#Glastonbury23 and a bit of the IOW - how it was for me.

Living on the IOW it is hard to pass up the prospect of attending the IOW festival. I always buy an early bird ticket long before the Glasto ticket lottery becomes available. Amazingly we got Glasto tickets again this year but the two festivals were scheduled for a week apart. For those that of you that do not know Glastonbury it is an epic week both physically and emotionally so to do both festivals for someone of my years is probably pushing it - ha!. The only issue for me was I really really wanted to see Courteeners and they were playing IOW on the Friday. So the solution - my youngest son Richard and I went on Thursday night to get our IOW entry bands. The Big Top was functioning. We saw Lottery Winners who put a lot into their set and were very entertaining - and then Oh My God Its the Church who in my opinion were all concept and crapo sound. Friday was great. Sun out - a few beers. Sophie Ellis Bextor was easy fun and went down a bomb. Sugarbabes were bland but Courteeners were brilliant. Rich and I know their stuff - we were in a perfect spot - pretty close to the stage. It would be fair to say we had a festival moment. One of those occasions where your emotions overspill with the joy of it. A fantastic memory. After that it was Pulp. Jarvis Cocker is an acquired taste. Some memorable songs and some torture too. For the rest of the festival I happily passed my band over to my son James and he had an epic time with his brother and friends.

Glasto. I think this is the 5th time - but the last was pre covid. Same formula every time. 5 mates - we have a big tent that sleeps 4 plus 2 little tents and we take 40 litres or real cider. We travel up from Exeter with our cars stuffed with gear - including 4 sets of sack trucks to get our gear into the site from the carpark. We always go on Wednesday. It is amazing when you walk in. Thousands doing the same thing. Over the years we have learned how to be reasonably efficient. Some haven't. Broken gear a common sight and some definitely over burdened.

For me Glasto is possibly only 50% about the actual music. The rest is a combination of being with my mates in a crazy camping environment - the general feel good factor from 250000 souls with pretty much a common festival ethos and objective - be nice - be tolerant and have a good time.and the unpredictability of 4 or 5 days in such an eccentric and extraordinary Glasto mix.

We get into the site relatively trouble free and start assembling our tent around lunchtime - timely for a heavy shower of gloriously warm tropical rain. It was a longtime ago we set up this tent ! Poles in the wrong place - an impatient headstrong team. Lesson learned - don't booze before you have got your tent up properly - ha!

Thereafter the brilliant Glasto is open to us. Wednesday - what did we do? Go for a walk - not many changes in the layout. We head for our fav spot - Avalon. The sun is out - a great atmosphere. We sit and chat and reminisce and people watch. Some extraordinary sights!

Thursday is always a fun day. Totally relaxed - no big stages - just the sun - great little venues to be found like Bimble, and in Shangri-La and Strummerville. Amazingly I bump in to my youngest son Rich and partner Andy who only arrived on the day. Rich is a hardcore festival goer - it is Andy's first time. I think they felt a measure of amusement and maybe a touch pride that old dad is still giving it a go with his equally senior mates - ha! Later we had a brilliant night watching Mik Artistic and I had a bizarre and fun chat with a Cornish lass born in our favorite holiday village - St Buryan in Cornwall! (We will be down there again for our annual family Sennen pilgrimage in a couple of weeks time.)

I love the mornings at Glasto. Wake up early. Ablutions before most have stirred - there are advantages to that - ha! The weather is great. I sit outside usually with the other early bird Rog. Gradually the lads emerge. Banter from the off. So many laughs - my tent Crocs for a reason I do not understand get relentless mocking. My plea - practicality over fashion only digs a bigger hole. We each have a different approach to preparing for the day. It is so funny. I am barracked for my "sensible" choice of food - ha! (it is Glasto - anything goes !).For me survival is key. You have to line your stomach for the gut rot cider we will be drinking from mid morning !.

