I had a brand new tent for this festival. John helped me find a good one and it was on half price offer so not only is it spacious but it's a bargain too! I've gone for a tunnel type. My only 2 requirements for a tent was I had to be able to stand up in it, and it had to have a separate inner bedroom. The one I got is actually a 4 man tent but to fit in the sleeping space you'd have to have 4 stick insect people with tapered coffin type sleeping bags. It would just about take 3 air beds, but not if they are all the size of mine LOL. As I have trouble getting down on the floor and even more trouble getting up I have invested in a double height air bed that is a metre wide too. Room to roll over without falling out!It is brilliantly comfortable too and no danger of your bum hitting the ground if it deflates a little. With 2 separate air compartments, it's got twice as much air between me and the ground.
I only used a light weight 4 TOG duvet at Cropredy and was just right but I know the night time temp at Shrewsbury can drop quite a lot so I will be taking my 10 TOG too. If it gets REALLY cold I can use both!
We tried sitting in a different spot at Cropredy and thoroughly enjoyed our choice. We got space on the front edge of the back half of the field, with a wide walkway in front of us. Easy to get in and out to the bar, toilets and food outlets and a steady procession of all kinds of humanity passing by (some may be questionable on their status but presumed human), and some canine specimens, many sporting trendy kerchiefs.
One lucky family found a stray dog on the road to Cropredy, no collar, tag or microchip and after checking with police decided to keep the dog themselves. She was a toffee coloured greyhound/saluki cross by the look of her and so sweet natured. I was tempted to offer to have her myself but she looked happy with her new adoptive family and they were delighted to have her. They already have 2 dogs so one more is not such a burden. I don't think my Honey would have been impressed if I had returned, after three days away without her, with another dog in tow. I do hope she is happy with her new family. Well done you kind people!
God knows why but loads of people attending festivals seem to wear the most weird outfits. The general rule is every article of clothing must be a totally different colour and/or pattern to any other. Stupid hats are essential. If you wear wellies they have to be coloured and patterned to clash with everything else. Same goes for Crocs/sandals, the more outlandish the colour the better.
Young pretty girls HAVE to wear skimpy tops and short skirts or shorts, often over multi coloured and patterned tights or leggins. Young men have to wear T-shirts with rude slogans on. Old men have to wear T shirts that don't quite cover the beer belly promoting their favourite brewer of real ale, or some ancient rock concert they went to in 1973. Anything goes in the way of hats. The bigger and more colourful the better.I think everyone goes to a festival for a variety of reasons. Some go to meet up with old friends and talk incessantly. Some go to drink the three days away in traffic free safety. Some go to people watch. Some go to eat their way round the world. Some even go to enjoy the music! Mostly people are tolerant of others needs, but there are a few at any festival who just do what they like with no regard for those around them.
You know who you are... the ones who insist on standing up and gassing away with mates with their backs to the stage, ignoring the music, and blocking the view of a huge swathe of the crowd sitting behind them. Never mind they are the only ones standing up in a sea of seats. I just wish they didn't stand in front of ME! Ok I am being a little unfair - this time round, the seating position meant we did not have to suffer the standers, just the odd photographer stopping right in front of us to take a shot of the superb view we had of the stage :-( Or occasionally friends meeting on the walkway going in opposite directions and stopping to chat. If they were there more than a couple of minutes there were usually shouts of 'move or sit down please' from the crowd behind us. How lovely to be with the oldies who can't stand up for the duration any more LOL
Having people walking past in front of us did not put me off, in fact I loved it! Could see all sorts passing us and many friends stopped to chat with us :-) It was amusing to see how drunk some people got and how hard it was for them to walk/stagger across the slope of the field. The best value I found was a Japanese noodle bar - heap of noodles with veg, a ladle full of sweet and sour chicken or chicken in black bean sauce, and a pile of tempura veggies all for £7.50 - delicious too! The only problem being by the time you get it to your seat it's all stone cold.
There were the usual jacket potato stalls, chicken and chips, crepes, pies, pasties, Indian food, Chinese, and several vegetarian stalls. I did not see the Caribbean food people there, they may have been in a different slot or just not there. I do like a bit of jerk chicken, rice and peas, not to mention their rum cake! Maybe they will be at Shrewsbury August Bank Holiday weekend.If you have never been to a music festival then do give it a try sometime. I recommend a folk festival as they are more relaxed than most and generally friendlier. The toilets are usually cleaner too!
If you are planning a visit to a festival then go and enjoy ... and don't forget your orange, green and purple spotted wellies! xx
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