Coastwalk

Burry Port → Gowerton

Distance: 12.6 miles
Ascent: 191 metres
Duration: 3 hours 26 minutes

Cleaning up
« Ferryside | Landimore »

For the first time in a number of years I left Greenbelt early on the Tuesday morning. In a way I was avoiding the get-out, avoiding staying on site for hours as the racecourse is put back together, avoiding the awkward and painful loneliness of saying goodbye and driving off site alone.

The original plan was to spend the next few days walking down the Severn Estuary, but after last week I'm back in Carmarthenshire to do a bit of clearing up of my own - I want to finish the walking I'd intended to do back then.

Greenbelt

Happy New Year

Goodnight.

Greenbelt

Some kind of superstar

Are you ready for Jamelia?

Greenbelt

Escape to freedom

The communion crowd. The children started out at the Arena stage (in the foreground) and re-enacted the Exodus, escaping to the Promised Land of the North Car Park while singing We Are Marching, and whistling the theme to The Great Escape.

Greenbelt

Miracles for Beginners

Centaur is packed for Jeffrey John's first seminar. (What an excellent speaker and thinker... someone should make this guy a bishop.)

Greenbelt

Welcome to Greenbelt

It's not that there's nothing to write about; quite the opposite in fact. If I stop to write I'll miss even more of the festival. So for the next four days I'll post one snap a day to give you a flavour of the festival.

Welcome to Greenbelt 2004, Freedom Bound.

Greenbelt

Guided

The Festival Guides have arrived on-site, and we've just finished unloading them from the van. Time for bed. The festival starts later today, but first I need some sleep.

Greenbelt

The curry

Tonight's meal: curry.
Discussion: Marion and Geoff - genius or manipulative?
The opinion-formers: a producer, a writer, a social worker, a translator.

Sometimes informal Greenbelt moments sound like a late-night BBC Two arts show. In my book, this is how meals with friends are supposed to be.

Coastwalk

Ferryside → Burry Port

Distance: 16.4 miles
Ascent: 227 metres
Duration: 4 hours 47 minutes

A walk of thirds
« Carmarthen | Gowerton »

Like so many coastwalks, this one was dominated by a military presence. The middle section of the coast here is out of bounds - an aerial firing range - and by the time I got to Kidwelly, fighter aircraft were swooping down low to lock onto targets laid out on the sands. The aerial accompaniment continued for much of the morning.

Coastwalk

Carmarthen → Ferryside

Distance: 9.56 miles
Ascent: 335 metres
Duration: 3 hours 7 minutes

Doggy day
« St Clears | Burry Port »

Directly after passing this dilapidated cottage, the path along the east bank of the Afon Tywi disappeared. We wasted an hour or so clambering over badly rusting gates, trudging through sodden boggy fields before we were finally greeted at Towy Castle by two dogs, one of whom took a good bite at my boot.

Earlier our lives had been spared by chains that kept two salivating Alsatians just inches away from the path; a little later we passed a man holding back another angry dog by means of a sling wrapped round its waist. It's been a doggy day.

Once more we curtailed our walk. Ten miles was enough, so from Ferryside we took the train back to Carmarthen. Beside the station, three men in the signal-box still manage the traffic by clanking levers that operate manual semaphore signals.

The slow pace of the railway contrasting with the speed of the dogs means I have no easy way to characterise the walk. A strange day.

Coastwalk

Amroth → Pendine

Distance: 5.52 miles
Ascent: 500 metres
Duration: 2 hours 38 minutes

A matter of speed
« Shrinkle Haven | St Clears »

The plan for these few days before the festival was to walk from the end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Amroth round to the start of the Gower peninsula. A case of getting the boring coastline out of the way on my own, and saving a renowned beautiful section for next time.

It's not quite worked out that way.

Three reasons. Spending the weekend in Aberystwyth means the schedule's two days out. Secondly, Jez has come up to walk with me today and tomorrow, and finally, we were both too tired on arrival at Pendine to continue all the way to St Clears as originally planned.

Angels

The Angel Vaults

Why is it that Angel pubs seem to have the worst reputation? Woodbridge's Angel Inn was a magnet for fights; the picture Emma paints of The Angel in Aberystwyth has an 18 certificate.

So to Carmarthen's Angel Valuts. I have only this photograph to go on, but it doesn't look promising. The dirty paintwork and postered windows suggest it's keeping with the tradition of the name. If you have first-hand experience that contradicts this shallow two-minute opinion please present it. But the fact that it was closed on a Monday night in the middle of summer suggests I'm right.

Personal

Cardigan Bay at dusk

(I just want to remember this moment.)

Greenbelt

Newport Pagnell

My circuitous journey to Greenbelt continues. I'll be in Aberystwyth for the weekend so I hit the M1 straight after breakfast.

And there, just a few junctions north of where I set off in Luton, a memory from Greenbelts past.

Newport Pagnell Service Station.

