Greenbelt
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 August 2006 22:15:35
I think a day-by-day rundown is the easiest way to do it.
Friday: Arrive at racecourse at about 10.10am. Very proud of this. Queue for some time then eventually put the tent up as far away from the main festival village as possible. This turned out to be a good move as there was still space next to us as some friends from church turned up about an hour later and we could camp together.
Friday night: It is traditional when doing Greenbelt with a baby that the first night is horrendous, and this was no exception. Baby b didn't eat much on Friday evening, as he was too distracted by meeting lots of people, and general excitement. So he woke up hungry, and at 5.30am could be found in bed with us, being fed raisins by a sleepy mummy.
Saturday: Brian Houston, 2pm, so we could all go, hurray! In the evening, mr b had baby b, I wandered the site, did a bit of hymn singing in the beer tent, and met up with Chalky.
Saturday night: after the first horrendous night, it is traditional that the second night is much better, due to the exhaustion of all parties. Had LOADS of sleep.
Sunday: what communion? Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, utterly hilarious. Wibsite meet. Then Brian Houston again, or was that a different day? I can't remember. King Creosote in the evening, not as good as we'd hoped.
Sunday night: the difficult third night at Greenbelt with a baby is a bit like the difficult second album: you never know what's coming. This year, what came was asthma, at 1.30 in the morning, followed by walking around the site in my pyjamas carrying a baby wrapped in a blanket while he went back to sleep.
Monday: CD and book shopping. A visit to the farm animals curtailed by the fact we didn't think the pushchair would survive the lake of mud. A later visit to the performance cafe to see Chalky cancelled for the same reason. (Sorry about that.) Pack up tent at lunch time, go back to the site for wandering and later put baby in pyjamas in the car to come home in the evening. One year we will make it to Tuesday.
I would have like to see Michael Franti and Spearhead on Monday night, but realistically, we wouldn't have been at a later evening thing anyway with baby b, so it made more sense to pack up and come home Monday night.
Yet again I totally failed to go to any seminars, but I did order the CDs of Jim Wallis and one of Clive Stafford-Smith's so I can do some intelligent listening later! Also bought Jim Wallis' book which I have started and am enjoying.
All in all, a good Greenbelt. Much harder work with an almost-toddler than a littler baby who is happy to sit in a pushchair, but still lots of fun.
