Festival Fun

I have just returned from the Greenbelt Festival, an arts festival with an emphasis on social conscience and inclusivity, and I've had a marvellous time!

Me relaxing in a queue!

Just as Greenbelt was getting started we saw a spectacular rainbow. It was a complete arch, and extremely bright, with a second, fainter rainbow at its side. Although I tried to capture the moment in photographic form, my camera is not powerful enough to do justice to how beautiful it was.

Pretty!

Talks

I had the pleasure of hearing Clare Short speak on two separate occasions. One of her speeches was on the difficult Israel-Palestine issue, and her view that we should be boycotting Israeli goods in order to achieve a solution. The second was part of a discussion about electoral reform and Short's views on proportional representation and the possibility of major political changes in the near future. Clare Short is an inspirational speaker, famous of course for resigning from Blair's government over Iraq, and a woman who truly understands the nastiness of politics.

I also had the opportunity to hear controversial human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. For many years he has been famous for his outspoken campaigning, mostly on LGBT issues. This particular talk was on the subject of queer rights (or lack thereof) in Africa. Although I do not agree with all of his opinions, particularly his often mendacious criticisms of members of the Anglican church, Tatchell is a key figure in highlighting the massive inequalities in humanity. While the picture is bleak, there is cause for hope, and the tent was full of people of all ages and sexualities who felt inspired. Many gay people came forward to give their own testimonials.

Fun!!!

On Sunday, I went to see Milton Jones, comedian of Radio 4 and Mock the Week fame. His series of surreal one-liners and amusing flip-chart doodles had us all in stitches. My friends and I managed to get into the queue reasonably early, which meant getting good seats in the balcony of the venue after a long-ish wait. We left feeling considerably happier, and sillier, and were delighted to have the chance to get to see some comedy at Greenbelt.

Yesterday afternoon we headed down to the Mainstage for Sing-a-long-a-Grease, which did what it said on the tin! As we watched the film on a big screen, lyrics appeared for the songs. There was a great feeling of togetherness as hundreds of people of all-ages gathered to join in. We all got on our feet for a rendition of Greased Lightening, complete with dance moves.

Jiving in front of Grease. You can see my friend Rach in her penguin hat!

Last night we had the joy of the Rockabilly Grand Ball. As a bit of a 50s-freak I'd been looking forward to this for ages. We began by jiving around to all the classic rock'n'roll hits, before the Dodge Brothers (featuring BBC film critic Mark Kermode on double bass and harmonica) appeared on stage for one of the most entertaining music sets I have seen. Everyone was dancing and enjoying the infectious brand of skiffle and blues. After the ball, my friends and I went to grab a cuppa in the Tiny Tea Tent, an environmentally-friendly mobile cafe with a hippy vibe and the best tea you can get at the festival.

The Tiny Tea Tent

As well as seeing music acts that I haven't mentioned and helping out in the G-source charity tent, we had a great time soaking up the atmosphere of the festival and browsing the various stalls. We each (that is, the three of us) purchased a silly animal hat, and enjoyed eating a great deal of chocolate.

Behold my pig hat... which mostly sits above my face.

Can't wait for next year!

J xxx