Glastonbury 2005

30th June 2005

Well hello again all,

Last time I wrote I think I was gushing about how much fun I had been having in London with a great weekend of U2 and then Brighton beach.

Well, I'm still gushing as I've had a great time since then and with a few more days left in London hopefully that will continue.

Last week was all about Glastonbury Music Festival. Monday and Tuesday we got prepared. We packed our bags, bought our comfort supplies and listened to some CD's of the bands that were going to play at Glastonbury....it was all part of the preparation and served us well. Then Wednesday we were ready to head off on the coach to Glastonbury with 5 days of music and fun ahead of us.

It was quite funny the Wednesday morning actually. We got ready to catch The mini-cab to Victoria Coach station here in London and it was only when we had to leave the house it hit home how much we were bringing. We had an 8 man tent, a gazebo, tables and chairs, pillows, blankets, sleeping bags....and the list went on and on......felt like we were leaving for weeks with the amount we were bringing. It was all worth it though.

Got to Victoria coach station and met Miles and his mate Drew and then it was coach time. 4 hours on the coach ahead but it was quite good actually as everyone was quite chatty in the excitement of a good few days.

Bit of a treat on the way though as we passed right by Stonehenge so that was kind of cool. The summer solstice was on the Tuesday night so there were loads of people all gathered around it and it was quite weird actually just seeing this random bunch of stones literally in the middle of nowhere. I was very happy we got to see Stonehenge actually as originally the plan was for us to hire a car and actually go to Stonehenge for the summer Solstice on the way to Glastonbury but we all decided sleep was a better option that Tuesday night. Got it all in the end so it worked out well...

And then we were there. Glastonbury. The sight amazed me as much this year as it did last year. It is just ridiculously big....

Because we left London quite early we arrived around 1pm or so and this meant we were literally within the first 5000 people that were arriving and that pretty much meant we could get whatever camping spot we wanted. So we did. We got a great position right in front of the main stage that would be the envy of everyone else. They say there are 3 rules in property - location, location, location and this is testament to that.

It was quite funny setting up the tent though. The gazebo went up fine but when it came to our 8 person tent and setting that up the instructions were useless....and so were we....as we couldn't work out how to put it up. Eventually, Drew our trusty engineer worked it out and before we knew it, the 8 man tent was up and we were unpacking our bags and organising the interior.....it was like the Taj Mahal by the time we had it set up. It was great.

All this was done on a 30 Degrees celsius day so it was pretty hot and tiring setting up. We didn't mind though and once we were done we headed off on an exploration of the site. That's pretty much what we did Wednesday and Thursday. We explored. There is so much to see. Sacred spiritual areas of the site, the Greenfields where everything is green friendly, the circus and carnival areas, the theatres, the 50's diner, the wedding chapel, the grand ballroom, the casino.....it just goes on.. We had 2 fantastic days of sunny skies and a great atmosphere on Wed/Thurs....and this was all before the music was due to start Friday.

Thursday night we went to bed around 3am after watching some night time Fire twirling.....but then the storm hit.....it sounds like some of you have heard about the massive storm we had Friday morning. It was like a cyclone passing right over Glastonbury and it lasted 3-4 hours non-stop. Thunder, lightning and lots of rain. Our tent, the Taj Mahal, withstood the storm without any issues....but some others were not so lucky....basically, we woke up Friday morning to a site that was flooded in the low areas and turning into a mudbath in others. Around 200 tents were under water Friday morning. I can only imagine what it would have been like waking up at 4am to find water flooding into your tent....scary.

Anyway, the show went on. The festival spirit did not wane. It was great fun. We all got in our wet weather gear, waited for the power issues on the stages to get resolved and then we braved the mud all in the name of seeing great bands. And that we did. Friday was brilliant as were Saturday and Sunday. The musical acts I saw included seeing the John Butler Trio, the Doves, the Killers, the White Stripes, the Levellers, Kaiser Chiefs, Ash, New Order, James Blunt, Brian Wilson from the Beach boys, Primal Scream and 2 Many DJ's. They are just the main ones...there we loads of off beat musical acts playing as well...

The highlight though was definitely Coldplay who I had never seen before. They played hit after hit from all their albums and in the encore they Payed tribute to Kylie Minogue who was originally scheduled to appear at Glastonbury by doing a cover version of Can't get you out of my head.....it was AMAZING and the crowd went wild.....wow.....have to admit I went a bit digital camera crazy but I know that wont actually surprise any of you....

I've actually got loads of photos that will hopefully do justice to how much of an experience Glastonbury is both in terms of the environment and the music. It is certainly something else and I would recommend everyone who likes music gets there at least once in their life.

And that was it. Before we knew it 5 days of walking around in mud watching bands and experiencing the wacky and crazy were over. Thankfully the mud was only due to the one major storm we had. The weather was actually quite good Saturday and Sunday which helped as we left as the paths had started to dry which certainly made it easier when packing and leaving on Monday morning.

Got back to London Monday afternoon. We pretty much all collapsed in exhaustion, cleaned our clothes and ourselves (after not having a shower for 5 days) and it has been a smooth return to normal life in London ever since.

Had a great few days since being back. I caught up with Chris's sister Kelly on Tuesday and then Tuesday night I went to Putney to catch up with my sister’s in-laws Pat and Napier and my brother-in-law's brother Simon. Was a great night to see them. Had some dinner, went to the pub for a couple beers and had a good time recounting my London experiences so far.

Had another busy day Wednesday as Colin and I went to do the London eye today (pretty much my only touristy thing whilst I am in London), and then we lined up to get some tickets to the Big Screen in Hyde Park this Saturday to watch the Live 8 gig. Very excited about that.

Was a busy afternoon though as I ended up heading to Wimbledon Wednesday night for the £9 special. Caught up with my school mate Pete who was there with his nephew William and we ended up in Court 1 watching Martina Navratilova in mixed doubles. Great day. As we were wandering we saw Hana Mandlikova (for those of you that don't follow tennis, she was top 3 in the era when Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert were at their prime) so I
asked her if I could have a photo with her. She said yes and I did....was fun.

And that's it. That's what I have been up to. Have a couple more days in London left that will pretty much be spent catching up with friends and then Saturday heading to Hyde Park for Live 8. I head to Italy Sunday so am very excited about that and having a different part to this holiday. Less music and more relaxing I hope.

Very excited about the Italy trip as after Milan and I am going to Switzerland to meet my cousins who I have never met before and then my mate Daniel from Australia who I will hang out with for a bit. Lots of food and R&R. Should be fun. And then eventually getting to Rome and doing my language course is going to be ace....Oh, and trying to get to see U2 in Rome on my last weekend before coming back to Australia should just top off a great time away before heading back!

Expect more updates. I will try and be more succinct in the future. I've just had such a great time so far I seem compelled that I have to share it all!!!

Lots of love to you all and see you soon,

Dave
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