How Much Is Too Much?

Friday afternoon finally arrived and like a child let loose on summer vacation, I was glad to break free of the shackles of the working week once again and spend a few days putting the feet up and chilling out.

The weekend seemed to arrive a little earlier in the week however, as we were at the folks on Thursday evening enjoying the fine weather - I think it was the only evening that week that didn't rain - and using the newly erected Gazebo which more or less was built on the shell of the first only this time, it had walls. Of course what I mean is sides with faux windows so you can pretend to be outside, inside. I suppose they're meant for people who don't like being outside so it's a poor man's trick to con you into believing you're still enjoying the luxury of indoor life in an over sized tent.

Speaking of tents, the years big festival, Glastonbury, kicked off and it was bigger than ever (isn't is always?) with 177,000 people milling around trying to get within 200 feet of the pyramid stage. I'm not sure what it was like on the ground, but for most part the sound was awful and you could probably have put a cover band on stage and the punters would have lapped it up.

What gets me about the coverage is how they tell you about the magic of the festival which only reinforces the notion of how good it used to be before the soul was removed and the corporational attitude filled the void. That's not really true of course, I think it has to do with numbers more than anything else. Too many hippies spoil the party and you can't be intimate with 176,999 people standing around you.

The bands shown on TV were equally depressing mainly showcasing the Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian and the Arctic Monkey's rather than the numerous small bands in the smaller tents that deserve to be noticed. It was enough for me to turn the TV on to something else, mainly a black screen, and pick up the Sunday Times for AA Gill's ego-boosting articles where he supposedly talks about a subject but actually two-thirds of the article is about him. He makes Jeremy Clarkson seem humble.

I hope you had a great weekend and catch you tomorrow for more of the same.