GLASTONBURY!!

Thankfully the van wasn’t in too much trouble. Turns out we needed a little bit more work than just the basic filter change, we needed some new belts too as one had snapped just while we where driving around Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Someone had fitted the wrong size previously and it was a major belt powering the brakes, alternator and water pump. All sorted we drove down south with the minimum of fuss, stopping on the way to do some laundry. About 15 miles out or so from Glastonbury we ran into traffic, pretty banked up and not moving in a great hurry. After an hour or so we came through one of many small villages on the way to the Glasto site where a local offered to show us a back route to the campsite. We took her up on her offer and she took us about five or six miles along almost single lane back roads to Glastonbury village where we parted ways. After that, we followed a van that looked like it knew where it was going (seriously) through to the campervan site. It took a couple of hours but we a pretty sure our good samaritan saved us a few hours in the nightmare queue. We tried to sleep in a bit on the Thursday to get some rest before heading in through the extensive security arrangement to enter Worthy Farm for the second time (the first being in 2000). We spent the day heading to a few out of the way areas that we didn’t have time to check out during our first visit, such as the Healing Fields, Shangri La and some of the extensive market areas. We headed back to the van in the evening after seeing some sights and having some food (the stalls are many and varied, far more than when we visited nine years ago). We were a fair distance from the van just as the heavens opened meaning we became pretty wet before we even had a chance to put on our wet weather gear. It rained steadily through the night and well into the next morning so Kirsten bravely volunteered to go and buy some wellies for us. No mean feat as, due to the mud, it was a one and a half hour walk there and back. Once we were decked out in our wellies and wet weather ponchos we headed out to see Regina Spektor on the Pyramid Stage. We’d not seen her before and she played a pretty good set, praising the crowd who had come to see her under less than favourable conditions. We went and had a bit of lunch after that and while we were eating we heard a few songs by the Maccabees, a band who I hadn't heard anything of previously but whom cranked out a pleasant enough noise. After that we wandered far away from the main stages up to The Park stage where we watched Emiliana Torrini. She was excellent. She was clearly excited to be playing at Glasto. Lots of fun. Almost as good were the two guys in rubber rings throwing themselves into each other with abandon before Emiliana’s set, they drew a pretty decent response form the crowd, as did a whole crew of people dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland. This included various people on stilts chasing the rabbit, who conveniently had a megaphone. After that we saw the Dead Weather, a bit of a ‘secret’ or unpublicised show of Jack White’s new band featuring Alison Mossheart from the Kills on vocal duties. I was pretty impressed although the mix needed a bit of work. Later in the evening we headed back to to the Pyramid Stage to check out the Specials (excellent form!) after which we saw some of Jamie T and then Doves on the John Peel Stage. Didn’t see all of Doves set as we were pretty knackered by this stage and returned to our van through the sludge and mud of a torrential Glasto.