Hey Ho Let's Go

 Nearly there-Glasto 2013

Well, as can be seen by the photo below, it’s all getting rather real round about now. In a little over 5 weeks or so (is that what it is) I’ll be waking up for what will the last full day of Glastonbury 2013. For something that’s preoccupied my thoughts for nearly the past two years, it’s a bit of a scary thought. It’ll be like that last day of your holidays or the end of Christmas Day when you’re a child i.e. cos it’ll soon be over you better make the most of it.  

And while I know that it’ll be a good time at Glastonbury there’s always that slight bit of uncertainty. It might not fully live up to the hype. Mostly that hype is self-imposed, I know but there’s a lot of people out there say (like I do) that it’s the best place on earth . But there’s just that nagging doubt in the back of my mind.

What if the weather is truly awful for the whole 5 days? I don’t buy into that macho “you’ve never experienced Glasto till you’ve been through the mud” and “it’s all part of it, the true experience”. I went through the mud last year and it was fucking miserable. The whole place seemed to cheer up when, on the Sunday, it dried up and started to get sunny. I’ve been to Preston in the rain too many times to eulogise about bad weather. Driving rain, mud and faffing about with wellies and plastic ponchos doesn’t add diddly squat- it’s just a pain in the arse. No, give me shorts and sandals any day of the (last week of) June and I’ll be more than happy. If it’s the only time in the year that my ageing calves get an airing, then it’ll do for me.

On top of all that, there’s a very faint feeling that I’ve got that the music may not be completely top-notch. I have discounted Mumford & Sons from the get-go and seeing Mick ’n Keef’s (sic) travelling end-of -the-pier show doesn’t exactly fill me with unalloyed joy either. Having said that, there’s enough other stuff floating around that should be worth seeing (Chic, Public Enemy, Vampire Weekend) and things that I might just catch up with unexpectedly. (Again, it will be miles easier if the place isn’t full of that sticky mud so I can flit from place to place with ease).

Getting there and back. Last time I drove and we got so badly lost that I ended up in the middle of Bristol in the rush hour on the way down and completely in the wilds in the middle of the night in the way back. It shouldn’t be difficult in the days of Google Maps and sat nav to get the 200 miles or so from Liverpool without a hitch but I managed it. Twice. This time I’m going to do it properly. Plan in advance etc. Bet I’ll start seeing road signs in Welsh though.

But for all of this and more that’s just nagging away slightly, I do know that the moment I manage to get the tent up (that’s another tale) and sit with the first coffee and ciggie, it’ll be brilliant. It’ll be like being home.  

            

Glastinbury 2013-Some random thoughts

Glastonbury 2013 – Some random thoughts

So, as it’s getting closer and closer to Glastonbury, I thought it would be a particularly pertinent time to scribble (or rather type) a few brief words on this blog about it all.

At this stage I’m usually getting a quite twitchy about it all, but at the moment I’m surprisingly relaxed. I think that the panic will start to kick in during the next few weeks. It’s actually not really blind panic i.e. running around like a headless chicken, but more of a general air of uncertainty and unpreparedness. I do have a sort of a system- a bit like a Christmas Santa list-writing it down, checking it twice etc  but there’s always a sense of  “have I forgot  to get something essential?” or “have I enough xxx?”.  I’ve looked on lots of websites and forums and think that I’ve covered all bases, but you never know. There’s always another handy tip just around the corner. And there’s the dilemmas-do I need back up things of everything? Spare batteries seem to be a given, but how many little torches do I need? More than one of course, in case it breaks, but what if the spare one gets lost or something? It could go on for infinity I guess, and I‘d end up taking nothing but a rucksack full of torches and nothing else. So it’s really down to gut instinct and law of probabilities. The chance of more than three torches breaking and/or being lost is remote (ish) and anyway, I’ve got to lug all the stuff from the car to wherever I literally end up pitching up the tent. Less is more-or less is better. Maybe I should hire someone with a military background just before I leave and they could go through my rucksack like Willem Defoe did to Charlie Sheen in Platoon, throwing things out that I don’t need.

