Category: 60 Before 60

Duke of Edinburgh and other stuff

Things are coming together nicely.

I’m officially on the Duke of Edinburgh team at school. This is something I’ve been wanting to be involved with for a while, but it’s never worked out before. I’d like to get some experience on it as I think it will be interesting and fun to do, but also very useful for what I want to do in the future. I never got the opportunity to take part in it when I was younger, so now I’ll take part vicariously through my students. It was a bit touch and go for a while as to whether I could be part of the team or not – it all depended on student numbers. But as we have at least 80 students signed up we’re actually under rather than over staffed.

I need to offer a couple of activities I can work on with the students, so I’m looking at doing web design and archery. I haven’t done anything about getting my own website since I finished the web design course over a year ago, so if I have to start teaching the basics of it, this will get me back into it.

As for the archery, it’s something I’ve been keen to learn how to do ever since I had a go more than 10 years ago whilst on holiday in Ireland. A few times I’ve emailed a local archery club but never had a response. Whilst researching this for the Duke of Edinburgh group I found another club that isn’t too far away. It took them a while, but they have got back to me. The course they’re offering might be a bit too expensive but I have been given a few options. Hopefully we’ll be able to go ahead with it and then not only will my students get to take part in an activity and learn a skill they probably wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to do, but I’ll get to do it for free and in work time – how’s that for a cunning plan?!

At the meeting after school this afternoon, it was mentioned that it would be a good idea for someone to do a course for Duke of Edinburgh expedition leaders. I seem to be the most likely candidate for this. The course, which I know nothing about yet, is apparently one step down from the walking group leader’s qualification so this would be VERY useful for me.

Because I’m also teaching humanities this year (someone must have slipped up when they put my timetable together – this is getting me precariously close to teaching the subject I’m actually qualified to teach rather than a range of random subjects I know nothing about), I’ll probably get to go on a lot of the trips. This is also something I want to get more experience in as I feel it will be relevant and useful in the future.

All of sudden, I feel much more positive about this year!

Back to school

Trying to keep myself motivated over the coming school year.

I can’t believe school starts again tomorrow. The summer holidays have just flown by and I still have so much to do. I know I shouldn’t complain as I have much longer holidays than non-teacher people and if I felt like I could still do lots of non-work things during term time then I wouldn’t complain at all. But if the new academic year is anything like the last few years then I’ll be working stupid hours and feeling like my life is on hold except during the school holidays.

To try to make myself feel a bit better about the new school year I’ve told myself not to work more than 50 hours a week. If I work 8am till 6pm each day I’ll have time to go to the gym in the evenings and do other things at the weekend. At the back of my mind I know this probably won’t happen, but I have to try.

Next September I’d like to be in a different job and preferably working for myself. That won’t happen if I don’t have time or energy to put things in place over the next few months. As lists seem to work for me (I’d probably not have done any of the challenges on my 60 things list if I hadn’t written the list and created the blog to keep it in the forefront of my mind) I’ve made a list of how my job can work for me over the next year; what I can achieve or gain experience in to help me in the future; and what I need to do to achieve my goal of doing something different for next September. Now I just have to remember to refer to my list and hope it works!

I want to speak Arabic

A meal in a Lebanese restaurant motivates me to learn Arabic sooner rather than later.

This evening I took the various family members who are staying with me at the moment to the Curry Mile for an Indian meal. Once there, we had a change of plan and went to a Lebanese restaurant called ‘Beirut’ instead. The food was wonderful and we spent several hours eating from the buffet and the menu. We had desserts and soft drinks as well as mint tea and the whole thing came to less than £10 a head.

The staff were really friendly and helpful and extra nice to the children. They were all speaking Arabic to each other; a language I love hearing and would love to be able to speak. They sometimes didn’t quite understand what we were saying and it was so frustrating not to be able to just say it in Arabic to them. Usually this wouldn’t bother me too much, but because this is a language I’ve been wanting to learn for years, it frustrates me I think because it makes me aware that I haven’t done anything about it yet.

I don’t think it would be overly difficult too learn because I’ve learnt Hebrew in the past and the roots of many words are the same in both languages. Whenever I’ve looked at the alphabet I can see how some of the letters relate to the Hebrew letters and have obviously come from the same source even though they are very different now.

