germanmon

@Sheffield Steve bringing us the Monday mood booster we need…

Booked accommodation for our post festival Mon to Fri holiday at the seaside. Second year we'll have done it - last year it was a really nice way to decompress before having to edge slowly back into real life.

+1 I freely admit I can be a miserable sod, but I have to admit I cringe a bit when watching them. Just feel they're a bit old hat now from an environmental perspective and the festival could do better. They might be great visuals up on the hill, but you could impress people and keep a Weds night staple with the drones - I think@stuie mentioned these, but the Wilderness ones last year were v impressive.

Whilst it's a bit sad to see the current sorry state, I'm sure it'll be like a phoenix rising from the ashes...looking forward to seeing the 2024 new and improved version!

Father and Son. Sorry Cat, but Boyzone ruined that song forever for me. The opening bars are enough to get me reaching for the mute button.

Ah, that's the one that gave way on me. Once I'd lost one of the plastic stoppers on the end of a leg, it kept getting stuck in the grass and it was all downhill from there. Cheers for the suggestion though, can definitely vouch for it being portable - packs up to a decent small size.

Sweet. I'm on the look out for one myself at the moment as the old one collapsed under the weight of my not insignificant girth. Had previously gone for lightweight and portability, but would prefer to go for something sturdier next time given it just stays by the tent. Where's this one from?

Is the 'friendship groups' a new thing on the Oxfam profile for this year? I recall seeing somewhere you could enter DoB and Name of shift partners last year to match yourselves up, but might be misremembering. Up to 5 allowed in a group now.

Gosh, Bearded gone by 11:02! However fast fingers, got my place so off to there and Glastonbury...very happy!

Snap. Not done Bearded at all but heard good things, and would be first time volunteering at Glastonbury, so interested to experience it from an Oxfam perspective. Did Shambala last year and loved it, so would ideally like to go back this year too. Not looking likely at the moment given work priorities, but I'm still working on my negotiation game to get the time off...

Hmmm, in two minds about this one. I'm not a parent - to me, they look like far too much hassle hauling something that big around, but I do understand that in the grand scheme of things it's probably easier all round than worrying too much about tired and grumpy kids when you can have them tucked up all cosy in one of those wagons. I find them easy enough to generally navigate around when I'm out and about, so no complaints there. However where I did see a problem with them was at Wilderness - parents dragging them through and around in the dark, pushing through towards the front of the Chems crowd to the disgruntlement of lots of other folks. Either the kids were already asleep (but clearly wouldn't be for long), or they were really restless and trying to get in/out repeatedly. Can't have been a great experience for them, but also wasn't for the people that were still trying to find a place only to find the 'gap' they thought they saw was filled by a couple of trollies. Not meant as an anti kid rant as I also love seeing them experience festivals, but more just a general 'wish there was a bit more consideration' post...

Yeah, plus one on the reusable cups. We were at Shambala too and even before the clean up crews did their thing yesterday morning, the difference in ground cover of rubbish between there and other festivals was significant. It really wasn't a hassle - plenty of taps to give your own coffee cup a quick swill; if you'd paid the initial extra £1.50 to use one of their pint glasses, you got a fresh one every time. Not a problem. I can see some moaning initially if it was introduced, but I reckon people would quickly cotton on after a year or two and it just becomes the norm.

Absolutely. We're just back from our second volunteering session, this time at Shambala, and it's reinforced the decision to forego the ticket battle next year and only volunteer instead. Rather than an inconvenience, we've loved it. All the practical advantages (hot water, showers, close camping etc) with the added bonus of meeting some lovely like minded people and feeling like you're really making a difference to someone's festival experience. Given shift swaps are always a possibility if you really need to be somewhere at a particular time and place, we haven't felt hard done by at all, quite the opposite. Roll on sign up for next year!

Made a firm decision not to go for tickets in the scrum. Only because we loved volunteering so much recently that we'd rather do it that way and get more time on the farm😀

Did you manage to camp with your friends? I was told most of general camping was full by Thursday pm, but there still seemed to be a decent amount of space between tents so it never seemed overly crowded. We went as first time volunteers for Oxfam and loved it - most people were really polite and the whole festival felt like it had a really laid back atmosphere which probably contributed to everyone's good mood. Aside from the headliners, if you were happy enough to chill out listening to some unknown music, I think there was definitely enough to keep people entertained without spending silly money on the 'experiences'. Would definitely do it as a volunteer again.