In the Castle Ashby days - in our late teens - we'd stop here to regroup, our convoy of five or six cars. The aim: to hit site together on the dot of noon when the campsite opens. All the better for nabbing the best pitch.

While waiting for the others (my car was invariably first - the result of leaving early, rather than particularly fast driving), we'd exchange nods with other Greenbelters, all proudly displaying matching wristbands.

Does the Cheltenham site have its Newport Pagnell? Do Greenbelters smile in recognition of each other at Strensham in the north and Michael Wood in the south? Or is this all just an image overgrown in the soil of my memory?

Greenbelt

Leaving the storm behind

Here goes. Driving (indirectly) to Greenbelt. Tonight I'm stopping with my sister in Luton.

As I left Suffolk a flash caught my attention in the mirror. A storm descended on Ipswich, filling the sky behind with black clouds and momentary lattices of lightening. Ahead, the slowly gathering dusk was lit with a warm glow. Do I need a better metaphor for spending a fortnight away from work?

Personal

Redistributing the shingle

I should have been packing.
I'm off for two weeks now.
But instead I had an urge to go to the sea.

I move in seasons.
July is my lonely month.
August's role is less clear.
It's the time I carry pebbles from one end of the country to the other.
(I don't know why.)

So tonight I gathered ten stones from the shore at Shingle Street.
And on Saturday I'll abandon them in Aberystwyth.

Think of it as an exchange trip.
A redistribution project.
A human version of long-shore drift.
Something to occupy my mind.

Greenbelt

The CD

Helping out with Greenbelt there are the important tasks, and the vital ones. A task that falls into the latter category is the construction of my driving-to-Greenbelt CD, a compilation of the most interesting music I've found since the previous festival while retaining a little GB theme.

The tracks for 2004 then, are:

1. The Jam — Here Comes the Weekend
2. The Rasmus — In the Shadows
3. Juliet Turner — 1987
4. Faithless — Mass Destruction (album version)
5. Moby & Public Enemy — MKLVFKWR
6. dfg — Therapy Song (La la la)
7. Snow Patrol — How to be Dead
8. Goldfrapp — Strict Machine
9. Ric Hordinski — Something to See
10. Stark — Big Blue Eyes
11. Over the Rhine — Long Lost Brother
12. Astrid Williamson — Call for Beauty
13. Maria McKee — I'm Awake (live in Hamburg)
14. Blacksmoke — Blacksmoke Rising (PTM mix)
15. Bill Drummond — I'm the King of Joy
16. Athlete — Westside
17. The Polyphonic Spree — Hold Me Now
18. Kathryn Williams — Hallelujah (live in Regent's Park)

Greenbelt

Some kind of revolution

Every Greenbelt one event really captures my imagination. Last year it was The Polyphonic Spree. This year, it's a workshop that's so hot-off-the-press its time and location won't make it into the Festival Guide.

Here's the blurb:

Better Together — Some kind of revolution starting with us

We can’t feel the difference when we act alone. But if we act together, as an intentional community, we might start to notice how powerful a force for good we can actually be.

An experiment, this is a first at Greenbelt – your chance to hear the stories of others who have changed and challenged things in the light of their festival experience and perhaps tell your own. And then talk about how we might translate this piecemeal activity into some sort of virtual community over the coming year. Not a cult, but low key, achievable, and fun stuff; Greenbelters – in different places, at different times, at different speeds – acting in solidarity to bring in another world, the Kingdom come.

Hear about how we plan to host a blog for this newly emerging community, so that we can continue to inspire each other with tales of our world-changing, death-defying activities – from switching to an ethical bank, to giving blood, to starting to compost, to improving what we give to charity, to reducing the amount we use the car, to going on a demo, to deciding never ever to buy from X or Y or Z again, and even to writing to tell the CEO about it.

What might seem like a small act on your own, when seen together with others can feel much more like defying the principalities and powers of this world. It’s our refusing to believe we can’t make a new world together!

Just the sound of trumpets brought a city wall down once.

So, keep your ears to the ground for the low-down about when and where this inaugural gathering will happen on site. We’ll do our best to get notices out and about, but if this sounds intriguing to you, then we know you’ll root it out.

See you there?

Greenbelt

The phone book

Is it because I work for BT?

For the third year running I find myself editing the Greenbelt on-site telephone directory. Thankfully we don't list every punter, but tapping away it's beginning to feel as if we do. The list grows each year and I'll have to drop the text size down to three points if I'm going to fit everyone on one sheet of A4.

The pre-festival draft should be complete by the end of the night. The trick then is to find someone willing to edit the list a couple more times Thursday and Friday next week. Any volunteers out there?

Update:
Hurrah for Front Desk! Sally and her team have agreed to take the editing on.

Personal

Driving back home

Hare and Hounds Corner near Ashbocking, Suffolk.

Tech , Website

Further growling: technical support

I'm still having problems with this website. It looks like I keep crashing the server whenever I try to update the contents. This is not a good thing.