I’ve got learning Arabic on my list of 60 things, but didn’t plan to do anything about it for next few years as I know I really don’t have the time. But after this evening I’m wondering if I should really try to make the time and start now.

St Kilda in a Day

I actually made it to St Kilda AND got to see a shoal of tuna along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I first thought about going to St Kilda I didn’t think about a day trip. In the absence of having my own yacht and not having the kayaking abilities to paddle my way out there (yes, some people do) I’d decided the only way to get to St Kilda would be to join a National Trust for Scotland working party and go for a week or two. However, in spite of these being quite expensive, they are still allegedly very popular and hence difficult to get on to. What makes it almost impossible for me though, is the time of year. The working parties are pretty much finished by the time English schools break up for the summer holidays.

Not wanting to let a simple thing like fixed holiday times get in the way of my ambitions I looked around for alternatives and after meeting someone in Unst last year who’d been for a day, decided that maybe a day trip wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

During my time in the Hebrides I’ve been trying to get myself booked onto a tour with one particular company. It’s always a bit touch and go whether the trips go ahead or not, because they are very weather dependent. If one trip is cancelled the people booked on to it get taken out the next day meaning no free spaces for other people. A spate of windy weather seemed determined to prevent me from going. But then another company said they had room and the chances of actually going were pretty good on the day they were offering me.

The night before I drove out to the small pier at Miavaig in the Uig area of Lewis. I set up camp beside the office which conveniently had a toilet and wash basin round the back. I got everything ready for the next morning and settled down to sleep. I’d not been asleep long when I woke feeling a bit headachey and queasy. Not the best feeling at any time, and certainly not before such a big day.

By morning the headache had gone but I still felt a bit sickly. Hmm, what to do for the best when feeling a bit sick? Stay in bed, rest and relax? Or get on a little boat and spend 4hrs being tossed and churned as you crash your way across the Atlantic? Of course the only choice I really had was the latter. If I didn’t go today, I wouldn’t be going at all. 

Before it got rough

The other passengers arrived, about a dozen of us in all, and after re-arranging cars on the pier we boarded The Lochlann.

I strapped myself into a seat and prepared for the worst. Once out at sea the roller-coaster started in earnest. The boat felt as though it was being plucked up high and then being dropped from said great height. Each time this happened the ‘BANG’ as the boat hit the sea and the reverberations through my body lifted me out of my seat. If it wasn’t for the seat belt I’d have repeatedly hit my head on the roof.

I tried to sit with my eyes closed willing the horrible feeling in my stomach to go away. No chance. I’ve never been sea-sick before and I have been on some tiny boats on some pretty rough water. But then again, I’ve not got onto a tiny boat on pretty rough water whilst already feeling sick.

My guts had no chance of recovering and at one point I had to stagger to the deck to lean over and throw up. I wanted to rush, but it’s a bit hard when you’re getting thrown from side to side and have to plan each move to ensure at least 3 limbs are firmly planted at all times. If I didn’t have sympathy for people who suffer with sea-sickness before, I certainly do now.

One highlight of the otherwise dismal trip was seeing a shoal of tuna leaping and swimming in front of the boat. Even I stood up to get a look and watch them for a while. The tuna were dolphin sized, and look nothing like they do in a tin. Having seen them, I can understand how the nets used to catch tuna also manage to snag dolphins. I don’t understand how the dolphin friendly tuna nets work though – how do they manage to keep the dolphins out? As a veggie I don’t buy tuna anyway, but have wondered why next to the ‘dolphin friendly’ label that can be seen on some tins of tuna, there isn’t another label next to it saying ‘tuna unfriendly’? Apparently it’s quite unusual to see tuna so close like this so we were very lucky.

St Kilda slowly came into sight and we could make out people sitting around on the jetty. These turned out to be students who were on some kind of placement on the island. We decanted ourselves into a dinghy and travelled the last tiny bit to the pier. Once we were all on dry land we were met by the warden who gave us a chat about dos and don’ts and told us about what there was to do on the island.

