Ah, Glastonbury. Synonymous with sludge, dodgy food, great music and porta-loos that would usually only be found in the darkest regions of Hell. It was watching this weekend’s mud-fest from the dry surrounds of my arm-chair that cast my memories back to good ol’ 1994. And yes, bloody hell, that was 13 years ago.
It was also the year I made my only jaunt down to Somerset during my summer-of-festivals-thing that saw me at the Phoenix festival and several Heineken festivals in the same year.
And 13 years is a lot of difference – in terms of weather and music.
Glastonbury 1994 was scorching hot. The ground was rock-hard, not this brown slurry I noticed this weekend. On the down-side the porta-loos smelt utterly terrible, steaming pretty much from Friday onwards, with the only respite of aroma during the mild nights which were spent sat in shorts around the fire drinking cheap lager and smoking suspicious substances.
The music was amazing, however. I mean, imagine sticking the following bands on the same bill today: Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Manic Street Preachers, Pulp, The Pretenders, Paul Weller, James, The Beastie Boys and Bjork… I’m not saying this year’s line-up was inferior, but for a line up like 1994, I might consider standing in a foot of mud again.
A Glastonbury Alternative
So what did I do this weekend while others half my age were standing in a boggy field in their waterproofs? Writing of course. I’ve progressed through a quarter of the 4th draft, and have let three guinea-pigs read what I’ve written so far. One of these is Louise, my sister, a quite fastidious reader who is unpicking each chapter highlighting typos, continuity errors and things that perhaps make little sense to someone more objective. It will add that little ounce of confidence to the whole thing when I submit the book to Macmillan New Writing.
And then there’s the title. I still haven’t decided on one, but there are now three short-listed monikers:
The Burning Sands of Time
The Soldiers of Fire
Eyes of the Rassis
I guess one of these will make it (unless someone comes up with anything better), and if MNW do publish it, I guess - like David - the whole title thing will be batted between Will and I until we settle on something.
Re: last blog entry
It’s still raining in Sheffield.
I’m buying an O.S. map of the city and surrounding areas, i.e. Peak district and South Yorkshire, this week.
I will be shading in all the flooded areas in blue for the next writing project, which is almost definitely going to be The Isles of Sheffield (to commence late October).
I might be sometime.
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