Is there honey still for tea ?

[venta]

Tomorrow morning, I shall be hopping on a plane with the intention of flying northwards to have some tea in a park. Apparently, as well as tea, there will be bands.

The only comparably large festival I've been to before is Glastonbury. Although I've trotted to festivals up and down the country, they're usually very small-scale folk affairs. Having read briefly through the leaflet provided with the tea-tickets, it's not going to be much like Glasto.

Camping and arenas are apparently in separate areas; there'll be ticket/wristband checks to get between the two. Bars close at half nine, and work on a tokens system. No taking your own alcohol or food to the arena. No fires. No children.

It all sounds very... sanitised, by comparison. Safe and supervised, yes, but I remember the glorious muddle round Glastonbury's stages of tents, and people cooking, and families, and late-night wandering, and cafes still serving at 3am... This isn't going to be the same.

I am, of course, very much looking forward to my tea (and who knows, maybe it won't be hip-deep in mud and will have better toilets). I'm just glad I read up in advance and could adjust my expectations accordingly.

Oh, and for photography-interested people, there's the following clause in their online FAQ:

3. What are considered professional cameras and professional digital cameras?
Any camera with a removable lens is considered as a professional camera, as well as cameras with a lens that extends or can be focused.

Blimey.

And the leaflet doesn't even say where the tea will be served. I do hope they put the milk in first.

Comments

[davefish.livejournal.com]

I hope you are taking some Thundercats with you, there appears to be a band called Mumm-Ra. Can never be too careful around his sort.

[zotz]

It all sounds very... sanitised, by comparison.

Yes, but it's the way large rock festivals usually work. Glastonbury is still, for all the overexposure and commercialism, something very special.

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

I've never been to Glastonbury, never really wanted to, but T is fun. My friend who went to both one year said T had so much friendlier vibes in the campsite, and there are usually far less arrests than at other ffestivals for whatever reason.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'd have said the opposite, actually, that T was much less friendly in the campsites than Glastonbury. I guess the problem is that at either festival you can camp among a bunch of nice people, or a bunch of arses, and that affects your judgement of the place as a whole.

I was poking around the figures for arrests (35 at T this year, 112 at Glastonbury last year), which sounds very much in T's favour. Although when you allow for T being much smaller in terms of attendance and shorter duration than Glastonbury it's actually less different than you think (though I do reckon than if you do the sums the arrests-per-person-per-hour-on-site are slightly higher at Glasto'.)

[(Anonymous)]

a) honey's orf, dear!

b) look, it's in Scotand, where the ghost of John Knox still haunts anyone trying to enjoy themselves

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry - Scotland (but spelling it correctly doesn't exorcise J Knox)

[lathany.livejournal.com]

No children.

A smart move. It'll stop the people who bring kids not because they want to, but because they can't go themselves otherwise.

It generally sounds v. interesting!

[zandev.livejournal.com]

I'm amused that their FAQ carefully defines a professional camera, but then doesn't actually say you can't bring one. :)

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I recall a story of some poor chap chasing around Parisian bureaucracy in search of a permit to use his tripod (which was interpreted as "professional").

[davefish.livejournal.com]

Tripods are often clamped down on as they are big, bulky, get in the way and people trip over them. (And thats before they get out of a studio :))

[ewx.livejournal.com]

You'd have thought it'd be better to have a general rule against people getting in the way and causing hazards if that's all there was too it.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

I think it wasconvieniently lumped in with the no photography rule since it was there in the first place.