This would have been someone’s living room

I set off for a wander, still feeling queasy. I had hoped to walk up to at least one side of the cliffs but didn’t really feel up to it. Instead I wandered round the derelict village, poking in and out of the old houses. They were mostly laid out in one main street and in between the derelict building were a few restored ones which were used for accommodation and a museum. I spent a while in the museum finding the exhibits and the information provided quite fascinating. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The MOD, as part of a long-running arrangement, have workers based on the island and their accommodation and offices are in green painted buildings near the pier. Maybe these could be said to be an eyesore and spoil the antiquity and isolation of the island, but the MOD have played such an important role on the island I’d like to think that in future years these buildings and their role will be seen as just as relevant to the history of the island as the remains from the St Kildans are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A helicopter landed and took off whilst I watched. The unique St Kildan sheep roamed around, birds flew or skittered across the ground, the sun shone, a perfect day. If only I could have enjoyed it more.

We had a stay of a few hours on the island and this was plenty of time to have a really good look round the village and museum and would also have given me time to go for a bit of a walk had I felt so inclined. Just before the boat was due to leave, the warden opened the shop which sells souvenirs of St Kilda as well as a range of books. Next to the shop is the restored school (one classroom) and church and I had time to have a look round them. 

The Museum
The Church
The School

Once back on the boat we circled the island and went out to a couple of the stacks to look at the birds before heading back for Lewis. It was much later that evening before I started to feel alright again. 

I managed to enjoy my day on St Kilda even if I wasn’t feeling great. It’s such a special place and felt like such an achievement to get there, that even an upset stomach couldn’t put too much of a dampner on things. I doubt I’ll ever get back, so I’m glad I didn’t decide to give it a miss, as I now have memories that will last me a life time. 

The Details

Company I travelled with: Seatrek
Cost: £180
Depart: 7.30am
Arrive back: 8pm
Time on Hirta: approx. 3.5hrs

Here are a couple more posts on St Kilda:

The St Kilda Mailboat 

Getting closer to St Kilda 

and one on Mingulay – an island that found itself in a similar position to St Kilda.

Here’s a copy of the press release Seatrek issued regarding the tuna we saw. I’ve copied it in rather than just linking to it, in case it later disappears off their website.

Shoal of Tuna off Lewis

Press Release 30th Aug, Seatrek

Tuna Sighting West of Lewis

On one of our regular day trips to St Kilda on the 24th of August 2012, our Seatrek vessel, the  motor cruiser Lochlann, sighted an unusually large and concentrated flock of diving gannets.
We decided to go over and investigate, fully expecting to find the usual dolphins feeding on a shoal of herring.  We told the passengers to get their cameras ready for the spectacle of diving birds and jumping dolphins and possibly minke whales. We very often see diving gannets in a feeding frenzy as they can spot the fish from a great height. The gannets are helped by dolphins, which herd the fish to the surface.
The leading edge of the diving gannets was unusually fast moving at 5 knots, and as we closed in we could see the fast moving splashes among them. We were amazed to see the characteristic upright, thin forked tails of tuna darting through the water.
Some were coming to within 10m of us and you could see they were about 6/7 ft long, maybe more. The sight was amazing. The furiously diving gannets were accompanied by fulmars, skuas, manx shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, black backed gulls and herring gulls, all looking for a piece of the action.
We watched them enthralled for some time and thought they were possibly Bluefin Tuna;  such an unusual wildlife sighting we had never experienced before so close at hand.
The next shoal was moving much faster, say 10 knots to the SW and zigzagging with birds showing their whereabouts when near the surface. The tuna were about the same size.
Earlier in the day we had seen a handful of smaller Bonito type, 2ft long, just East of Gallan Head, Uig, Lewis. These were fast moving along the surface just beside the boat but were unaccompanied by birds.
The rare sighting of tuna so far north of their normal habitat was a memorable experience. Unusual also was the distinctive spectacle of the exceptionally large number of gannets that were following the shoal of fish. We have never seen such a large flock in such a small area; they could be seen from many miles away.

Getting closer to St Kilda

I’ve seen it from afar, read all about it and booked myself on a trip. Now I just have to get there.

I arrived in Harris on the first ferry from Berneray this morning and one of the first things I did when I realised I could get a phone signal was ring to enquire about trips to St Kilda. The lady I spoke to told me they’d had to cancel a trip because of the heavy winds – it wouldn’t be possible to land passengers on St Kilda so there was no point in the trip going ahead. The weather should improve over the next few days though and so she said she’ll ring me to let me know when a trip is scheduled. As my phone isn’t on very often she also suggested that I call again on Sunday to check. She seemed confident that the weather would be the only barrier to me getting to go and that there won’t be any problem with either too few passenger or too many.

