A beautiful weekend

I've spent this past week in vague mourning. Or more precisely, going through withdrawal stages - an initial refusal to believe that I wouldn't wake up and be there again and an inability to handle the transition back to reality. Then aches and pains, ignored whilst dancing till sunrise for the fourth night in a row, but hitting hard once I did stop and remembered what bodies are meant to feel like when not pushed to the limits. But mainly an overwhelming need, even craving, to be back, even whilst I know that the glastonbury way of life could never be sustainable. And a sneaking suspicion that even if it was, it wouldn't be as powerful a hit if we had it all the time.




Part of me wants to believe it's possible. True, we couldn't consume, and avoid sleep in that way for all that long. But the freedom of being able to dance, to run, to talk to complete strangers, to share a sunrise, to sleep in the grass - so much of what I find wonderful about glastonbury... the bit of me that wants to run away and drop out and live in the wild or somewhere completely alternative believes that life can be those things much much more than it currently is for most of us.



But putting aside confusing thoughts about whether I'm wasting my time doing things the way that current society dictates (and not wanting to risk sounding like a hippy)... and returning to glastonbury....I remember, what makes the festival such an intense few days for so many of us. It is that it is an escape, a long awaited and long remembered few days of running free and dancing wild. A once yearly date with complete release. Maybe I felt this more than ever, now that so many of my waking hours are spent in an office.


(This one is from a perfect Glastonbury morning. Hours of crazy dancing in the trash city drag strip tent, followed by stepping out into a gorgeous blue skied day with the first clear rays of the morning sun greeting us as we emerged from the darkness, slightly stunned but happy, ready for chai, a fire, and falling asleep near the stone circle)

But that's my sticking point. Spending so much time in an office did make me enjoy the weekend more intensely, and that makes me uneasy.

Theories behind 'festival' and it's place in human society, suggest that by being allowed a 'liminal' space to abandon rules and conventions for a set amount of time, these rules then become reaffirmed in our normal, 'real' world. (I'd love to be more precise but its late). This is the danger of allowing a weekend such as glastonbury just to be an 'escape'.

And its why, when I say that glastonbury was an important reminder to me of things that are needed in my life, I don't just mean that I need to make sure I find time to stay up all night raving, or dancing to world class bands, or drinking somerset's best cider, or even seeing family and old friends... all those things will always find time in my life. But it's also about finding the spaces to roll down a hill, to make a fire with strangers, and to time your morning by wanting to see the sunrise.

All the photos above were taken by friends I was with this year, apart from the one with all the fire and lights from the stone circle, which is an old one which I love. There are some amazing photos by professionals here.