Weather notes

[juliet]

Given that it seems the BBC can't even get the weather right by looking out of the bloody window, perhaps this nice optimistic Glastonbury weather forecast carries less credence.

(GlastoWeatherWatch sounding note of caution & promising to update later today. Metcheck not updated again yet, but if you stick 'BA4' (Worthy Farm postcode) in it predicts a total of about 5mm rain on Saturday, but virtually nothing Friday or Sunday. Which isn't too horrendous).

I keep dithering re taking wellies, but I *do* have a pair of decent hiking boots which should be OK up to a good 4 or 5 inches of mud, & if we get more than that I pretty much have to go home anyway, as the chair will not really be a useable proposition any more.

Ooh, I can go home & pack tonight. Hurrah.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

enjoy ryan adams, coldplay and the gang....

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Did I ought to be doing coming round and getting some keys and learning what you feed a rat after work then?

[juliet]

Ideally, yes! Will that be OK? If it's going to be hassle (either to stop past tonight, or to stop past a couple of times while we're away) I can attempt to recruit elsewhere.

I should be home from about 5 tonight - was in early, & am not feeling at my Sunny Best so emphatically not staying late.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Seems reasonable, I just get off a stop early and walk home across the park.

[juliet]

Fantastic, you = shiny star.

What time will you be past tonight?

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Probably about six.

[juliet]

Cool, see you then. (we have no other plans for the evening other than Glasto-packing, so timing not essential).

[j4.livejournal.com]

General consensus is that nobody has a bloody clue what the weather will be like. :-}

I don't think I can face carrying wellies, they're too heavy. I figure I can always buy some there if absolutely necessary. OTOH if it turns into a complete mudbath I will just go home -- last year showed me that when the whole site is an ocean of mud it's Just Not Fun Any More. :-/

Where are you guys planning on camping, BTW? We were thinking of trying for the Green Fields if we get there early enough, or otherwise Pennard's.

We have a BIG STRIPY TENT. :-)

[juliet]

See, I didn't think it was that bad last year! My hiking boots dealt with the mud fine, & I was still able to sit down on my nice sitting-down-on sheet if I chose carefully, & there was only a couple of times when I got really seriously damp. I certainly still thoroughly enjoyed myself.

But yes - if it turned into 1998-style mudbath (which is the only year I've been where wellies *were* essential, although even then there were patches which were too deep for them - I didn't have wellies & instead spent 3 days with binbags inside my boots & tied round my knees with string, & it was Not Pleasant) then I know it's not worth staying. Can't physically handle it.

I think that's looking pretty unlikely, though - the crucial thing in 1998 was that there had been so much rain for the month beforehand, & we haven't had that this year.

Anyway - yes, weather forecasts = notoriously unreliable :-)

We are planning to camp in Pennards, & will be arriving on Wednesday (train gets to Castle Cary at 1239, so I guess onsite around 1330?). I gather that unless you get there more or less as the gates open, you'll be lucky to get in the Greenfields. Pennards looks pretty good, though.

[j4.livejournal.com]

My hiking boots dealt with the mud fine

Where on earth were you?! I had to wade through slurry that nearly came over the top of my wellies to get to the toilets! People's tents were sliding away in the mud!! And the New Music tent was utterly unreachable. I remember looking at the acres of sticky mud that we would have had to cross to get there and just wanting to cry.

There's no way we'll get there for 10am (and if we did there'd be queues halfway round the West Country), so Pennards it is then -- thought the Greenfields might be unlikely but thanks for the tip/confirmation. I'd rather walk straight to somewhere that we should be able to camp than try for one place and have to walk all the way back etc. etc. -- just too tired to do all the back-and-forthing.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

where were you? i must say juliet's description seems much more familiar and we were right by new bands...

i suppose i really should clean my wellies before thursday...

[j4.livejournal.com]

Can't remember where we camped -- everywhere and everyone and everything looked the same in the mud. It was miserable, though, wherever it was. And it seemed that way pretty much everywhere -- the mud was either liquid (which was just grim) or sticky (when every step I took, I lifted about a ton of mud on my wellies).

I'm baffled by how different other people's experience seems to have been. I wasn't even, er, in a non-standard state of mind at the time!

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

hehe, maybe it's cos everyone else was ;)

not wanting to carp on like the old g!t i am, but last year weren't proper mud like (here i defer to anyone who was at the 80s mudbaths ;)). '98 is the only time i've ever wanted to come home.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not really a question of "proper mud", is it; it's a question of whether you're still having fun or not. And a) knowing that it's been even worse in the past doesn't make it enjoyable in the present, and b) other people can't really decide for you whether you're enjoying something or not.

[juliet]

Yeah, I wanted to come home in 98 :-( If it happened again I think I would do. Knees can't hack it any more (they barely can now) & my chair would be no good in those conditions.

[juliet]

Hrm, I really don't remember having those sort of mud-related problems! Mind you, I don't think I wanted to head to New Bands for anything. I remember a couple of sets of loos looking a little inaccessible, but evidently I managed to either paddle across anyway, or go elsewhere. My writeup (completed after the fact, but from notes made at the time) doesn't indicate that it was a major theme, either. Possibly I just calibrate these things differently, as I *do* remember sulking briefly about muddiness, but then reminding myself that it was Nothing Like 1998 & cheering up.

Anyway - agree re carting stuff backwards & forwards! Obv cannot guarantee that the Greenfields will be full up, but http://www.gorge.org/glastonbury/tort-camp-faq.shtml#7 indicates it fills up fast (they say 'as early as 3pm on Weds' so it may be worth a go if you arrive around midday?).

[j4.livejournal.com]

I dunno, maybe I'm just more sulky about it than most, but I really don't like being soaked through all the time; and when I need sleep I want to be able to fall into the tent and go to sleep rather than spending ages trying to get wellies off without falling into the mud, getting rained on all the time. (Tent this year has a better porch-like-thing though which might help with that bit.) Actually the thing I hated most was knowing I couldn't get up and go to the loo in the middle of the night without having to walk through oceans of mud in the dark.

It probably didn't help that I spent most of the festival in utter misery over relationship doom with the person I was sharing a tent with, mind you. Much easier to endure bad weather if it's not all storms inside as well. :-(

[juliet]

Porch does make a real difference - I'd have struggled more without that. I also invariably overpack in the clothes line (after getting soaked through & unable to get dry in 1998, & the resulting misery), so had dry things to change into, & didn't get caught out in the rain too badly either (which tends to mostly be luck!).

Midnight toilet & mud = Vast Pain.

And yes, company/mental state matters :-/

But! IT WILL ALL BE FINE THIS YEAR FOR LO! I HAVE DECREED IT! [removes weather-deity hat]

In other thread news: I hadn't thought of asking the stewards, either, till I saw it suggested :-)

[juliet]

oh, & later on it says that if you ask on arrival stewards should know where is/isn't already full up, so that's probably worth a go as well!

[j4.livejournal.com]

Good point, & I hadn't thought of that at all! Duh. Thanks. :-)