 

I’ve been finding out quite a bit more about St Kilda over the past week. In Linacleit library and museum I picked up a copy of the National Trust for Scotland’s Site Management Plan for St Kilda 2011-2016. At nearly 200 pages long I couldn’t believe this was a ‘freebie’ and checked before taking a copy. But, yes it was. It’s made fascinating reading. As well as descriptions of the geology, flora, fauna, history and so on, it also details the issues with running the site.

 

For example, since the 1950s the MOD (Ministry of Defence) have leased part of the island. Their presence does a lot more than provide a rental income. They take responsibility for providing electricity, sewage and waste disposal systems, water supplies including hot water, and medical personnel, all of which are used by Trust employees and volunteers when on the island. They also provide accommodation for visiting researchers and official visitors and deal with the bringing in of supplies. Also very important, they provide a year round presence on the island and so deal with security and ‘policing’. The National Trust only have staff on the island during the summer months and before the MOD’s arrival vandalism could and would occur during the winter months by people arriving with their own boats.

 

If any environmental disasters happen at the times of year when no NTS staff are present they can also deal with them quickly. An example of this occurred in 2008 when a deep sea fishing vessel ran aground in a storm, and about 8 tonnes of diesel oil escaped to sea. Because of the storm NTS staff were not able to reach the island for two days. In the meantime MOD personnel had put the action plan for such an event into prompt practice and prevented what could have been serious consequences for the archipelago.

 

In 2009 the MOD considered automating their base on St Kilda and withdrawing all personnel. This would have had a dire effect on the preservation of the island as in this time of cutbacks the NTS would have struggled to cover the costs involved in providing all the necessary services themselves. Fortunately the MOD have continued to keep their base manned but the NTS have realised their withdrawal could happen and so are working on contingency plans in case this does ever actually happen.

 

I’ve also bought a couple of books on St Kilda. I’d looked at these books in several shops but at £35 each considered them way too expensive and resolved to do an Amazon search when I got home. They’re the type of books I might have difficulty finding however. Whilst in Benbecula, I called in at MacGillavray’s, a renowned shop for selling everything from sweets to furniture to jumpers and has a good collection of local books and second-hand books. I didn’t see anything I fancied in the second-hand section but I did find the two St Kilda books I’d been looking at reduced to £20 each. This is still a lot of money and so I hummed and haa-ed a bit but then decided to go for it. So I’m now the owner of two rather heavy tomes. I’m glad I’m travelling with a vehicle and not backpacking!

 

 

Leaving North Uist to go to Berneray on Wednesday I spotted a road sign pointing to a St Kilda viewpoint. Luckily there’s rarely anyone behind on these roads and so I slammed on my brakes and did a quick turn. The road wound up and up towards the MOD listening station (or whatever it is). Just before the top was a layby with a telescope and a panorama depicting what was in view. St Kilda could be clearly seen even without the use of the telescope. Much clearer than when I saw it from Heaval. As I drove back along the coast road heading north I kept the islands in view for a while.
 map
So now I’ve seen them from a distance a couple of times, learnt lots about them, and put my name down for a trip. This wind had better die down – I’d be really upset if I got this far and then couldn’t go!
St Kilda

July 2012 Twelve Review

The 7th monthly review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

I’ve done a little better this month than I did last month, but still got lots to do if I want to get them all ticked off by the end of the year.

  1. Floating in a floatation tank (I’m hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
  2. Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I’ll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) – still haven’t done anything about this one.
  3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of ‘year in my life’, and help me to learn to use my new camera) – I’ve taken lots of photos whilst I’ve been on holiday, but not the rest of the month. I’m seeing a pattern here – I’m good at taking photos when I have leisure time but not in my day-to-day life.
  4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) – I did a couple of walks on the Cotswold Way 
  5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader’s qualification) – not led any walks, but I’ve done a bit more walking
  6. Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) – nothing done towards this yet. 
  7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – I’ve been taking lots of short video clips. I want to put them together using something like ‘moviemaker’.
  8. Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I’d complete it in the year or not) – I keep carrying lesson 1 of my course around with me and then not getting the time or motivation to do any work on it. 
  9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published)
  10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer – no way will this be completed in a year, but I’ll feel good even if I get started on it) – I seem to have got distracted with developing a book database so I can see the photos having to wait until next year.
  11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – I’ve now had a second week camping in my van and have even figured out how to use it as a shower! I’m fairly certain now about what I want doing to it, but it will have to wait until I get back from the Hebrides.
  12. Getting into cycling (even if it’s just short cycles along decent paths) – I was thinking of taking my bike to the Hebrides, now I’m not so sure. I still want to but my dad has stored it in rather an inaccessible place and I may not be able to get it in time.

