23.06.11 | GLASTO

This weekend is Glastonbury Festival, and I don't need to be told twice that i am being a big fat baby about not going. Yes yes yes, i KNOW I have a beautiful new baby girl & that's the reason I am not there, and obviously I wouldn't trade my gorgeous little Indi in for a trip to Glasto (even if she gave me about 3 minutes kip last night) but I still feel sad that i'm not going to be a part of it this year. My love for this festival is HUGE and as a true Glasto regular i feel like my heart's been ripped out this weekend (dramatic? yes I am, deal with it.)

But, rather than get pissy every time I see one of the students from up my road walk past my window with their backpacks, tents & trendy wellies, i thought i'd channel my negative energy into a postive blog post instead...... far out man.

I've been going to Glasto since I was a little 8 year old in 1989. That's me in that photo up  there with my Ray Bans & my skinny ribs...

My mum took me, along with my baby brother & i'm going to be honest, i hated the place. I hated the fact that I couldn't watch TV, i hated sitting in a field being bored, i hated only being allowed to eat chips because they were cheap. I hated having to sit listening to some old hippy warbling away on the pyramid stage (that hippy was Donovan who I thought back then was crap, until my mum bare faced lied to me & said it was Jason Donovans dad! Apparently as soon as she did I sat and watched as mellow as yellow - probably dreaming of the day Jason & I would be thee wed.) Anyway I digress... as the years went on I started to quite like the place and by the time I was a teenager I was hooked -well & truely addicted to the magic of Worthy Farm! I've been with best friends, housemates, ex-boyfriends, even on my own once & it's always been amazing, but for me the fact that it's become our annual family reunion makes it all the more special. There are things we do every year, like send a postcard from the festival postcard tent, meet up on Thursday night at the cider bus, visit the stone circle on Sunday, watch the bands from the right speaker, take a photo outside Joe Banana's, have a massive row (!)..... i could go on, and on as I have so many happy memories of Glasto. I'd need the whole weekend to blog them all, so here are the few that spring to mind;
Firstly, it was the time me & my best mate Caz plucked up the courage to get some cider from the cider bus. It took us about an hour to get the confidence to go, £1 in hand and mumble the words "cider. please.1 pint. of it." only to be hit with a question "sweet or dry?" ...... shiiiiit! I dunno, sweet or dry/sweet or dry/sweet or dry.... arrrrrgh. Traumatised by my first cider buying experience, i opted for sweet which was rank & i have never consumed it again by choice. I am forever a dry cider drinker because of that moment!
Oh & then there was The Lemonheads scar! Whilst watching The Lemonheads (still love you Evan) in 1994, my arm got scratched by someones' bag zip & it bled. So, in my 14 year old wisdom, i kept picking the scab for weeks to come, so i could have a Lemonheads scar for life - which, err i don't have.
Then there was the crowd surfing moment, which i ended up doing alone as my then boyfriend lost his bottle & stayed put, with one of my wellies which he didn't think to bring with him when he came to get me from the front. It was a very cool experience & i *think* it was to Dodgy when they were playing 'Good Enough' - that was a good year for bands that year, all Brit-poppy and lovely.

I could go on & bore the bones of you with tales of Robbie Williams singing 'Angels' whilst the sun shone or listening to the crowd sing 'Little Saint Nick' on a blistering hot Sunday whilst Brian Wilson kind of sang along too. Or i could get excited remembering Crowded House doing the longest ever version of Weather with You with the whole crowd smiling & singing along. Then there was Dizzee Rascal literally taking me to dizzee new heights as he dueted with Florence. There was the year I was pregnant with Dexy & he danced around in my belly whilst The Thrills played an amazing set, and of course there was the year PAUL McARTNEY played Hey Jude - now that has to be my best Glasto moment. Being a massive Beatles fan I welled up as I never thought i'd get the chance to witness a Beatle singing one of my favourite songs of all time..... magical, magical, magical.
There have been rainy ones - i remember watching the world cup one year in torrential down pours, too wet to keep a ciggy lit (classy) and i remember the sunniest one where I'd bought some Spanish potion i thought was sunscreen from someone. Turns out it the main ingredient was olive oil & I was just frying my face. I looked lovely that year, Brit-abroad chic i like to call it.

I'm not sure whether this post has made me happy or sad but I miss you Glasto. I hope the sun shines on you for your 41st year and i'll see you again soon, probably as I start a new Glastonbury chapter in my life, one that involves sharing the experience with my own children :) I can't wait! In the meantime i'll stick the radio on, sit in the garden & drink some Brothers Strawberry cider & think of you.

Here's some pics from last years festival. Enjoy x

Glasto 2010

Family shot 2010

The Stone Circle

and one of the most magical views in the whole world!