Happy Glamping

It's taken me approximately 4.5 days to recover from last weekend's revelries at the 80's Rewind Festival. The single most exciting thing I have experienced in my 30's (apart from Motherhood).

Now, being a virgin festival-goer, the very idea of mixing with unwashed people, standing on my feet for days on end, not being able to use my hair straighteners, etc, etc. was completely ridiculous. Until Rewind. My goodness, I am a convert.

What you do is this: secure babysitter for weekend (not easy for most but this was booked MONTHS in advance), buy festival tickets, book yourself a tent with Tangerine Fields, ticking the 'glamping' option, rally your mates to join you, throw a pre-Rewind BBQ (80's fancy dress compulsory) to get into the mood, then count down the weeks till coming face-to-face with your music idols - Rick Astley, in my case.

Then, when the exciting date finally arrives, get yourself to Henley On Thames, drive up and enter the car park (note, no queue) faced by lovely, smiling stewards, walk 30 metres to the entrance, greeted by even lovelier, friendlier security staff. Walk to the Tangerine Fields reception desk, upon which you are handed brand new sleeping bags and escorted to your ENORMOUS tent which is to be your home for the next 3 days. Delight at the comfort of the double inflatable airbeds. When you walk past the hairdryer/hair straightener tent, refrain from shrieking/jumping up and down hysterically so as not to alert other festival-goers to your virgin status.

Jump aboard the Pimms bus, lining your throat and vocal chords with well deserved alcohol (after all, it's been very tough so far?) in preparation for the hard work ahead. Enjoy.

As you can see from the photos, I made it to the very front of the crowd - this did involve running at full pelt, once they'd opened the gates. Like a neon bull in a batwing top. It wasn't until I got to the barrier, clinging on for dear life, trying to control my now rapid breathing, that I turned around and realised that everyone else was still walking at leisure across the field. So I would have looked like a total loon.

The brief encounter with cardio exercise was worth it though - a great time was had at the front of the crowds. The music was awesome, if not deafening and the atmosphere just too good, you could bottle it up and sell it as a cure for depression. I loved every second of my first festival experience and will be repeating it next year (am currently recruiting for Team Rewind 2010). Set in the lovely environs of Henley On Thames, Rewind is really something special. Where else can you wake up on a Sunday morning, after 10 hours of partying along to 80's tunes, to go for a leisurely stroll along the sun-drenched Thames and pop into town for a Starbucks and panini, to rest that weary head.

The ONLY complaint I have is with Comfy Crappers. We all bought into the idea that festival toilets were going to make us gag, so after much internet research, we paid £13 a head to use the facilities of Comfy Crappers. Note that this should be renamed Eco Crappers. I was rather expecting shiny white tiles, thick quilted loo roll and maybe some classical music to soothe my very sore ears. But oh no. Rather a hole above the ground, no flush, a wooden spoon to lock the door and the smell of a farm. But apparently it was for the good of the environment. Comfy my arse (get it?!).

PS. Rick, you were brilliant - I've fallen in love with you all over again.

Keep Calm & Carry On

Forget war-torn Britain, this quote was surely written for ME!

This week has tested me to the very limits of sanity. But it's had its rewards too (more on that later).

I have had to evict two unwelcome house guests. Actually, Mr H had to do the removing and said guests were actually rodents and not humans. Whilst away on a 'relaxing w/e' with a girlfriend, I received a phonecall from Mr H, informing me that we would be entertaining some 'visitors' for a fortnight. Now, for those who know me, my diary is organised with military precision and nothing and no-one gets past me and into the weekly plan without me knowing about it first (yes, it's a form of control freakish behaviour but I don't do surprises and am most definitely not comfortable with the idea of spontaneity).

It emerged over the course of the phonecall (luckily for Mr H, I was in another county and not face-to-face with him OR within a short driving distance of our house) that he had been bullied into looking after his niece's 2 pet mice, even though I had turned down a previous request to babysit her stick insects. My interpretation of an ideal house pet does NOT have a long, scaly tail and most certainly can't nibble any part of your body.

It took 2 days (ie. the entire length of my 'relaxing' w/e away) to drum it into Mr H that if the pesky rodents weren't removed from the house before I returned, then he would have to choose: me OR Micky/Minnie. Luckily for me, Mr H's family loyalties held strong and the day after I returned (not as relaxed as I'd hoped to be), we waved goodbye to our short-term house guests, before they were shunted off to another county (not far enough, in my opinion). The one thing that did make me smile (actually, I fell off the sofa clutching my sides) was watching Mr H clean out the cage and visibly gag at the putrid smell of mice pee. There is a God after all...

Now, onto nicer things. It turns out that I am actually slightly good at something. A while ago, a group of friends thought it would be good fun to enter a local arts/craft/horticultural show - the idea being to sweep the board with 1st prizes for efforts in every category, from home-grown giant marrows to floral arranging. So, with that in mind, I dusted off my easel and pastels and hurriedly put together a drawing of M for the Portrait category. For me, art is the Unknown - something that I want to be brilliant at and knowledgeable of, but alas, I was never given the tools or opportunity to explore. Coming from a family of scientists, I was practically laughed out of the room when I announced that I wanted to take GCSE Art as an option. 'Art?', my mother exclaimed, 'what on earth are you going to do with an Art qualification?!'. And with that, I took the Chemistry option instead (and flunked, unsurprisingly).

However, a couple of years ago, in secret defiance, I signed myself up for a Life Drawing class. With no art qualifications whatsoever, walking into that classroom and coming face to face with twenty other artists was incredibly daunting. But I knew straight away that I'd found my Nirvana. For 2 hours, every week, I would sit and draw with no interruption and no judgement. My tutor was a kind, talented and inspiring woman who took away my fears and inhibitions. I loved every second of the course.

Then, as with everything in life, things got in the way. With the course finished, I was relying on my self discipline to keep drawing. Which didn't happen, obviously. So, I was really, really happy to have an excuse to draw something again. What made it even better was winning 1st prize! I didn't get a rosette (unlike the giant marrow winner) but the satisfaction of being good at something was enough. It even took the edge off the mouse-house invasion. As my now favourite quote says, 'Keep Calm & Carry On'...I'm a great believer of Karma. Good things WILL happen to those of us who have been waiting very, very patiently, even if it's been a lifetime.