Strawberry Earth at Glastonbury Festival!
GLASTONBURY - Nothing quite gets your chakras throbbing like a laughter therapy session in the rain. And yes, surprise surprise, here at Glastonbury, it’s raining.
Of course, we fully expected a downpour - ever since chatting to Morris, a 75-year-old local farmer we found wandering the site last night. When a farmer fixes you right in the eye and whispers ominously of “powerful drizzles”, you listen. And clearly, “powerful drizzles” is a euphemism for “effing lashing it down”.
Still, the overwhelming optimism of this Glastonbury crowd appears to be forcing the clouds to bugger off. Whether rain or shine though, Strawberry Earth will be here all weekend.
After all, Glastonbury is still one of the few places you can find big happy gatherings of people at the forefront of direct action, environmental protest, and alternative lifestyles. Like the bloke who led my laughter therapy session (think Gandalf meets The Joker).
Glastonbury is a place where we can wander up to the temporary Climate Camp and chat to the protesters. (I notice with interest that the Sunday lecture is called Fuck the Polar Bear. I’m sold.)
We’ll also be nosing around the satanic Glastonbury toilets with WaterAid. Though I draw the line at fishing out solids. Tony Benn and the Guardian’s bastion of reason, Ben Goldacre, will be chatting over in the Green fields on Saturday. We’ll be quizzing Greenpeace members about their Plane Stupid campaign (and maybe signing up to buy a chunk of prime Heathrow real estate). Later tonight, there’s an exclusive talk with Michael and Emily Eavis in conversation with Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid about the future of the festival and its green credentials. We’ll be there.
Most importantly, we’ll be nattering with Glastonbury’s seemingly endless procession of unique characters, from Morris the farmer to Paul the laughter wizard.
Check back in for more daily posts (occasionally lubricated by cider).
