You'll never get to heaven in a camper van...

T Shirt: Batman, light blue
Weather: Hot, with light rain later on.

What a relaxing day. Partly out of solidarity for Dunk’s driving, and partly as a result of feeling queasy during the day on Saturday, I decided to stay off the booze all day. My knee hurt a little too, so I planned to spend as much of the day sitting down as possible.

We ran into Miriam and the Padmore party, Evan, Clem and Al at the bank by the main stage. In a tumble of hugs and joy, we sledged down the hillside on our backsides.

The group dynamics of the festival as a whole were strange – the parties that we lounged around with were made up of various friendships, some strong and deep, others mild and frivolous, some overlapping, others independent of one another. I know Thom, who knows Spud, but Spud and I don’t know each other at all. The rules of interrupting a conversation between two of your friends are markedly different to those governing interrupting a conversation between your friend and a stranger. With the former, in general, one would wait until they were done, whereas with the latter, in general, one might interject earlier. This difference was very prominent in the festival environment. I found myself interrupted as the stranger, or interrupted as the friend, on more than one occasion. I’m sure I must have interrupted as the outsider too.

There were so many people there, flowing past, who maybe I’d meet again, or maybe not – Sally Pilkington, Evan, Spud, Cassie. Who knows?

I wasn’t impressed with Trembling Bells, whose vocal gymnastics bored me, but I thought Cranium Pie were ace. I might have gotten over my crush on the She of She Keeps Bees – not quite as charismatic when she’s a bit further away. I thought that the Yellow Moon Band didn’t really get going, a difficult trait to succeed with at the tired end of festivities. Dirty Three were fun, and funny. And Wilco? Wow. Stunning.

Dunk’s endurance drive home started at 12.26, and ended at 4.20. What a hero. We tried to keep him awake with classic rock, volume up LOUD, and with a little rhyming game…

You’ll never get to heaven in baked bean tin…

…because a baked bean tin’s got beans in.

The best of which was

You’ll never get to heaven in a bacon sarnie…

….because a bacon sarnie smells like Arnie

“I’ll be BAC-on.”

"Plus two man points for the 'tache"

Me: "Will you wear this moustache all day if I pay you a pound?"
Kate: "Yes."

T-shirt: Belle and Sebastian, navy blue
Weather: Gorgeous sunshine

A sad, sad start to the day: someone saw Dunk's sign offering his van for sale, and was interested. Dunk was too. So it goes, but what a shame to lose it. Fingers crossed it'll fall through and Dunk will keep the van.

Kate's moustache turned heads at every step. Brilliant, I thought, but the attention started to piss her off. She, Megan and I listened to John Robb at the literature tent, talking about Manchester music, The Haçienda, and late-nigth parties in Hulme. Relaxing in the sunshine is the best way to keep tired hangovers at bay. I didn't really concentrate during Mississippi Witch. As we left the Green Man Pub, I think I saw Butt Slut Sophie, who I haven't spoken to since before I started this blog. An old friend and more recently an adversary. "Please don't bump into her again," I prayed, "please, please, please!" I loved Jonny's simple, kid-friendly psych-folk-pop. We ran into Kate's friend Nic, who was very excited about Jarvis.

Kate and I went back to the van to prepare a cup-a-soup. We had peanut butter sandwiches, but it wasn't enough, so I popped off to the loo whilst some water boiled for noodles. I got back I sat down to choose a Pot Noodle.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!
OMG! What the fu... Dunk had hidden himself under a duvet, and when I got back, he jumped out and screamed. I nearly died with fright. Hehehehehehe.

Later on I made up for not seeing much of Vetiver in Dulcimer that time by really enjoying their set. I thought Andrew Bird was amazing. By the time Jarvis came on I was really very drunk, and remembered very little of what he sang. We sat behind a tree, with Kate and Dunk out of the eyeline of the stage. I tried to mime some of his moves, but it was a poor description of the shadows on the wall of the cave by one of the chained to the other chained. Meh.

We danced at the Far Out stage, and were heading home, when we came across a drunk boy puking. What would you do? We took him to the pub.

Green Man, day 1

T-shirt: The Bluetones, baseball style.
Weather: Splendid, after a five-minute shower early on.

A cup of tea should start every day, and in the van, you can. Heavenly. Al and Ben P popped by first thing in the morning - they hadn't slept from the night before, and both looked pretty wrecked. Al more so. I gave him a Cadbury's Caramel and some Pom-Bears. I hope it helped. We went up to the arena, with Ryan stopping off for one his many vegan bacon rolls at Tea and Toast. Blatantly hitting onto a waitress, I reckon.

We Aeronaughts opened the festival. Dunk and Kate weren't that impressed, but I quite liked them. They're a female backing vocalist - to even out the harmonies - and a guitar technician - to cut down on the time spent tuning up (and talking rubbish) between songs - away from being pretty good. I loved Beth Jeans Houghton and Errors, and Rocky Erickson was exactly the kind of bluesy rock that pushes all my buttons. I popped off to collect Matt, Chaw and Megan, then hurried back for Animal Collective. I wish I hadn't bothered. Shit Collective more like.

As they were finishing, I turned around to Paul Collins to share my disgruntlement with their shitness, and saw him down on one knee proposing to his girlfriend. She said "yes." I clapped. The whole crowd clapped for the band, but I pretended they were clapping for Paul and Rosie.

Arriving at the Green Man

Fox Force Fixed for Fun

Coincidence

Lindsey from work is going out with Dave Shmoo! Nuts!

Kate, Paulina, Ryan and I went to Blowout with Matt and Chaw to watch She Keeps Bees, who are going to be at the Green Man Festival this year. As we were chatting, Kate pointed out Dave Shmoo. As he came over, Lindsey said "Hello!" to me. We know Dave Shmoo from Sol's and Fuel. Tiny world.

I was half-pissed when they walked in, and ended up ranting about Moss Side to Lindsey. I'm sure she was baffled by my ramblings.