Womad Weekend

My review of all things Womad. Except the music that is.

I really didn’t want to leave my campsite in the Cotswolds. I was sharing a 4 acre field with a few campervans, a portaloo and fantastic weather. It was so nice to arrive back each evening and be able to lie outside reading until quite late. I felt chilled and relaxed and really didn’t want to move on.

On Friday morning I packed up slowly and sorted out my gear for the weekend. I didn’t know how far from the car park I’d be pitching my tent and so packed my lightweight tent, a change of clothes and some dried food into my backpack. Rain was forecast for Sunday, but after the dry week I didn’t expect things to get too muddy and so only took my sandals, leaving my new wellies in the van.

I programmed my TomTom which informed me I was 29 minutes away from Charlton Park, the Womad venue. I phoned my friends to let them know when I’d be arriving and get any last minute packing tips. At this point in time I was a bit excited about finally going to Womad, but also regretting leaving my nice field and feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole thing – would the toilets be really disgusting with huge queues? Would I be able to wash my hair? Would I feel safe leaving my tent unoccupied? Would I get on with my colleague’s friends? Would I have the feeling of being ripped off the whole time? And so on. As usual when I feel apprehensive about something I actually really want to do, I just told myself not to be stupid and to get on with it. I also quite liked the apprehensiveness as usually when I feel this way I end up having a great time. So after a last check for stray tent pegs I was off.

The drive to the ground was quite traffic-free and even once at the ground the queue to get in and park was moving, albeit slowly, but so much faster than I’d expected. Friendly stewards seemed to be all around directing people and everything was well sign-posted too.

Once parked, I locked the van and hoisted my backpack and went to find the gate to get in. It took only about a minute to walk to the gate and I joined a queue of about 20 people waiting to show their tickets and get wristbands. I phoned my friend again to let her now where I was and she asked me to phone again once I was through the gate. I thought this might take a while, but as soon as I hung up I was through. There were lots of people taking tickets and issuing wristbands and they were really quick, so there was no waiting time at all. I called my friend again and got directions to the La-Di-Da Loos near to which they were camped.

It was a less than 10 minute walk and really easy to find. My colleague has a big bell tent and she was sleeping in this with a friend. Her son and his friend were sharing a smaller tent and her friend’s daughter had her own small tent. I erected my tent in the small gap left between the tents and someone else’s gazebo and together we had our own corral. We were completely surrounded by tents of all shapes and sizes and by Saturday there was barely space to walk without having to step over guy ropes. As I usually camp in lonely fields, seeing so many tents packed so closely together over such a wide area was a new experience for me and I stared in amazement.

Once my tent was sorted it was time to explore, listen to music and chill. First stop was the La-Di-Da Loos so I could pay £10 for a wristband entitling me to use them. These are a posh version of the portaloos that were all over the site. The toilets look like the sort you would have in a bathroom, even though they are flushed by chemicals. There are wash basins with running water, soap and handcream. The toilets and basins are basically in 3 caravans joined together under a large tent of which the insides had been covered in pleated fabric and chandeliers had been hung from the roof. In the centre was a large space with 2 sofas and several long tables with mirrors, hairdryers and an array of hair products, spray deodorants, wipes and so on for customer use.

Next we wandered through a kind of village street lined with food outlets, a grocer’s shop, a camping supplies shop, a branch of Oxfam and a newspaper stand. All the shops had been created from portable kiosks, vans and tents. Towards the end of the ‘street’ was an Alpro tent. I love their desserts so we called in to see what was on offer. They gave us some free vanilla and chocolate desserts and told us that they would be doing free breakfasts, free lunchtime smoothies and continuing the free desserts each day of the festival. So that’s breakfast for tomorrow sorted then.

