have dragged on for so long that it all seemed abstract and a little bit absurd to be thinking too much about something in July, when hopefully, memories of rain, sleet and snow will be long gone. (However, knowing the way the weather has been recently, it wouldn’t be totally surprising if Mumford and Sons were pelted with snowballs during their Sunday night set come June. I’ll be the one at the back making sure that there is enough ammo). Maybe it was that even though I knew I had a ticket in October, it was really only when the final payment was made that it all seemed real.  Maybe it was the announcement of the line up that crystallised things or just seeing confirmation this week that tickets are going to be sent out with effect from 6 May. Maybe I’ll only really believe that I’m going when the tickets arrive or when I have all the gear together. Maybe it’ll only fall into place when I set off on the journey. Or probably just that magical moment when I walk through the gates.

But between then and now there seems to be a lot to do. And it’s only six weeks away. Part of the Glastonbury dream turning into reality is the gathering together of everything that’s needed and/or buying stuff to replace things that I ditched back in 2011, because it was either ruined with the mud or I couldn’t be arsed lugging it back home. So here I am with a new pair of wellies, new tent, sleeping bag, air-bed and torches. Some of the smaller stuff I’ve still got from earlier years; kettle, stove, chair, spare lighters and an Olbas Oil sniffy inhaler thing. Not that I’m expecting to have a cold or anything like that come the end of June, but two quick snorts of it up the nostrils before braving the Glasto toilets works wonders. From now on in it’s just a few things to get and I’ll be all set.

I’m looking out of the window at the moment and pondering if this good weather will hold up over this weekend. I really do have to give the tent a dry run. Actually that sounds more impressive than it is and is in opposition in reality what the true position is.  I have to practise ham-fistedly how to put up the tent. This will involve a lot of frustration, headscratching, swearing and stupid questions being asked. Much coffee will be drunk and many cigarettes will be smoked. Quite pertinent doubts will be cast upon my capabilities as a tent erector and I’m sure that the words “maybe you should have got a pop-up one” will be uttered. However, I am very confident that I can do it (even typing that fills me with dread and I know I am fibbing) and come the end of June I’ll be standing in a field in Somerset with a rough approximation of what a tent should look like.