The First Festival of the Year....

Wychwood, beginning of June. First festival of the year..for me anyway. Third year....the first two years, it was small, just a couple of thousand people....actually didn't do a lot of work, a small team ran the front desk which was quiet as a mouse, and I got to see a lot of the festival and hear lots of good music.

This year, the festival grew to 5,000 and was much busier...the production desk was still very manageable, but those of us there to 'help out' got drawn into various other tasks....now would you want to buy a drink off either of thse guys...??











I got to do a two hour shift pulling pints - it was fun and a first!!! I didn't know what drink was what, what went with what, and if someone said, 'What ale do you recommend?' well......totally the wrong person!!!!! But people were kind and smiley as I learned to pull my first few pints, and I was soon doing it like a pro...sort of....I was suppsoed to do a five hour shift, but I managed to be let off after two hours..what with all the other work and miles of walking around the festival, my feet had had enough....

I went to see the Levellers, missed some by having to pull pints, then missed the rest by being called away to an emergency....on Sunday afternoon, took George to see Shooglenifty..magic...she tried to look as if she was enjoying herself, honest, but when I got called away to work she was only too happy to come too...saw Badly Drawn Boy, really liked him, bought the CD..in fact I DC and I went shopping and bought far too many CDs.....

Managed to lie on the warm grass in the sun on Sunday afternoon and catch the entire Eliza Carthy set..wonderful...and in the evening, saw the Afro Celt Sound System..wonderful, wonderful..I really, really wanted to dance, and join in, but my back, legs and feet by then would not allow it....

Enjoyed the weekend, but came back with a lot of thinking to do after various conversations with various people, including themes like..you should be more pushy..you should be more assertive..and the best, when someone had totally ignored me twice when introducing a colleague to another person and I was stood there too....(someone I know well..) the first time I said nothing, the second, I said (pushily and assertively but nicely..) 'I am here too.' 'Oh sorry' he said, 'But your colleague is so confident and cocky that you get overlooked.'

Now is that my problem or someone else's problem? I don't get overlooked in other areas of my life. I am not exactly invisible. I am not a shrinking violet. In work I am looked up to, respected, listened to, I am chatty, extrovert, confident as I run training courses, supervise volunteers..I have had to take myself into a corner and remind myself of who I am..when I recount the incident to friends, their response has been...this is not your problem..the other person is simply rude.

I don't want to get into competition with my friends for attention..but interestingly, the friend in question, cocky and confident, no names of course...did some work at the festival but not as much as me...actually went home for half of the festival and so wasn't actually there...on Sunday evening I was amused to witness quite a few people...well men, let's face it, come up to him, shake him warmly by the hand and thank him for all his hard work. And he lapped it up. I stood by and thought..well, you can get by with doing b*gger all (slight exaggeration) and not being there if when you are there, you are a cocky b*stard.....good job I am not a sensitive person isn't it?

Sorry, I said I wouldn't post angst ridden stuff......but it's interesting, isn't it?