Category Archives: Sad Gits

Leicester Botanical Garden

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Rosemary and I visited Valerie and Norman in Leicester, staying the night. Rosemary was persuaded to walk around the Botanical Garden, something I have already done. This time we entered the cactus hothouse to see some fabulous specimens. The sculptures in the garden intrigue me.

Ravi and Simon arrived for a pub lunch at the Cradock Arms. The place was heaving and we were lucky to be able to park. The pub was the start and end points of a club’s monthly walk trip. We all departed and went our own way after lunch.

Election Night

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Thankfully we had voted by postal vote, so did not have to rush home from Norwich. Instead, we headed to Essex for the Election Night. Horrible drive in torrential rain. The horror of the drive was the precursor for the awful night. The hospitality of Andrea and Richard was fabulous. It was good to meet up with Jon, over from South Africa for his mother’s funeral. The horror of the night was the election result. The closing polls were almost spot on predicting a Conservative majority of more than 80.

We didn’t stay up particularly late.

Glastonbury and Ludgershall Bike Night

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That was it. Glastonbury was over. We showered, packed up and The Love Fields at 7 am in the morning. Stopped off for a Costa and arrived home.

Ravi and Simon stayed over, so we entertained them to some local village life. The Ludgershall Bike Night. Thousand of bikes parked up in the village from 6 to 9. Stalls selling beer, fish and chips, burgers were doing a roaring trade. We opted for the pig roast which was run by a local Kingswood man. Was accosted by the Air Ambulance, who saw we had been to Glastonbury and then talked at great length about the event.

There was a fabulous American truck unit on display. Rosemary saw it pass our house that evening. The event earns money for the Air Ambulance and other charities.

Glastonbury 2019 Sunday

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Our last day at Glastonbury, up early to the loo and the showers were still closed. Looked out again shortly before 9 and they were in the process of being opened. Quickly told Simon and Ravi and then I dashed off to the showers before there were any queues. The word spread around the yurts like wildfire.

Today I was heading over to see Jeff Goldblum at West Holts and Vampire Weekend and The Cure at the Pyramid Stage.

Ambled over to the West Holts and stopped in the Circus Field to watch a musical performance. Interested in the patter that got me into the little stage area, anyone walking by who peered in was fair game for the compere, and if you walked on by, you were grossly insulted.

After this brief entertainment, I stopped at the model of Glastonbury, many clay figures on the ground with caricature models of the stages and festival areas. See some of the pictures below. This was at Glastonbury before but looked more expanded this year.

At the West Holts stage, I was in time to see Hollie Cook, a dramatic reggae singer who was a former member of The Slits. It was fun, pop, reggae with a nice dancing beat.

With a Brothers cider beside me, I waited for Ravi and Simon to arrive for Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer band. Jeff was on stage chatting with the audience during the soundcheck, he also had a humorous repartee with the BBC woman who came on stage and asked him when he was starting. His response was he had already started, at which point the microphones were cut off until the official start time. Jeff also did a signing, and despite the long queue, I bought a vinyl album which he signed for me, and I shook his hand.

While I was queuing, This is the Kit played, earthy indie-folk music, and then the Fatoumata Diawars. At this point, I raced back to Love Fields and dumped my Vinyl and headed over to the Hospitality Area. Simon and Ravi had seen Kylie Minogue and I assumed they would be watching Miley Cyrus. I grabbed a drink and a burger, and then found Simon and Ravi in the Hospitality area also eating. They had given Miley a miss.

I headed off to see Vampire Weekend, quite close to the front and then moved further forward for The Cure. While waiting for the Cure, I spotted Mark S (Walkerite) and his daughter across the other side of the barrier. The atmosphere waiting for The Cure was intense. They came on and played for two hours. Just music, no fireworks, no flares, no paper, just music and lights. For the final song ‘Boys don’t Cry’, I was grabbed by a girl who wanted a quick final dance with me. It was such a beautiful and intense moment. All the old classics played. My recording of The Cure on my phone is absolute crap. Good pictures, bad sound. I have now bought an external microphone for the phone, I will be testing it at Latitude.

I waited for the crowd to disperse and said hello to Mark and his daughter while they did the mandatory selfies.

Glastonbury 2019 Saturday

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Disaster, the showers were all closed this morning and would remain closed for the rest of the day. The Love Fields and other glamping sites had been requested to close their showers. The water supply in the festival site was in a dire situation, and with a very hot Saturday forecast they did not want the water to run out. My only comment is, who drinks water at festivals when there are Brothers cider and real ales in abundance?

We started the day at the Pyramid Stage to watch The Proclaimers. (Watch and hear Ravi singing along in the video.)

The rest of the day appears to be a haze, spent mainly at the West Holts Stage watching The Ezra Collective, Slowthai and Lizzo. I think it must have been the Brothers cider and the hot weather.

In the evening there was an abrupt change in temperature, the wind changed and the temperatures plummeted, the showers were still closed.

The evening was spent at a bar next to the Acoustic Tent where I had a JD, (no queues) and then some Real Ale. Simon bought some comfort food, Cheese Mac. So simple and so delicious. Suitably fortified we were then ready for Hawkwind. Simple, no graphics just smoke and flashing lights accompanied by their layered acoustics. Not a big crowd, but then The Killers were headlining the Pyramid Stage. You can see the age profile of those attending Hawkwind by looking at the bar photographs. A nice crowd though.

We three then went for a walk around the South-East corner before the crowds arrived, visiting Block 9 East (IICON), The Common (The Temple and Rum Shack), across to Shangrila to read the slogans on The Lanes and listen in at the Truth Stage. Leaving through the Unfairground, we went across into Block 9 West to see the Meat Rack. Was unable to persuade Ravi and Simon to enter the Meat Rack.

We parted ways, so I left R and S to walk through Avalon home, while I headed off down the railway line (busy) and diverted through Green Fields, to miss the crowds, and up to Strummerville where I sat near the fire and listened to the DJ. Headed down to The Park and hopefully Pangea. It was absolutely heaving in that area. I gave up trying to get anywhere near the dance area and only viewed Pangea from the distance. I had wondered what the huge sphere built around the base of the crane was. It was a screen, and what I saw was a huge iris and pupil rotating around looking like an eyeball. Watch at the end of the video. Fabulous, they will be next year, as I believe the crane will be there for four years.

I decided to head back to Love Fields. Showers still down.