Finally we got to the arena and showed our wristbands to the stewards on the gate. The arena area was huge, with various stages – the main stage was open-air and then there were other tented stages as well. There were also streets lined with shops selling clothes, musical instruments, jewellery, bags, food, skin products, carvings, lamps, things to juggle with … The food stalls interested me the most as there seemed to be a real array of international cuisine on offer and it all looked tasty, well-prepared and relatively healthy.

We joined some other friends and lay on the grass in front of the main stage drinking a beer and enjoying the music. It was hot and I lay looking at a blue sky with not a single cloud in sight. How fortunate, after all the rain over the past few months, is it that this weekend has such gorgeous weather? It really would have been quite horrible to have been ploughing through mud, unable to sit down, not able to go anywhere without piling on the waterproofs, and feeling cold and wet whilst standing around trying to get into the spirit of things and enjoy the music! 

Anyway, the rest of the weekend passed in a similar vein – up early for a first breakfast in the village street, chilling around the tents before going for a second free breakfast at the Alpro tent, wandering towards the arena in the afternoon and then sitting listening to music or meandering around the stalls for a few hours, eating delicious food, having a beer, going to bed late.

It rained a bit on the Sunday morning but not nearly as much as we expected having seen the forecast. It had stopped and everything was dry by the time the music started at lunchtime. On Monday morning it was sunny and warm again and so I was able to pack my tent dry. We took our time packing up, but others seemed to be taking even longer as there were still lots of tents up when I walked back to my van. I thought it might have taken ages to get out of the park but as it was when I arrived, everything was moving and it didn’t take long at all. Once out on the road there was no traffic at all. No-one without prior knowledge would know that Charlton Park was in the process of emptying out 10,000 festival-goers.

So, that’s another goal from my list achieved. Would I go again? Yes, definitely.

Below, I’ve highlighted certain aspects of the festival and the weekend in general.

Food
Japanese noodles, Spanish tapas, Thai curry, Carribean goat curry, Cajun gumbo, Lebanese mezze, English fried breakfast, porridge, Mexican nachos, stone-baked pizza, fish and chips, Indian curry, sausage and mash, muesli, salads, roast chicken, pies – the variety of food was overwhelming. There was so much I wanted to try but not nearly enough time. All the food was quite reasonably priced, not cheap, but not unreasonable for the size of the portions and the quality. It was tasty, often healthy and sometimes organic. Much of it was locally sourced. Needless to say, my dried noodles stayed in the bag.

Recycling
I was given a pack of recycling bags when I got my wristband. Throughout the site all the rubbish bins were divided into four – paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, and general waste. Much of the food packaging was was recyclable e.g. paper and cardboard trays and plates, wooden cutlery (the sort of wood disposable chopsticks are often made of), sauces that you squirt from a big bottle rather than individual sachets. Some food stalls offered a discount if you had your own cutlery. There were water taps throughout the site from which you could fill your own containers with regular tap water, but for the people who would normally buy chilled and bottled water there were stalls selling a refillable bottle for £5. This bottle could be refilled throughout the weekend with chilled and filtered water from any of their stalls. If you wanted the chilled and filtered water but had your own bottle you could pay £3 for a wristband entitling you to it instead.

Toilets
They were cleaned each morning and stayed relatively clean throughout the day. There was plenty of toilet paper and outside each set of toilets was a line of hand-sanitiser. The blocks of portaloos were spread all over the site and although queues could seem long, there were actually that many loos that there was never more than one person per loo waiting. Only on the Monday morning was there a problem. I think because it was the last day and the toilets would be removed the trucks hadn’t come to clean them. Of course, almost 10,000 people still needed to use them and so some of them, for the first time, got really gross.

La-Di-Da Loos
To use these I had to buy a wristband for £10. I’ve described them above so won’t go into detail here. The idea of them is great and when they work they work well. But there were lots of downsides. They are only open from 7am to 10pm. The 7am opening wasn’t too bad, but the 10pm closing time was way too early. Most people are still out listening to music at this time and so can’t use them when they are returning to their tents and getting ready for bed. Also there was only one set of these posh loos. This meant in the morning there was a big queue and throughout the rest of the day they were too far from the arena to use. The use of the products was great but some of them did start running out after one day. Also the toilets weren’t cleaned until later in the morning well after the other portaloos had been cleaned. As they are closed during the night surely this would have been the time to clean them? When you are paying so much to go to the toilet I don’t think it’s out of order to expect these few things to be sorted. I did like being able to use the hairdryers though and not having to go to bed with wet hair.