An even worse thing though, is that I can't convince the technical support folk that there's a problem. They gloss over my comments, try something similar - but not identical - to my instructions on how to isolate the issue, then say "no problem here". And I'm paying good money for this service. Hmm.

At least it's the weekend tomorrow - should be a good one. And the flowers finally arrived.

Personal

Today's growl: Internet shopping

This lunchtime I found myself chasing an order that was guaranteed to be delivered today. It hadn't even been prepared for despatch.

I'm not sure what makes me sigh more: the disappointment of a timely delivery missed, or the realisation that I'm upset about a single twenty-four hour delay.

And resonating at the back of my mind is a slogan from the dot-com era: "Same day delivery in a nanosecond world".

Greenbelt

On-site

I gather today marks the start of the site build for Greenbelt 2004.

We're sixteen days from the start of what looks to be another cracking festival. I hope I can meet you there. (Have you bought your ticket yet?)

Arts

River theatre

What a fantastic venue for street theatre!

On one side: the old granary building, now a classy cafe. On the other: Thames sailing barges moored up on the Deben. As a backdrop: the white boards of the Tide Mill.

Early evening tonight's players drummed their way past Angel Lane as they walked down to the quayside. Then later, for much of my evening's walk along the river path, voices and silence drifted across the water from the foot of the old mill, itself lit by half a dozen lanterns.

And I missed the whole performance. Maybe next time.

Greenbelt

The August meeting

Just in.
Soaked.
Minuted.
Ready for bed.

Personal

A weekend off

This has been my last free weekend before Greenbelt.

In celebration I've put everything to one side - including some GB work I'll need to move on early in the week - to have a relaxing two days under the glorious Suffolk sun. So I'm off to find a quiet spot by the river. I'll take a chilled drink and a good book and watch the world go by.

Personal

3am Eternal

Pretty much every day this week I've woken up at 3am. It's beginning to get rather annoying. It's bad enough during the working week, but at weekends too? That's when you know it's got to stop.

I welcome suggestions for a) why this is happening and b) how to break it.

Greenbelt

Greenbelt Bloggers

Got a blog? (Or thinking about starting one?)

There's going to be an informal gathering for bloggers at Greenbelt. It'll be in the Winged Ox at 4pm on the Saturday.

The Wibsite has all the details, including a list of people who are known to be showing up.

Personal

Five more words

At lunchtime, the woman who sits next to me at work observed, "You're quite private."

In my mind I was thinking, "If only you found my website," but I realised that even here I've said little about how I feel of late.

So - while not addressing the issue head-on - here's an updated answer to a classic Pip question.

The five words that best describe my life at the moment are:

• bored
• hopeful
• expectant
• nervous
• excited

Only one of these words relates to work. Only one of these words is the same as last time.

Personal

Industrial espionage

Want to destroy productivity in a busy office?

It seems the answer is to surreptitiously switch an order for regular Post-it® Notes with one for Post-it® Z-Notes.

Now I'm sure these things make a lot of sense if you have the appropriate dispenser, but without the humble pad of sticky notes becomes a cascading display of colour that's hard to put down. What's more, they double as quick Christmas decorations. Or, if you work them fast enough, a convenient fan. All this while driving your colleagues insane.

Personally I like to think that someone at 3M is employed to convert regular pads into Z-Notes by turning alternate sheets through 180°.

From all around our office today has come the flutter of paper tumbling back to desks. Don't laugh. It's the summer and it's hard to get motivated.

Greenbelt

Worried there

All year long - as the festival is planned - the Greenbelt marquees are referred to by very dry names such as Talks Tent One or Grandstand Talks.

Come festival time though, they adopt names that tie in with the theme. Last year's theme "Diving for Pearls" gave us Ocean, Reef and Oyster; in 2002 Snog, Peck and Smacker reflected Kiss of Life.

Being simple souls some of us find it hard to switch from the functional names we've been using throughout the year to the thematic names. More than once have I directed a bemused friend to Talks One, when I really should have said Explorer.

This confusion is worth it though - the venue names are part of what makes Greenbelt reinvent itself every year.

This year I was worried. Only today, three weeks away from the festival, have I finally seen a document that doesn't use the usual bland names. For a moment I thought we'd swapped creativity for dryness, confusion for predictability. What would be next?

The names? Well, if you want to find out, you know where to go.

Personal

Old and new

Over a pub lunch today I caught up with one of my cousins. We so rarely get the chance to talk at length, usually bumping into each other only at roughly annual family gatherings. So talking with Chris today about all manner of things buzzing round each of our heads was a wonderful opportunity.

And then this evening (after an aborted attempt to head to London), a wonderfully meandering phone call with a new friend.

It's been a good day.

Website

Blog trouble

I've been having trouble updating this website since Friday. Please bear with me. I hope to have it fixed early this week, but updates may be a little sporadic in the meantime. (Thanks Joanna for pointing out I was offline.)

Personal

Abigail Lily-May Stacey

I drove for five hours today so I could take this photograph.

That's my sister Ruth, with Keith and one-day-old Abigail.

I think you'll agree it was worth it.