Tuesday 24 June 2008

The tent has arrived...

So we tried putting it up in the car park around the side of the building. As you can see from its distinctive lettering it matches our natty sampler and car...

So here's the deal, it's full of books. You find it, you can have some, providing someone's about to let you in...

Either that or we'll be sheltering from the rain inside having a story telling session, why not pop on in?


Monday 23 June 2008

What to expect

"Expect the unexpected!" enthuses Shakin' Stevens. Apparently people don't know what the real Shakey is like on stage... Mind you if he decides to trade in This Old House for a cover of Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name Of, I'll be very disappointed.

Two days to go before getting onsite and it's always a good idea to start making mental notes about what you'd like to see and what you'll most probably miss cos you've passed out in the Jazz Field. This year the main controversy has concerned Jay-Z's appointment at the top of the Festival line-up. The 'CEO of Hip Hop' will play the headline gig on the Saturday night, something which annoyed Noel Gallagher, who presumably had also splashed £160 on a ticket. The lack of take-up for Glastonbury this year is more likely down to last year's wash-out and the raised cost of getting in. So if you're reading this in a few days time from the comfort of your own home while images of a sodden festival are beamed into your living room via BBC HD's pin-sharp loner-vision, then well done you.

Upon arrival at the festival you can mark all the stuff you want to see on the Guardian's pocket-sized guide. This is the festival equivalent of the Christmas Radio Times. You start to total up what can be seen, what can't, when you should sleep and when you're going to need cider. Somehow, we can't see the Hay brochure prompting such fevered timetabling. The guide is then strung about your neck or stuffed in to shorts. If you haven't lost it by Thursday lunchtime you're doing alright.

Oh, there's also the matter of where to camp (and we mean just camp - camping-it-up abandoned due to desertion of Lost Vagueness). If you're arriving any later than Thursday afternoon, then I'm sorry, if the site does flood and you're at the bottom of a hill prepare to SCUBA for your car keys. We also recommend cleaning your tent when you get home. Otherwise, if it's covered in mud, it will smell. Honestly, it will smell really, really bad.

Apart from all that, the important thing is to relax and enjoy yourself, it actually possible to read at Glastonbury, so why not take a long a book? One year I finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and it remains one of my favourite books to this day. Another time I bought Umberto Eco's book on football and it only made sense at 5am while drinking the Brandy Coffee. Here's a top 5 of books to read in your wellies.

1. Glastonbury Festival Tales by Crispin Aubrey and John Shearlaw - read about the people whose footsteps you're following. Anecdotes, photos and more.
2. Ray Mears' Outdoor Survival Guide by Ray Mears - "I'll get that fire started, stand back!"
3. I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres - Can't quite bring yourself to get it on with the Kings of Leon in a group sesh?... don't blame you. Why not live vicariously through the life of Pamela Des Barres instead?
4. King Arthur's Avalon by Geoffrey Ashe. Mythical fun. Thinking about it the Kings are three brothers and a cousin, so an orgy is pretty much out of the question...
5. The Old Testament by God et al. Contains unbeatable flooding advice. Actually, on reflection, that band are from the Deep South...

Friday 20 June 2008

Five days to go...

Right, this is a little bit of a departure from the usual 5th Estate, but because we wanted something a little different for this festival, we created this page. So welcome to our Glastonbury blog!

Over the course of the next week (well 10 days) we'll try and give you some of the build-up and atmosphere of Glastonbury Festival all blogged by us on the ground, the mud, sweat and tears. Plus if you find our tent (which will be adorned with the livery below) we'll give you some free books. You can't say fairer than that.

On the right hand side you'll notice several feeds. One is our group Twitter feed that Mark and I will be blogging from directly. Simply put it's easy to be up and around with our mobile phones, than trying to blog directly, who knows, maybe someone from Q or the BBC will be nice and let us use their computer. We also mashed up it up with all sorts of important people too - Wateraid, Oxfam, the Beeb, The Leftfield - they're all there. If you want your Twitter feed to appear and you're at the festival - let us know!

The second feed is from Summize which will allow you to see all posts across Twitter relating to Glastonbury, which should give you a good idea of what's going on across the festival in microblogging terms.

It's my sixth time, Mark's first (heh, heh, heh) and the weather looks... GOOD! We're crossing our fingers and hoping to meet all sorts of fun, lovely people, who love festivals and also books.

Look out for the tent that looks like this...