Showers
Lots of them, but there was still a 2 hour queue in the mornings. I had showers at night when they were mostly empty. They were pretty clean and had a space to put your clothes to keep them dry. The water was hot and the jet was strong.

Children
Children under 16 got free entry and the festival was really child-friendly. There were lots of free workshops for kids to take part in such as making pin-hole cameras, pottery, and drumming. There was also a fairground. The children’s wristbands had a space for a mobile phone number to be written in case they got lost. We hardly saw the young teenagers in our group, they were busy doing things all day or else just chillin’ round the tents. There was a whole section dedicated to family camping for those with young children.

Festival-goers
What a mix. Babies to quite elderly people. Very middle-class and lots of old hippies. The Guardian was the newspaper on site and was giving away free bags with each paper. The Guardian was probably the best choice of newspaper to be there as the crowd in general seemed like The Guardian reading sort. People were really friendly and it was easy to strike up conversation. This wasn’t just the festival-goers but all of the people working at the festival too. In fact I think it’s the only place I’ve been where, when leaving, the stewards not only directed the cars out but waved goodbye to everyone too. I didn’t see any drunken, aggressive or anti-social behaviour at all.

Queues
Even when there were queues they were usually fast moving. The only exception was at some of the food stalls and the morning shower queue.

Security
I felt safe the whole time. I didn’t leave valuables in my tent as I’m sure there will be people who get tickets to these festivals solely for the purpose of stealing what they can, but in general it seemed very safe.

Music
I suppose I should mention music seeing as it is a predominantly music festival, but I’m definitely not the best person for this. I like music and heard some really good music (Algerian singer Khaled is the one who most stood out for me). But I’m tone-deaf, can’t pick out individual instruments and most of the time can’t even tell if someone is singing in tune. Often I was very far from the stage, so it was a case of listening to rather than watching the bands. Some big screens would have been good so everyone could  see what was happening on stage. The music could be heard throughout the site and I loved hearing it in the background as I wandered around. I also liked lying in my tent at night listening to it as I went to sleep. It was never so loud as to make sleep difficult, but loud enough to be clearly listened to all the same.

Womad

I’m looking forward to my week in the Cotswolds and going to Womad, but there are a few things I’m a bit apprehensive about.

I put Womad on my 60 before 60 list as I thought I really should go to a big, muddy, weekend festival. It’s the kind of thing that people assume I’ve already done and I really feel that I should have. I’ve just never got round to it. Never been in the right place at the right time.

Womad interests me because it’s so international (hence the name = World of Music, Arts and Dance). And I don’t think I’d enjoy Glastonbury – 20 years ago I might have done, but not now. I wasn’t planning on going any time soon, mainly because I like to do other things in the summer, but also because I didn’t have anyone to go with and this is something I feel would be better experienced as part of a group.

Then a colleague mentioned she was going this summer with a group of friends. Although I didn’t really want to break my summer up, it seemed like an opportunity that was meant to be. I asked if I could tag along and of course she said yes. I got straight online and booked my ticket. I haven’t heard of any of the bands that are playing, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy them nonetheless and come away with a wishlist of music to be purchased.

I’m going down to the Cotswolds on Sunday and will spend most of the week there staying on a tiny campsite with a portaloo but no shower. I’m thinking of ways of rigging up the back doors of my van to make a shower cubicle and then I’ll be able to have bowl and jug showers. Or if the weather doesn’t improve, I could just stand outside with a bottle of shampoo. On Friday I’ll go to Womad. I’m not expecting to find showers there, so if my van doors idea doesn’t work I’m going to pretty smelly by the time I come home on the following Monday.

I’m looking forward to Womad but at the same time I’m apprehensive about a few things. If the weather is really horrendous I won’t enjoy standing around watching bands. I don’t mind walking in rain and keeping my head down, but standing still and looking up for hours at a time will be pretty miserable. I’m also a bit concerned about security. I imagine these events are a magnet for thieves, so I’m concerned about taking anything expensive with me, or leaving it in the van. I also hate not being able to wash my hair. I could survive without a shower as long as my hair gets washed, but I don’t know what the water situation will be like.

Anyway, I’m not too apprehensive about my apprehensions as usually when I’m apprehensive about something I end up having a great time and none of things I was worried about materialise.