So at the moment, I only have a few things left to get I think-binbags, more hand gel (can’t have enough of that), painkillers, Immodium (that figures!) and a roll of gaffa tape. Once all that’s done, then it’s simply a matter of cramming it all in the rucksack and giving myself a hernia as I try to pick it up. It’ll all be packed neatly of course, but at the first service station I pass on the way down  I just know that I’ll just not be entirely sure that I’ve packed that one thing that I must have, and will end up ragging it all out, until with a sense of stupid relief, realise that it was there all along. (As an aside, I wonder if many people turn up, having forgotten to take their tent with them? You can well imagine the arguments; “No, you said you were putting in the car” and  “Well, what do you expect me to do about it now?” )

All this is before the usual and expected ticket delivery cock-ups. As of today, there’s nothing on the Seetckets website saying when my tickets are going to turn up. Maybe they should have an additional option to “your tickets will be despatched shortly” and “your tickets have been despatched” in a “we have screwed up your order and have no idea where your tickets are.”

More of that to follow no doubt.    

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.   

prepping for glasto

prepping for glasto 2013

This sunny weather has brought it home to me after months, nay years, of waiting that in a few months I'll be at Glastonbury on a hopefully sunny Sunday morning.

It'll feel like going home.

That moment you walk through the gates and realise that you're actually there.

But in the meantime there's a long long list of things I must really get hold of.

A tent would be useful.

Wellies.

Lighters and a torch.

Sleeping bag,

Money. (Almost as useful as a tent but slightly harder to get hold of.)

Socks.

A way to actually get there-still working on that one.

Patience.

I'm sure there's a lot of other things that I really need but for now it's time to stop dreaming and actively start planning. Actually start doing something.

(Next few posts about Glasto will be purely practical ones-it's all kind of like starting from scratch again.)

update;glasto 2013,led zeppelin,abba and take that

Initially I said that this blog was going to be about Glastonbury and music in general. There’s been bits from the old book, “Turn Left at the Womble”, and extracts from the new (as yet, untitled) book.

There hasn’t really been too much about Glastonbury. (Except old stuff). There’s not been much about this year’s forthcoming festival; though I suppose that will naturally evolve the closer it gets.

I think from here on in I’ll just mainly be blogging about Glasto 2013. At the moment it’s only 135 days away and in those 135 days a lot will be happening. Presently I am in the mind to post stuff once a week or so about Glasto and how things are turning out. I am sure I’ll be having a bit of a rant about the line up and at the moment I’m not too enamoured about the speculated line-up. I’m not blown away by the prospects of the Arctic Monkeys, Rolling Stones and Lady bloody Gaga.  I’m hoping that there’ll be some curveball headliners that no-one’s thought of and that are being kept under wraps. A reformed Led Zeppelin would be interesting. Or someone that doesn’t tie in at all with Glastonbury-say AC/DC or Take That. (Although I’d like something unexpected I’d really hope that that Abba don’t crop up. Imagine the all the fuss about that. There’s a lot of revisionism about Abba and about what great pop songs they wrote etc etc. It’s the ultimate rose-tinted glasses. They were the S Club 7 of the 1970’s.)

But it’s only 135 days away and for me there’s a lot to do in the meantime.  Following the mud-fest of 2011 I have to start from virtually scratch with getting stuff together. Everything was wrecked-wellies developed holes; tent, sleeping bag and other essentials were destroyed and/or dumped. All I have is a portable kettle and a rucksack. Is there anything else really that’s needed?

I will keep posting stuff about music and whatever springs to mind. I think it’s time to get a little bit more random.  

As for the new book I don’t think that I’ll be blogging any more excerpts from it on here for a while. It needs a shed load of editing.

And a title.