Chris_R

Gone for some textile based ones this time out - thinking they will be a little easier to break in than leather, plus they are a hell of a lot lighter on the feet. Scarpa Rush Trek GTX. We do a fair bit of walking beyond Glasto, so wanted something half decent.

Spent the day in town shopping for new walking boots having had my current ones start leaking water while out walking the dog on Friday night. Now got the "fun" of breaking in a new set before Glasto.

Fairy lights as already mentioned - but having had enough of them getting all tangled up and damaged swapped for some of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Okdance-Waterproof-Portable-Rechargeable-Adjustment/dp/B0CQXBXBWP/ Also work as a tent light, built in battery and supposedly water resistant. They also act as a (relatively small) power bank if needed.

That sounds like a great service - until it is windy 😄

If you do head into Shepton - there is also the Aldi across the carpark from Tesco which may be quicker and potentially cheaper too - Shepton Tesco is usually pretty rammed around festival week. Can also pick yourself up a cheeky sausage roll at Gregs while you wait for your bus back too over there 😉

So we just upgraded from the standard cheapy blow up mats to a couple of self inflating - but we tried everything in GoOutdoors (both side sleepers) and nothing was really thick enough that you wouldn't be feeling the floor in your shoulders or hips. Did a bit of research and rather than go for the full foot thick, weighs a ton thing that you put up in your spare room - we went for a couple of Zempire Monstamats. They are supposedly self-inflating, but I bought a little battery pump anyway to speed that up (also well handy for getting them packed down again) and they are about 10CM thick when fully up. They are a full 2M long, wider too than most so less likely to slide off the edge you wouldn't need a double for one person to be comfy. I did a half hour on one in the garden - which to be honest, is more like Glasto fields than I would care to admit, full of lumps and bumps rather than a bowling green - and was super comfy. I have also done a night in the house on it last night as I am ill - wife kicked me out of the bedroom for coughing and keeping her awake 😄 and was really good.

So "the pile" is developing nicely. Tested putting up the new tent middle of the week while the weather is nice - gone for a 4 man, Sendero from GoOutdoors. Seems solid enough for the money. Got my selection of loud Hawaiian shirts sorted Dug the sleeping bags out of the garage and washed them all, which upset the spiders that had been making their home in them 😄 Been in there since our last Glasto which was 2017! Gave the fishing barrow I picked up cheap on FB market a once over, topped up the air in the tyre and found a bracket needed a quick bit of welding - that could have been a disaster! New bottle of gas for my burner - only really use it for tea/coffee first thing but it's nice for if you don't fancy going anywhere when you wake up but need a brew. Bought about 10 pre-mixed cans yesterday to test out what I fancy taking with me - I managed a few of them last night but had enough not to really care how good they tasted by the end of the evening 😄

You can yes without downloading the Zoom application, they have a "web based client" which just runs in a browser window - so I am not sure on the Avalon side of things - they may want to verify that it is you via camera. You can do this on your phone by the way too - no need for anything additional then like a webcam. Instructions on using the web only interface rather than dowloading the app https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0064261#h_01FGW753J4PVWY94DCEQQTAQ1Q

Let's hope they don't do a Sainsburys and those are replaced with help yourself tills with one guy covering them instead 😄

It's an ideal situation for us - we live close enough for Sunday locals tickets but not for the full tickets sadly. But it does mean it's no big deal for us to start earlier in the week as 20 minutes from the site roughly.

GFEL - To be honest, the training has been really good that I have done so far, just our team was drafted in quite late in the day so it's been a bit of a scramble to get everything sorted. Really looking forward to seeing the festival from the other side though, and looks like it is going to become a permanent thing for us (both the wife and I are working together). No more panic for tickets every year will be absolute bliss if it all comes together for us!

Still waiting for our final training session as stewards - they had no spaces before the deadline earlier in the week left for the Zoom "live" training course, fortunately some new slots came up on Thursday. Was having a bit of a panic as our team was only put on the site 3 days ago! Have to do 5 or 6 courses for stewarding total.

Trying out a fishing barrow this year - so we can do one trip as there is only the pair of us going this year. We did have one of those four wheel garden trolleys when the daughter was little but they really don't pack down at all well - we had to remove the spare wheel and the boot cover in the car to fit it in and it has just kinda rotted out being in the garden for a few years. If it's good enough for fishermen to take all their gear for a weeks fishing down a muddy bank, it's got to be worth a shot.