It has arrived. Friday. The festival starts proper. We are pretty unanimous for the start. We head for The Other Stage. The weather is great. The opening act was a let down for me.We wanted something uplifting. Ben Howard missed a trick and you could feel it in the big crowd. What a contrast - The Hives next and then the classic Lightening Seeds. Great stuff. Off to the Pyramid stage. Brilliant Texas - the Churnups - no secret it was Dave Grohl - Foo Fighters. I had one of those Festival moments. Let me explain. We were in the main Pyramid crowd for Texas. It was hot. At the end of Texas I needed the loo and Geoff and I felt like something other than cider. I said I would go down to the Mandela Bar and bring him a lager back in time for the Foos. The bar is busy. I order a lager for Geoff and 2 real ales for me. (£6 + per pt). The barman comes back and says the real ale is off and he sees my disappointment. I agree to have 2 lagers instead. He is a nice guy - apologises and gives me an extra pint gratis in sympathy! I now have 4 pints of lager in cardboard cups and cardboard tray. No great hardship - ha! I decide I have no choice but to drink 2 (I was always going to drink one). (I couldn't carry 4 very far in the crowd) and then hopefully make my way back. But the crowd going in for the Foos was big. I decided to hold on and watch the first part of their set on the big screen - especially as I am in perfect earshot and on a comfortable bench - ha!. Eventually I try to get back but it was a squeeze. I had to drink some of the beer to stop it spilling. Commonsense - I give up getting back to the lads - and stand and watch the Foos and might as well finish off the beer. The Foos sounded tremendous. I was in a great spot. The sun was out. I am at Glasto. I am suddenly feeling emotional in a happy way (ok the beer ha!). And then the crowd go bonkers. We are all singing Everlong. Fantastic. It was a great.moment. I eventually get back to the boys with less than a half pint for Geoff after he had been waiting over an hour !! I told them what happened. Hilarious!! Later we see Sparks and The Damned. I think it was the Friday night Crabbers and I went to see Sound of the 90's. 1am start - in bed by 3am. What a day!

One little bit of advice about Glasto - you go through Clashfinder and work out the bands you want to see / can see. Sometimes it works out - other times it doesn't. Be relaxed about it. The stages are a fair way apart - a lot of walking - and especially if you are going against a moving crowd. Sometimes the practical thing to do - the sensible thing to do is not give yourself a hard time. The advantage of this is sometimes you see acts you didn't plan to see and they can be memorable. That is Glasto. For instance I was certain I wanted to see The Editors and also Courteeners again but it didn't work out - getting out and back into The Pyramid was too much at the time.

Anyway a brilliant Saturday - The Unthanks - nice - The Lathums - up and coming. Tom Grennan was unexpected - didn't plan top see. He put on a fantastic show. Totally engaged with the crowd which makes a massive difference. A surprising highlight for me in the sun. Generation Sex followed. The old punks - Billy Idol still giving it large - ha! Lizzo was larger than life on the Pyramid. We passed on Guns and Roses - just too knackered.

Sunday is our quiet day - and take chairs into the Pyramid and set up base camp. First on the lovely Sophie Ellis Bextor - so seen her twice in a week. She engages great with the huge crowd. It is all lighthearted dance fun. Big smiles. Rich Andy and Kim find us and we have a nice time in the sun chatting about the festival. Rich was very partial to our cider - ha! The Chicks were a great example. Country Music - not normally for me - but they are top drawer. Really glad I saw them. Next I go down to find Crabbers and meet some of his friends from Geordie land. They have a spot near the front.They were funny - a big family group - very hospitable. Mark said to me - you remind me of my wife's first husband. I said so he was a handsome chap. Mark said not really - he had a bloody great nose. We cracked up laughing!

While I am down close to the front Cat Stevens is appearing. I have to own up - I was disappointed when he got the "Legends" spot because there are so many others I would have preferred to have seen. How wrong I was. He started with a medley of all his famous old hits and then proceeded to play his new stuff which I and probably the majority had never heard. Each song was set up with Cat's gentle thoughtful introduction. He was totally engaging. At one point he stopped and asked the audience to clap the wonderful doctors and nurses of the the NHS. I was a touch anxious about how people would react given recent strike action. But the people are on their side. They understand their skills and their commitment. They was a tremendous response. I was moved. My daughter Vicky is a dedicated nurse and my son Richard and his partner are both Junior Doctors. I know their journey and how much they have put into their education and careers. I was moved big time. and so pleased for them even if they didn't hear it - ha! Back to Cat. A wonderful voice a performance full of simple dignity - emotion - poignancy - just class. A standout. An unexpected highlight for me.

Next it was Blondie. Ok Debbie Harry has lost the strength in her voice but she is still doing it in her late 70's. If I hadn't seen them before it would have been worth it - ha! No be fair - I enjoyed it. At this point my plan was to go over to Woodsies to see Editors again. I didn't make it. We were set up in the Pyramid crowd and it was going to be huge for Elton's alleged last UK show. We sat through Lil Nas X. I think I would have been onside if it wasn't for the rapping - ha! And then it was Elton. An epic show that not only ended with fireworks but started with them too. Everybody knew every song. His back catalogue is immense. The huge crowd - totally with him. It was great to be there. A massive banked memory for sure.

