Cambridge Folk Festival - A roving report............
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:06 am
Hello my TG friends. Welcome to the first in what I hope will be a series of roving reports centred around my forthcoming annual pilgrimage to the Cambridge Folk Festival. Yes, it is that time of year - the suit and tie are back in the closet and it's on with the cheesecloth and shorts - and maybe even........wait for it.........sandals! I'm not a sandals person. There wasn't much need for that kind of thing growing up in Glasgow.
For those of you familiar with the concept but not with the details of the Cambridge Folk Festival, which I assume is 99% of you, this is a link to the website.
http://www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk/
The official music takes place on three stages - The Main stage, Stage 2 and a club stage which is by far the most intimate of the 3 AND has it's own bar. For the other stages you have to walk, oh, about 20 yards to get beer. They should probably rethink that - we're not there to try to get fit! The unofficial music will be happening everywhere.
For my part, the action starts early tomorrow morning (Thursday) when I get in the car for the 4hr drive to Cambridge, dump my car in a field and trek with tent and guitar to the campsite where I will be surrounded by hundreds of irate folkies, who - like me - are trying to remember how to put up a tent that gets used once a year. If I'm lucky it wont actually BE raining - just threatening to. It adds to the sense of danger. Once the tent is up, the drinking can start - it's like a prize. I always camp in the same spot (I say always but I've only been twice before) slightly closer to the toilets than the coffee bar. I find that to be the more convenient of the options.
The music starts at around 5pm on Thursday and stops at 11pm on Sunday. It's a great opportunity to see some people that already carry a solid reputation (Richard Thomson?) and others that will come as a complete surprise. I shall try to illustrate future blogs with pictures but I'm not sure how successful that will be. I'll be in a field!! I'll aslo try to keep them shorter - I'm sure I've lost half of you already.
And so as this first report comes to an end - and I finish up work for the weekend (I wish that phone would stop ringing......I'm busy here!!) - my thoughts are turning to people smiling, having fun, music all around me.....even in the camp site, singing along, clapping along and acting slightly younger than I should do but fitting right in. By way of balance I should also mention the sore back from sleeping on the ground and the assorted smells that you encounter by the Sunday evening. I think there ARE shower blocks but no-one seems to know where they are.
Until the next one - stay healthy
Stuart
For those of you familiar with the concept but not with the details of the Cambridge Folk Festival, which I assume is 99% of you, this is a link to the website.
http://www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk/
The official music takes place on three stages - The Main stage, Stage 2 and a club stage which is by far the most intimate of the 3 AND has it's own bar. For the other stages you have to walk, oh, about 20 yards to get beer. They should probably rethink that - we're not there to try to get fit! The unofficial music will be happening everywhere.
For my part, the action starts early tomorrow morning (Thursday) when I get in the car for the 4hr drive to Cambridge, dump my car in a field and trek with tent and guitar to the campsite where I will be surrounded by hundreds of irate folkies, who - like me - are trying to remember how to put up a tent that gets used once a year. If I'm lucky it wont actually BE raining - just threatening to. It adds to the sense of danger. Once the tent is up, the drinking can start - it's like a prize. I always camp in the same spot (I say always but I've only been twice before) slightly closer to the toilets than the coffee bar. I find that to be the more convenient of the options.
The music starts at around 5pm on Thursday and stops at 11pm on Sunday. It's a great opportunity to see some people that already carry a solid reputation (Richard Thomson?) and others that will come as a complete surprise. I shall try to illustrate future blogs with pictures but I'm not sure how successful that will be. I'll be in a field!! I'll aslo try to keep them shorter - I'm sure I've lost half of you already.
And so as this first report comes to an end - and I finish up work for the weekend (I wish that phone would stop ringing......I'm busy here!!) - my thoughts are turning to people smiling, having fun, music all around me.....even in the camp site, singing along, clapping along and acting slightly younger than I should do but fitting right in. By way of balance I should also mention the sore back from sleeping on the ground and the assorted smells that you encounter by the Sunday evening. I think there ARE shower blocks but no-one seems to know where they are.
Until the next one - stay healthy
Stuart
Looking forward to you reports.
Although I'd left the orange juice behind - I did have a small can of Red Bull which came to my rescue. The problem with getting drunk on vodka and Red Bull is that you can't sleep it off.