Big, Dusty, Crowded, Sober Day Out

Man was I exhausted today. I could hardly get out of bed this morning after such a 'Big Day Out'. I didn't have a drink all day, but was so dehydrated from the sun and had so much dust in my lungs I felt like I'd been out on a hard night.

Even though the organisation of the day was barely minimal I still managed to see just about everyone on my list even with the time clashes.

I was very nerdy and organised for the day, printing out the schedule as well as my own personal timetable of events, I texted everyone the time they were to be on the train and I even packed a cut lunch- including mini muffins.

Getting on the train I found even more friends than expected starting with these two,

and then found the Devlins and the Parsons and the Wells', (representatives at least).

The only two bands that I saw the whole sets of were Faker

and Midnight Juggernauts, B and I were right down the front in the 'D' (that must stand for dancing 'cos that's what we were doing a lot of).

We then tried to make a mad dash to see Dizee Rascal but, even though there was heaps of space in there, the gate was so small there was just a jam of people coming in and out through the same 2 foot gate way, so we gave up.

It was then that we found the lush side of the grounds with Spoon at the Green Stage and Billy Bragg at the essentials stage. We dubbed this the Meredith stage 'cos everything was so much greener and laid back. No queues for the toilets or water, no dust and a grassy bar from which you could see the music and on the way in you passed under a giant mister and free iced tea!

Arcade Fire were another highlight except for the fact that the main stage had the worst view of all, then we eventually made it in to the boiler room to catch LCD Sound System and UNKLE.

Trying to get out of there proved nigh on impossible with 40 000 people trying again to squeeze out of a funnel towards the trains. You'd think they may have thought ahead, but there wasn't even anyone with a megaphone yelling directions. Once we got on the train it was the most ridiculously squashed I have ever been on public transport. You weren't even supporting your own body weight. I was convinced if I jumped up my feet wouldn't touch the ground again and I would just be carried by the crowd, but there wasn't even space to jump.