“This is not my first ‘mudding’, little swallow,” he’d winked at me from somewhere under the fullest beard I’d ever seen in real life, using the nickname they’d all given me since I’d drunkenly – and leaving out the most pertinent information – told them the story of my necklace, the little gold swallow I’d never worked up the resilience to take off.
‘Mudding’ was the term some Glasto-veterans gave to the festival, owing to it’s much-loved reputation for occasionally getting so rain drenched that the historic fields turned into historic swamps.
All this to say – he knew people who knew people who could get us in.
Which was how I concluded my second day with a full file of backstage footage and interviews with no less than five acts.
By the third day, I was feeling spiritually cleansed – which was a polite way of saying dehydrated, covered in whorls of paint, and sick of eating out of cardboard.
I counted myself lucky, however, that despite Becka’s reservations, the press area washing facilities were a massive improvement on the ones in the general camping areas.
It was more akin to the shower cubicles you found in leisure centres, instead of a row of strung-up shower hoses, and even though the water was cold, I was able to shower in the privacy of a three by three enclosed space.
My elbows might never recover, but my hair didn’t smell like kebabs anymore.
Today was the last day, and it was going to be a weird one.
Sol8 was billed as the headlining act on the main stage.
This was a big deal for a number of reasons – not least of which was that no K-Pop act had ever performed at Glastonbury before, let alone headlined. It was probably the reason I’d been second-billing to come. Realistically, they could have sentanyone else, but because of my employment history with ENT, and becoming known as something of a K-Pop enthusiast, I topped that short list.
My editor wanted two pieces from this festival jaunt – the overall write-up of the festival, and specifically a shorter piece about the way K-Pop had broken into the festival scene.
Pebblehad plans to be firmly entrenched backstage at the dance stage, so I was cast out on my own, which was in some ways a relief, because it allowed me to lock-in and not get distracted.
As entertaining as it had been to spend the past two days embedded in the alternative culture of Glastonbury, it was time for me to focus.
Sol8 weren’t on until much later, so I decided to spend the rest of the day wandering around the camp grounds, just seeing what there was to see without being pulled into every fire circle and chanting tent.
Glastonbury was a fascinating mix of people, and entertainment. It felt like little pockets of every type of humanity brushed up against each other, united in rubber boots and a love of music.
Being alone gave me the scope to really observe, instead of interact, and the experience was enlightening. I made regular voice notes on my little digital-recorder.
About half-way through the day, and after one full rotation of the whole site, an idea finally came to me as I was thinking about Sol8’s performance.
When the thought eventually settled, I was surprised it had taken me so long to think of it, but then, it had been – what, nearly two years?
I didn’t often consider how much time had passed, between what I had come to think of as the ‘before’, and now, and so when I did, it quite literally stopped me in my tracks – resulting in me almost being bowled over by a crowd of chattering teenagers.
I moved to the side to sit on a hay bale and to push my ephemeral thoughts into a more solid shape.
What were the odds that he still had the same phone number? It was common for people that high-profile to change them regularly. Was two years too long?
The longer I sat on the idea, the more anxious I became, until I knew that if I didn’t just pull out my damn phone, I wouldn’t do it, and be mad at myself for the rest of eternity.
Me
Imagine being in the same place at the same time. Cringe.
I immediately shrivelled inwardly, because who actually said ‘cringe’?
Just as my entire being was trying to melt into the muddy ground, my phone vibrated.
Tae
Who is this?
[Sent 18:42]
