Lycra

Found through experience depart times from the festival vary. Have left both early and late. Queues, coach arrival time, coach park congestion and exit traffic seem to all play there part. Personally I would want a larger gap been arrival at Victoria and St Pancras departure to avoid a nervous sweaty bum coach journey.

It's event industry standard practice not to refund booking fees, though some will refund postage if physical tickets have not been dispatched. Cancellation refund rights are set out in the terms & conditions of each booking agent. Booking agents normally do not receive any income from the face value of the ticket and cover their costs by charging a booking fee. They argue that they have provided a booking service irrespective as to whether the event goes ahead or not and, additionally, they incur extra cost if they have to oversee a ticket refund. Personally in this high tech semi-automated era, when actions occur with a fews clicks of buttons, I am puzzled why booking fees are so high.

Well worked out and a great explanation. Happy New Year to all the fellow ticketless. May we all be successful in 2022, particularly in the resale. ps - Every refund blog I read, such as I've just read on Glastchat, fills me with hope.

True, another dynamic to add to the mix. Much had happened in the 2+ years since deposits were paid and many individual circumstances will have changed. Some will have money saved and want to party. Others will be not be so fortunate. Decisions will be influenced by changes in savings, relationships, friendships, childen, life circumstances, health, habits, apathy, travel etc etc. That's in addition to any covid restrictions. This could add up to a larger than average resale.

Yes I stand corrected having forgotten the balance due date had been moved forward from that of previous years. Though not yet announced the resale could in all probability be March. This change itself could influence some balance decisions and resale participation.

It's that time of year when we the great ticketless begin to turn our thoughts to the odds of getting the golden one come April. This also entails much speculation on the number of tickets going back in the pot. So I hereby declare:- Of the 11 people I know who originally got tickets, 2 have already requested a refund, 4 are almost definitely no-goes, 2 are probably no-goes, leaving 3 still intending to go. Additionally only 4 of the 8 ticketless in my circle of friends/acquaintances remain interested in trying to get a ticket in the resale. Reasons for not going range from "no longer interested", "tried camping & don't like it", "if they're not going then I'm not" and relationship breakdown.

That's what I'm hoping as we're currently ticketless and I would love to take Mrs L again, especially as she's been on the front line ever since the pandemic began. I know of 2 who've already asked for a refund and 4 others who are a 90% no but won't pull out until balance is due. And of the original 8 ticketless in our group, only 4 will in the resale.

It's going to be interesting to see how the effect of the pandemic, with the enforced 2 year lay off, plays out in general. The music industry has been beset with no shows and reduced crowds since it began to open up earlier this year. This has been put down to both fear of covid and people getting out of the habit. Whilst I don't envisage anything similar happening in June, the journey until then will poke hard decisions to be made. Much has happened in quite a lot of people's life since deposits were paid over 2 years ago!

* sic unhelpful Be down to the stewards

Feel free to correct as I'm reading your question as parking your campervan in the general car park and sleeping in it Tuesday night only. I don't have a definitive answer to this but it could provoke an interesting ( & maybe helpful) reaction at the entrance. There would be no problem if it is a standard light goods van.

Refered to critics as pretentious, not the albums/artists

Listened to 7/8, including those not on my usual genre radar. Most were average, some sleep inducing. Used to like Ghetts but now finding him repetitive. BCNR great musically: vocally less satisfactory. Maybe I getting old but most of the albums felt like a rehash of what's gone before; often by others. I want new, fresh and unique.

Sometimes I feel the Mercury judges are trying so hard to cover all the bases/genres it all becomes very pretentious. Being a "critically acclaimed" album remains only in the world of the critic unless it's recognised and appreciated by a wider audience. A headline one day, chip paper the next.

Has creativity become another casualty of covid? Poorest Mercury shortlist I can remember!

So government have produced an insurance scheme that will protect festival organisers in the event they have to cancel due to a general lockdown being imposed but it doesn't help when unlocked with restrictions still imposed, e.g. social distancing, attendance limits, additional testing etc. Provides clarity but there is still a large element of risk being carried by organisers.