On Monday afternoon I returned home covered in mud, sunburnt, eye-droopingly tired, blistered and euphoric. I had just spent the best part of a week at Glastonbury festival, watching performances from some of the biggest names in music, exploring huge art installations and camping in the mud with friends.
Inevitably, all the talk before it started was about the weather and the conditions at the farm in Somerset where Glastonbury is held each year. It is clichéd but true that the British love talking about the weather, and no more so than at music festivals. As the 180,000 campers arrived on Wednesday and Thursday the site was covered in thick, sticky mud, making it difficult to walk anywhere. However, it wasn't long before people embraced the mud. I saw crowds gather at the slippiest parts to cheer whenever someone fell over, old wellington boots arranged in to ‘Welly Henge' (above), and people swimming/rolling in the deepest puddles.
Despite the best efforts of the weather though, the main focus of the weekend was of course the music. In three days I saw some of the most eclectic musical performers of pop, dubstep, folk, blues, house...the list is endless at Glastonbury. However, there were certainly some highlights.
