h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Way Down To The Hollow
And Let Us All Wallow
In Glorious Mud

Well Womad this year soon was christened womud for good reason. A lot of water and clay mixed together soon is a gloopy mess. It was it's usual good mix of music, food, talks and art but with fewer workshops as the stages they should have used were flooded out and deemed unsafe.
Still lots to see and do, including a bonus gig by the Blind Boys of Alabama supported by local school children on the thursday night before the festival officially started.

Here are some photos

Thursday - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/phil55494/WomadCharltonPark2007Day0?authkey=T4uticFCzRU
Friday - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/phil55494/WomadCharltonPark2007Day1?authkey=2whQR0Wf5Bc
Saturday - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/phil55494/WomadCharltonPark2007Day2?authkey=_2-MHkLz2K8
Sunday - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/phil55494/WomadCharltonPark2007Day3?authkey=RSubqHpscnE

And yes my boots did end up looking like that. I'm hoping that when cleaned up they can be repaired as the outer sole unit came clean off!
Thing is I think I must have been walking round for about five or six hours on the saturday night with the boot like that thinking "this boot doesn't feel right"
An emergency welly run had to be done (many thanks to MC for that ) and a pair of size 11 boots were found. Only about 1.5 to 2 sizes too small then, still better than nothing.

Well, I guess it was only visited by die-hard folk music fans then...

Stockholm Water Festival was at it's best when it poured down - none of that riff-raff who just come to sit in the sun and get drunk on too much ...

There have been some complaints that it was too muddy and unsafe but I thought it was OK if precautions were taken. We did get to see lots of music even if it wasn't quite as much as we would have done if it was dry.

hah ... news from Charlton Park ... thanks Phil ...a dedicated Fest goer .. with photographic evidence !

looks like a great venue though, Charlton Park ??... despite the womud .....is it going to be there every year from now on ?

we went to Womad at Rivermead a few times ... I remember one year was so hot, the poles of our tent went bendy ... they were bendy poles anyway, but they went even more bendy ..... Van Morrison was the highlight that year ... and swimming in the Thames .... ... yukky ...

well, what's a Fest without something going bendy ....

best Womad memory ... St Austell .... '88 I think ...camping on the beach at Carlyon Bay .. Peter Gabriel's set was the highlight .. everyone leaping around in the night air ... all very bendy .....

H

Very nice boots Looks like you had a great time! Love the photos. I'm getting some prints developed should be ready by the weekend You've got good taste in music

The boots have been cleaned up and are sat drying out before I send them off to the cobler to see if they can be repaired - I do hope they can.
I decided to just take the little digital camera this time - weather and all that - much easier to carry but still there is the process of downloading, tweaking, captioning and putting up on the web of the pictures. Perhaps using film isn't so bad after all, apart from the sharing of the pics afterwards with those in the virtual world.

I think they're looking at Charlton Park as a long term venue. It is so much better than the Rivermead site in Reading. Much nicer atmosphere, even with the rain and mud. The R3 stage was off in a wooded area away from the other main stages along with a smaller stage that was used for some 'in conversation' talks. In another area away from the main throng there were to be a couple more smaller stages to do some acoustic and workshop stuff but they were cancelled because of the rain/mud.

All in all, will we go again, probably but maybe not next year.

Now to roll onto the next fest, in just over a week.

In Sweden, rainy weather in the summer is so common that the folk music festival I used to visit in Falun had what looked like circus tents, although not quite as big, where some of the concerts took place.

The main stage was outdoors however, but situated in a car park (asphalt) so no mud there either.

One of the most memorable concerts was Compay Segundo (Cuba) who was 90 years old at the time but still going strong. Everyone got up and was dancing to his music, he got excited, performed even better, and the crowd got even more enthusiastic, so he excelled still more, and the crowd went wild. It was great!

At womad they had three stages in tents from the little big top through the big red tent and then the giant siam tent. Even that tent got full up for some performances (and when it was raining outside). The other stages - the main stage, the sadlespan stage and the radio 3 stage were of the outdoor covered type where if it rains you get wet but the performers (and equipment) should stay mostly dry.

And my boots have returned from their trip to the specialist cobler with new soles and looking very good. I'm sure they'll still feel good to wear for a few more years yet.