Weather update...

...so despite the sundances I'm sure you all did, they did no good and it absolutely peed down over the weekend :( We were at Weston Park in Stafford (thanks for the offer of the shower Boo, we totally would've invaded if we'd gone to Chelmsford!) and it was quite an experience. We didn't arrive until around 8pm on Friday night and although we hadn't packed that much stuff, had NOT anticipated the hour long walk (yes that's one hour of walking) from the car park to the camping area lugging our tent, air bed, clothes etc which don't sound heavy but really were after an hour... By the time we got through security and got our wristbands it was basically dark and the campsites were pretty much full. We ended up trudging along, arms aching, hunting fruitlessly for a spot for quite some time. A load of tents had been pitched in what they call a 'fire lane' which is a lane they keep empty in amongst all the tents so if there is an emergency they can evacuate people easily. Lots of people had decided to camp in one of these so we decided 'stuff it, we'll just camp here' and as we started un packing I spotted a space a little further in right amongst the tents. Happily we camped there as all the tents that had been put up in said fire lane got moved at 7am on Saturday morning. Think I would've actually cried if that had happened.

We then spent at least an hour putting the tent up in the dark - Carl was understandably not a happy bunny and I felt like crying because the whole festival thing had been my idea. However! Saturday dawned and was a great day - dry and sunny until the evening we saw loads of good bands including Amy Winehouse, Girls Aloud (yay!), The Rifles, The Chemical Brothers, Lenny Kravitz and Goldie Looking Chain. Then on Saturday evening it started to rain and didn't stop until Sunday morning, by which time the entire site had turned into a boggy, horrible swamp. Thank god for RAF issued boots and posh all weather jacket (for Carl) and for hand-me down Hunter wellies from Nicky and attractive lilac kagoul from mum (for me). Sunday was also a fab day but we did decide not to stay for headline act (Muse) so we could get out of the carpark quickly - which I guess shows we're getting all old and sensible :)

The loos in the campsite were absolutely unspeakable - the smell was so bad we didn't dare go near them, but the loos in the arena were actually great. Long queues but every single one we went into was clean and some even had loo roll in! I think the trick is to approach the toilets with low expectations and be pleasantly surprised when they're not full of poo, rather than approach with optimism and be horrified with the contents. Was nice to get home and have a shower though!

Love Kate xxxx