Our ninth (I think...the cider's made things a trifle cloudy) Beautiful Days and the usual mix of great bands (albeit catering more for the older punter), random chats with strangers, catch ups with old friends and several pork baps. I do love a good pork bap. The bendy lady above is the lead singer of Split Dogs, one of the highlights of the weekend for me along with Super Furry Animals, Madness, The Wonder Stuff, Hannah Moule and Katherine Priddy. There were more clashes this year than in previous ones and the old energy levels are a tad lower in my late 50s than they were when I was a nipper so we missed a number of bands that I really wanted to see but that's the ying and yang of festivals for ya. Beautiful Days remains a joy pretty much from start to finish though and I guarantee it'll sell out months in advance next year as it does every year. Coming back to 'reality' though...ouch.
PS: As someone who remains stubbornly smartphone free it was lovely to be pretty much out of touch with technology for a few days and great that plenty of stallholders happily took cash rather than looking at you like you've just asked them to swap their merch for a handful of excrement.
PPS: The loos were great when I used them. TOP TIP: listen out for the sucking van in the morning then pop in as soon as possible after they've been. I appreciate that this doesn't help the ladies put there who can't have a piddle as easily as us chaps but having a piddle doesn't take as long as the other stuff. How the hell did I end up writing so many words about going to the loo? I'll stop now.
PPPS: Shout out to Stagecoach for a great bus service after last year's fiasco. The driver from St David's at 12midday got everyone to dump all their stuff at the back of the bus thus preventing the front from becoming an obstacle course. He also avoided the queues by using the right lane...unlike the bloke last year who sat in the wrong land for over two sodding hours.
