Are any of y'all going to Glastonbury this year? (I am).

I'm too tired to write much or do any captions for now, but have a couple of links to my Glasto photos. Movies to follow, maybe.

First set of photos
Second set of photos

In order, they include:

Arrival, Jazz world flags, Trash City, an act in the Sensation Seekers' Stage, the green police, mud, more mud, Super Furry Animals, real police, Amy Winehouse, Björk, even more mud, an act on the BBC Introducing stage in the new Park area, Piney Gir, Emily Eavis, Cherry Ghost, a band I can't name on the Introducing stage, Ed Harcourt, Marcus Brigstock, Mitch Benn, Guillemots, John Fogerty, Aqualung, unknown Jazz musician, Keith James sings Nick Drake songs, Badger National, Shirley Bassey, nuns, mud, wellies, kazoo band, Moya Brennan, the Who, and the Bootleg Beatles.

I had a fab time, despite the mud. Highlights were probably John Fogerty, Shirley Bassey and the Who. Seeing the Bootleg Beatles was a happy accident, as I happened to walk past the Acoustic stage on my way back from the Who to my van.

Had a technical close-call - my anorak pocket accumulated a little water, which put half the buttons on my mobile out of action for a bit (recovered the next day; Nokia++), and condensation on the 18-70mm lens. But I think I got away with it. :-)

Got home today, and had a nice hot bath. I had fun, and miss it already, but it's good to be back. :-)

How did I manage to leave this one out?!

Flag

Photos

First set of photos - Thursday and Friday
Includes Green Fields, the stone circle, our campsite before and after flooding, lots of mud, Elvis Costello, the White Stripes, and some shots of the festival site from the hill housing our campsite.
Second set of photos - Saturday and Sunday
Includes the clay microcosm festival, more mud, Keane, Coldplay, the aftermath of a lemon bender, a welly hoedown, the drawing of ducks on people, orphaned wellies, Shirley Manson making love to a blow-up doll kidnapped from the crowd, mechanical sculptures, and Tori Amos.

The mud was a real shame, but on balance, it was fun. We didn't manage to see many non-main-stage acts this time, mostly because the mud made us apathetic in this respect. Something to make good in 2007 (the festival is taking a break next year). Friday morning nearly broke our spirits when the torrential rain and electrical storms forced good old Radio Avalon to advise people to stay in their tents. Tents were being washed away and submerged. However, Sunday was bright and sunny from start to finish, and ended the festival on a high note, drying the mud out. Fabulous, especially with a Brian Wilson/Beach Boys soundtrack. :-)

Movies

These are all fairly short movies (generally under 30 seconds). The sound quality is not brilliant, sadly, but they do convey something that the still photos don't. The largest is 13MB - if you want more details on size before downloading, go straight to this link.

Mud Dancers dancing to the Levellers
Mud Dancers 2
New Order
New Order - True Faith
New Order - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Coldplay - Yellow
Coldplay - Yellow 2
Jools Holland
LNR and doop dancing to Van Morrison
Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson - I Get Around
Brian Wilson - Surfin' USA
Tori Amos - Feelin' Groovy
Lake outside our van on Friday morning. This was shot to show the mysterious bubbles coming out of the ground, but they don't show in the video, sadly.

For those who don't already know, have the bandwidth, and went to Glastonbury (or even those who didn't), there are now is now some streaming video up (MS Media Player format) on http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/ .

I write this from the comfort of a nice warm bed, after a long bath. Mmmm.
Had a great time - but my SMS-to-LJ post seems to have vanished without trace. However, as is customary:

Here be photos.

Particularly pleased with 6240014, 6270080, 6270095

Some of these tested the 'all-weather' feature of my little olympus digicam to the maximum. :-)

As some of you will have seen me complaining elsewhere, I am really really (really really really really) regretting not having gone to Glastonbury. The coverage between BBC3 and BBC2 has been fab, and I really enjoyed Radiohead's set last night. Thom's cheery smile and "Thankyew, goodnight!" at the end were something to behold. Oh, I could go next year, or thereafter, but I think the lineup of this one in particular I would have enjoyed especially. I've never been to a festival before, and I think it just didn't occur to me that I could have, like, gone until it was too late.
Tomorrow, I'm sure, everyone'll be coming back and bouncing about it. Still, it's cool if my friends had fun there, een if I didn't manage to. :)

Monday tomorrow, and may well be hearing from Pathology. We shall see.

In other news, I bought an electric pump today, and installed initially a very effective pedestrian-soaker into my MG. Then, after adjustment, a proper electric window-squirty set-up in addition to the silly hand pump that hardly ever works. Still need to wire up the hazard flasher.

I changed the spark plugs as well, and noted that it seems to be running extremely rich. I think it may be time for me to learn the dark art of twin carburettor tuning, possibly with the aid of one of those nifty spark plugs with a window in it, allowing you to see the colour of the flame inside the combustion chamber.

Hee. Moby has just started playing Creep as an encore. Superb.