Greenbelt

Note to Self

Must dry tent.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Goodnight Kiss

A curry on Saturday night marked the end of GB2002. During the day the Planning Group met to discuss how the festival went and review letters received. Thoughts now turn to 2003... tentative budgets are being set, and the first few "who shall we book" e-discussions have started.

Life's dropped down a gear; time to remember what my day-job is, peek at the garden that's been ignored all summer. Come January the pace'll pick up again, but right now it's late night walks by the river accompanied by the chiming boat-masts.

See you next year?

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Coastwalk

Hastings → Rye

Distance: 13.4 miles
Ascent: 769 metres
Duration: 4 hours 13 minutes

Sustinence
« Cooden Beach | Lydd »

A couple of days after the festival, this is the perfect way to relax: a dozen miles on the south coast. Mum's taken the day out to support me, acting as chauffeur, picnic-coordinator and walking companion for some stretches.

Greenbelt

One Down

Saturday morning. Hard to believe we're there.

Spent most of yesterday running around from meeting to meeting, trying to get various things sorted. At ten o'clock I managed to get a breather though, and watch an entire set on Stage 1. Over the Rhine were perfect -- the highlight of the day. They followed Brian Kennedy on stage, Karin sang the first few notes of Latter Days and I was transported...

It rained a bit yesterday, but this morning the weather's glorious. The sun's burnt off the early morning mist, and the racecourse is starting to wake up. It's going to be another astonishing day.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Fun with the Fire Crew

Sitting here in Fishtank, there's a great view of the racecourse. We're also adjacent to the fire crew office and get to see all the fun going down. Like just now: a hot-air balloon has landed on the racecourse. Within seconds a swarm of orange flashing lights descended on the crew -- no doubt the fastest response they've ever seen.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

T-2 Days

Amazed that I woke up this morning and didn't notice that the power was out. It wasn't 'till an hour or two later that I was told. Apparantly half of Cheltenham was out from 8. Thankfully power came back online at 11am, and we're back on track for getting everything set up.

Greenbelt FM now have their studio sorted, and the computers for the Internet Cafe are here. The venue's laid out for workshops, etc and starting to look like the place we began dreaming of way back.

Amongst all this, there's the usual fun... like visiting Tesco's for breakfast this morning, and pretty much taking over their cafe (about 30 Greenbelters!)... like hearing of someone hotwiring a motorised scooter / wheelchair (not sure whether to sigh in despair, or smile at the ingenuity of it).

We sent out another Festival Dispatches on Monday and I've been receiving "out of office" replies from folk telling me they'll be back at work on the 28 August. They're on their way...

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Hello Cheltenham

12am. Here. Online.

The empty fishtank venue seems to have grown since I was last here. We now have three days in which to transform the place into Greenbelt's media centre. *gulp*.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Last Minute

8am. Heading down to Cheltenham.

Spent yesterday in the office mucking in with last minute items, helping put aside things to take down to site. It all seemed fairly organised. Last night I vegged out completely, but the brain wasn't totally switched off... for some reason I was able to correctly identify a ballet position on University Challenge. This worries me more than it should.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Further Practicalities

Tonight I start the most important pre-festival activity: making a compilation tape for the way down.

For those who care, my tape starts off:

• Soup Dragons - I'm Free
• Rob Dougan - Clubbed to Death
• Moby - The Rafters
• Moloko - Indigo
• Basement Jaxx - Red Alert

Today would be a wonderful day to drive down to site: perfect blue skies and a gentle breeze. And this year with free GB car stickers going out with most tickets, spotting other Greenbelters on the A40 would be easier than ever. I don't think I'll bother making a wet-weather tape; it doesn't look like I'll need it.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Swimming in Circles

(Is it inappropriate to blog about your own venue? Well Pip did ask.)

fishtank's one of the new venues at Greenbelt this year. It's Greenbelt's Media Centre, the hub from which Greenbelt communicates with the world. The place to charge your mobile, to listen to live Greenbelt FM, to kiss the world in the Internet cafe, to participate and create. There'll be workshops and panels throughout the weekend; we'll probably hold a "meet the bloggers" session there too.

Something new, something experimental. Come and let us know what you think.

(Only 14 days to go now...)

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

Another Late Night/Early Morning

I've been trying to ignore it, but even my friends keep pointing out we're only two weeks away now... so today's Greenbelt tasks are:

fishtank:

• complete venue risk assessment
• finalise schedule for venue
• draw up a list of volunteers
• look into catering opportunity
• confirm technical spec of venue
• prepare stationary order
• print final budget
• check internet access
• begin to think about evaluating venue after festival

Angels:

• write report for Monday's Management Group meeting
• distribute agendas for Monday's meeting
• check programme copy

My real life:

• get work straightened for two weeks leave

Up and down the country there must be hundreds like me drawing up similar lists. And you know what? We love it :)

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt

People and Places

Five miles north of my house - almost exactly due north - is a farm. A pig farm. Prospect Farm. I've never been before, but on Sunday I decided to drive by there, snap a few photos, step out of the car and draw in the air a while. I tried to imagine the scene twenty-eight years ago: I'd have been two, and right here the very first in our series of festivals was starting to take shape.

There's little to see there now. I've seen photos round the office of Greenbelt '74, but couldn't connect them to the rainy landscape. It's odd... it felt very empty. I've visited Deene Park since we moved to Cheltenham, and there too I felt nothing. Even Cheltenham feels a little bare mid-year. Strange. Made me think: Greenbelt's not about a place, but a people.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Greenbelt , Personal

East Anglia No More

Everyone has an obsessive hobby. Mine is walking the British coastline, and after three years at it I've finally hit a decent milestone: on Saturday Jon and I walked the 14 miles from Kirby Le Soken to Harwich meaning I've now completed the 500 miles or so of coast between The Thames and The Wash.

I celebrated by marking the route in the road-map I keep in the car. These things are important to boys.

Only another 4,500 miles and I'll be done...

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Coastwalk

Kirby-le-Soken → Dovercourt

Distance: 13.7 miles
Ascent: 200 metres
Duration: 4 hours 53 minutes

Done, at last
« Walton-on-the-Naze | Manningtree »

So this is it: the final walk in Essex, the last one in East Anglia. After promising myself I'd finish the region in 2000 and 2001 I finally finished it before 2002 is out.

Greenbelt , Tech

Ahead of the Curve

An email from someone at work:

The next Big Thing? The concept's simple but I'd never heard the term 'blogging' (web logging i.e. keeping a web journal) used before - had you?

Dare I tell him I jumped on the bandwagon a month ago?

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)