June 2012 Twelve Review

The 6th monthly review of my 2012 Twelve challenges.

I’ve done a little better this month than I did last month, but still got lots to do if I want to get them all ticked off by the end of the year.

  1. Floating in a floatation tank (I’m hoping to do this in London during the February half term)  
  2. Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I’ll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) – still haven’t done anything about this one
  3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of ‘year in my life’, and help me to learn to use my new camera) – I took lots of photos during the first week of June whilst I was walking the coast path, but not many since 
  4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) –having not walked much this year so far, I did lots when I was in Devon 
  5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader’s qualification) – not led any walks, but at least I’ve done some walking again and signed up to work on the DofE 
  6. Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first)
  7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) – I’ve bought a Kindle and am currently getting to grips with everything it can do. I’ve also recently aquired a tablet computer. 
  8. Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I’d complete it in the year or not)
  9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it’s not self-published)
  10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer – no way will this be completed in a year, but I’ll feel good even if I get started on it)
  11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) – now I’ve spent a week camping with my van (I was sleeping in my tent, but had everything in the van), I have some good ideas of how I want to convert it 
  12. Getting into cycling (even if it’s just short cycles along decent paths) – I’m seriously thinking of taking my bike to the Outer Hebrides 

Too many new toys

Lots of new things to play with, but no time to learn how to use them.

Sometimes everything seems to go wrong at once. One of those times seems to have been dragging on for me for several months now. I’ve had so many things break and need replacing. I’ve also bought several items that have been on my ‘to buy’ list for some time – as I’m on an enforced spending spree now seems as good a time as any to buy them. It is nice to have an excuse to get lots of lovely new things so I’m not complaining too much, but I am getting very frustrated that I don’t have time to play with them properly and really learn how to get the most out of them.

I’m still trying to learn how to use the camera and video camera I bought for my New Year’s trip to Iceland. Now my little snappy camera, which I think is great, has started to play up. Although I have a much better camera, sometimes I want a small one that easily fits into my pocket. The only reasonably priced one I could find was a waterproof one in Tesco. It was half the price of the other small cameras, but the thing that sold it most to me, was that it uses ordinary batteries. Most cameras now use a rechargeable battery, which is fine if you’re always going to be in a place where you can recharge when the need arises. If I’m living in my tent for weeks at a time and taking lots of photos, then this isn’t possible, so I need to be able to carry a stash of ordinary batteries and use those. It might not be environmentally friendly or cost effective, but at least I know I can still use my camera. I don’t think this camera is going to be as good as the one it is replacing, so I may end up looking for yet another one.

My mobile died whilst I was in Devon and I had to buy a new one. I can’t use my old sim card in it so at the moment I don’t have access to any of my numbers. Also I still have credit on the old sim, so I need to find the time to get the new phone unlocked. I’ve always put my sim card in whichever phone I’ve had before and this is the first time I’ve ever had this problem. Other people I’ve spoken to who have bought Tesco phones have had the same problem, so this isn’t really endearing me to Tesco. I don’t like being forced to use a particular company or brand so it puts me off using them.

My microwave, vacuum cleaner and breadmaker have also died on me. I’ve replaced the vacuum cleaner and microwave but still need to find a breadmaker that will fit in the allocated space in my kitchen. Now this morning my toaster started playing up, so that’s probably going to be next to go.

Whilst in Devon I bought myself a Kindle. I’ve been humming and haaing over getting one for a while. I love books and love having walls lined with books. On the whole books are cheaper too, because I can buy them second-hand, or at much reduced prices in the supermarkets. But I do see the advantages to a Kindle, especially when travelling and trying to keep weight down. So I cashed in my Tesco vouchers and bought one. I’ve had a bit of a play around with it, but still need to use it properly to really get the feel for it.

I’ve recently bought a tablet computer as well. The last couple of summers I’ve taken my laptop away with me, but keeping it charged is a problem and it’s heavy so I don’t carry it around with me. The tablet I’ve bought is much smaller and lighter and holds the charge for up to 15 hours. It comes with a detachable keyboard which makes it easier to use, but can be left behind if I want to really save on weight. I’ve checked that it’s working ok, but other than that haven’t had time to really play with it and see what it can do.

Add to all these things my van and my new tent and it really is a case of too many new toys. I don’t know what to play with first and can’t find the time to learn how to use any of them well!