HW: Hawkfest high back to humdrum

[Jill Strobridge]

Ah - was it only 3 days ago I struggled out the door with a large
rucksack and tent?   Today I struggled back in again and now, with the
material reminders of a Festival scattered over the floor, tent drying
in the spare room, two treasured unique CDs and some fantastic memories
this is just to say thank you to Kris and to everyone who organised the
weekend.

There were:  showers in cubicles (but remember to take your 20p in with
you!) flushing toilets (and a special thank you to whoever went around
replenishing the loo rolls whenever they ran out) a nice field to camp
in with parking space and lots of room to spread out safely (no camp
fires allowed though - for safety reasons), a huge field for all the
entertainments including a completely roofed and enclosed marquee for
the main Tent Stage (thank goodness - on a baking, broiling, seething
hot Saturday afternoon the absolutely best place to be was sitting
inside the cool of the tent listening to a Hawkwind soundcheck), as well
as a Barn Stage (although the acoustics there meant the best place to
listen was sitting at one of the tables outside the building - Tarantism
?spelling? sounded phenomenal from that position).  There were clothing
stalls (I forgot to take a sunhat but thankfully there was a splendid
collection of hats to choose from when I went in search of one!), two
large restaurant tents - one with tables, one with large carpets of coir
matting to sit on (both selling vegetarian only - so hungry carnivors
could be spotted peering at the menus trying to decide which vegetable
dish most nearly resembled a meat meal).   I have to say both the meals
I tried were excellent - Thai curry, cauliflower and broccoli pakora -
but some kind friends (thank you kind friends - you know who you are!)
also fed me meat dishes on a couple of occasions.    There were some
other stalls, and even a Holistic Therapy Centre appeared and set up
camp.

Merrick and Julie's place was an oasis of calm (thank you both!).  The
childrens' play area was well-frequented (how on earth can kids play
with such energy in that heat not to mention hard work for the adults
supervising them!) and the only real irritant was the Rave place beat
which was somewhat persistent and endless even though it was over at the
far side of the field.

Friday we got there latish (and I missed Mr. Quimby's Beard -curses)
Saturday was intensely hot - though by 5pm it cooled a bit and I had a
pleasant stroll around the network of public footpaths criscrossing the
whole area, Sunday started with a thunderstorm which cleared to a very
pleasant day - went for a pub lunch (and missed Mr Quimby's Beard
again - I keep doing this??) and Monday started with another
thunderstorm which was a good excuse for a leisurely departure after
taking refuge in the Restaurant tent and eating a splendid cooked
breakfast.

Most people seemed to tidy up after them - neat piles of rubbish
collected up at all the bin points and very little trash on the fields
(perhaps due to the people with black bags I saw wandering around
keeping it all under control).

And - oh yes - there was some excellent music...... but I will let
others talk about that - I just really enjoyed the Festival atmosphere -
unhurried, friendly (loads of nice people to chat or just say hi to -
and it was great to meet up with people from the list - and to see Arin
and Rich again - good wishes to you and a safe journey home!).

I'm sure the organisers had loads of hassle to cope with and vast
amounts of problem solving to sort out but they must have done so
because I had a fantastic relaxed time - and everyone I spoke to was
having a great time as well, so I hope they did - eventually!   So to
Hawkwind, to all the organisers, and to everyone else (the stewards, the
people who run around with wires connecting up things to other things,
the laminators of plastic security passes, the tent builders - who were
still dismantling it at 2.30am on Monday morning!) - not forgetting the
yellow fairy complete with wings.

Congratulations and thank you.   It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

And now back to the humdrum business of earning enough money to get to
the next one 8-)
jill
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Jill Strobridge <jill at theta-orionis.freeserve.co.uk>
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