So another Glastonbury is over. It has been a privilege. Will there be another one for us? We are up to try. Cheers Crabbers, Rog, Geoff, Kev and Steve. Here's hoping because while Glasto is challenging it is also completely unique and wonderful.

Here are a few mob photos :- 

with Geordie Mark

L to R Steve, Geoff Crabbers Me and Rog. Kev at the front !

Me with Rich and Andy.

 

    

 

 

#Brittany with the Three Tenners

I am just back from a weeks cycling and camping in Brittany with my two brothers Rob and Mike. We had a great time and so many laughs. It was the same format we have done before on other occasions - but this time we made it to France. This is the format :

• occasional cyclists only - on over laden bikes each with panniers - self contained with tent, cooking equipment etc - everything we would need if the weather was terrible and there were no shops open - ha!
• a loose plan - on this occasion to follow a largely off road route from Roscoff to Quiberon and back.
• navigation using Komoot and a guide book.
• find campsites en route.
• purpose - 3 brothers - having some fun together - doing something different - getting a bit of exercise and I suppose you would say having a bit of an adventure.

We had a great week although we didn't get to Quiberon - only 2/3rds of the way. This is unusual for us - we usually do what we set out to do - but our reasons were as follows :

• As we have found before it is lovely cycling on quiet paths but actually they are relatively slow compared to road cycling and distances take longer. They were also a bit rougher in parts than we had anticipated. Robs bike especially was not beefy enough for the terrain and what he was carrying. The result was some punctures etc and this delayed us. I have to say my two brothers are so different. Mike phlegmatic, practical - organised - logical. Rob ?? Chaotic !!!. His set up often looks like a jumble sale - ha! Don't mention differences in food tastes - ha! One marvelous thing we have in common. We love a beer - we love a pint - we love a pub ha!
• The countryside was beautiful and it was no hardship stopping and smelling the roses so to speak rather than always pushing on - which would have been necessary to get to Quiberon and back in the the time we had.
• It was mid May and while we had little rain - there was a heavy dew most mornings. It was just easier - seemed more appropriate to let the sun come up a bit and dry things. This is why I love this format and have done it many times. Inevitably cycling and camping means an early night each cosy in our little tents. I always sleep well and wake early. I can then make some coffee in the little porch and improvise some breakfast while still basically in my sleeping bag and let the day slowly begin / emerge. Just such simple pleasures - ha!

A bit about Brittany :

• We crossed overnight from Plymouth to Roscoff. Brittany Ferries were very accommodating to cyclists (no project fear Brexit issues either!)
• Brittany (Bretagne) is a peninsula in North West France. (it has been referred to as little Britain).

I have got behind with this blog ( we have been back for weeks - ha! Consequently I am going to round it off quickly now and post a few photos for our record.

Two points I want to make before I go :

1) Brittany is beautiful. It is amazingly well kept. No litter - hedges and road sides well maintained. I made some inquiries about how this is achieved. The explanation - each village or parish is clearly defined. Each employs the people necessary - say 3 or 4 people to get things done. This is a great example of civic pride. I think civic pride is much more likely to be achieved in a defined area. The problem we have is ribbon development and towns and villages merging - areas of responsibility muddled. Civic pride diminished. Years ago I went to Japan. No litter. If there is no litter people are much more mindful about dropping litter. By contrast - if there is litter around - the opposite effect.

2) Population density. When we first arrived in Brittany we were so impressed by the rural scenery. Bucolic. No one around - roads without traffic. Quiet. Idyllic. We also spoke to a few Brits who have moved to Brittany. There main motivation seemed to be they got a lot more property for their money and the prospect of a much better lifestyle especially in retirement. They said however they have found cost of living is not cheap. Also Brittany is becoming increasingly depopulated as rural areas offer so little in the way of facilities. We were told Brits are welcome - very important to Brittany to help keep it going. (Brexit did create some problems but gradually they are being overcome now everything is calming down). One of our little frustrations was it was hard to find anything open. Very few villages had a functioning shop or bar. In the end our conclusion was it would be a difficult setting to live in despite its natural beauty and desirability at first sight.

But here is a much more worrying statistic. The UK population is growing faster than France's. The UK population is now about 67m - France about 65m. However 55m of the UK population live in England. France is almost 2.5 times the size of the UK. France is over 4 times the size of England. Just think about that! We are desperately overcrowded in England - our land is full. The quality of our life is being diminished. We are killing the countryside. Population growth is the opposite of "green". Those supporting mass and uncontrolled immigration need to think about that. They are irresponsible. They are stupid. 

Here are a few photos of the 3 of us on our little adventure :-