Summer Holidays 2016 Part 6 (Wilderness days 3 and 4)

Highlights of the rest of our time at the festival included various visits to the "naked" fruit juice stall which dispensed huge quantities of free fruit juice (which the kids loved and given how hot it was, everyone took full advantage of), a ride on the Big Wheel which also gave panoramic views of the Park where the festival was being held as well as a number of trips down the nearby helter skelter by the kids; plenty of excellent food including a chocolate brownie stall and a waffle store which were in very convenient proximity to each other; plenty of live music including Robert Plant (of Led Zep fame) at full throttle and a jazz band that seemed to consist of a couple of huge Tubas and musicians who basically danced their way through the songs along with the audience; various demonstrations of dance, crafting, henna tattoos taxidermy, a "quiet" disco (where participants wear headphones playing the music and dance around to that but there is no other sound - it is pretty surreal to be standing around watching everyone cavorting in a silent room - the kids absolutely loved this); a late night yoga class which the kids found hilarious; more wild swimming; lazing around in the Summer sunshine people watching - the dress code appeared to be hippy chic with lots of glitter and the very young children (of which there were many) being transported round in little carts decorated with flowers - there was also a couple who were simply "dressed" in blue body paint and there was plenty of sunbathing with varying degrees of clothing (although pretty tasteful all things considered)around the wild swimming area; a couple of glasses of champagne in the Champagne tent to celebrate E's big birthday; games of Frisbee and football with the kids; and the David Bowie tribute set on the last night where Kate Nash and Charlotte Church shared top billing with yours truly and the Wilderness choir (well we opened the show with a four part version of Space Oddity which was quite magical even thought I say so my self).

I had never stayed at a festival before and this was very user friendly and loads of fun - I would definitely do it again although we were truly blessed with the weather which was uniformly good until the morning of our departure and even then it was just a bit overcast. We even got the hang of the toilet/shower facilities (the showers were actually pretty good). There was a lot of walking around and we barely skimmed the huge variety of events, shows, lectures, seminars, concerts on offer so next time I will pay closer attention to the programme. N. managed to break her teeth brace on the penultimate day so there was a bit of a rush to get back to Maidstone and return the vans and get to the orthodontist in time before our early morning departure on the Tuesday to Cephalonia for the next part of our Summer adventures.

Rugby-fest

After a hectic day of football and house hunting we caught up with JG who was in town en route from Thailand to Oman having embarked upon what appeared to be a World tour of education conferences. We caught up with him at the Tim Horton coffee shop near the kids old school which E and I use to go to after drop off and, after a fruitless trip to Nelsons at the Media Rotana to watch the England game (it was not on there) ended up watching England's victory over Argentina and Ireland's victory over Australia in the rugby at home. Despite our best efforts we were unable to tune into the Chelsea game although Chelsea did manage to win. It was good to catch up with J. Who now appears to have acquired a dog and a beer belly!

BBQ Friday

The rain stayed away but it was probably as cool in Dubai it gets this time of year as the sun hid behind a thin layer of cloud and the wind blow hard. We caught up with P and L at Wild Wadi an P did the Jumeirah Scarah which was the kids were fascinated by. We returned to ours for a BBQ a and some quizzing and it was very much like old days. A good evening was had by all!

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Not literally but certainly there were clouds in the Dubai skies today and reports of rainfall in some parts of the Emirate - the first rain since last Winter. P and L are in town - old friends from HK days who are taking a break before P starts a new job in London having spent the last 5 years in Zurick. We used to play tennis together on a Saturday morning and watch footy in Main Street of an evening. We also used to team up for the quiz at the Pickled Pelican in Stanley which we regularly used to win (there were usually only 3 or 4 other teams .......).

We tried to revive the glory days at the Dhow & Anchor quiz on Tuesday night (where by coincidence P and L were staying) with assistance from Dad and E. Unfortunately the old magic was in short supply (or perhaps the questions were more difficult). In any event, we did not cover ourselves in glory although given that it was held outdoors at least it did not rain. Hopefully we will also avoid rain tomorrow when we have invited P and L to a BBQ after a trip with them to a Wild Wadi waterpark.

10000 a Day

Not words but steps. As mentioned in an earlier post, the default mode for a daily step target on my Fitbit us 100000. Based on an average stride of around 1m that in theory means a 10km walk per day if I hit the target which I have just about managed to do over the last couple of weeks(coinciding with the less strenuous but equally testing post per day challenge). Quite apart from the difficulties of so arranging my day to give a least an outside chance of achieving that number- and it is not a particularly easy given by sloth like nature and sedentary lifestyle- requiring planned lunchtime and evening jaunts on shanks pony - 10km a day sounds quite a long way (although during my lunchtime walk today I encountered a flock of peacocks feasting nonchalantly on the roadside which is very Dubai so it is not all hardship). I hope to keep this up until we go to UK for Christmas so wish me luck!

Summer Holidays 2016 part 5 (Wilderness Day 2)

The configuration of our motor home was a little different from last years van comprising a bunk bed for the kids at the back and a double bed that descended automatically from the ceiling in the middle section which was an interesting feature which required us to ensure there was nothing in the way of the bed as it made its descent. We were situated around 150 yards from the perimeter fence for the main arena so there would be occasional bursts of sound from the sage during our first night but all in all everybody slept reasonably well and B and I fried up a full English the following morning in our respective vans which were parked parallel to each other. The kid were still running around the fields like mad things playing football and Frisbee, and we all ate at the put-me-up table and bench which we had erected between the vans. Although the van had its own internal shower/toilet, I tried to encourage everyone to use the onsite facilities – this was only partially successful mainly because the state of the onsite loos were a little hit and miss….

We then set off to sample the delights of the festival and what delights there were. There were 4 separate stages with a variety of performances available during the course of the 4 days ranging from rock music (the headline act was Robert Plant and there were also turns from the Flaming Lips and Goldie) as well as big band/ Jazz/ Performance Art and classical. There were also various marquees for debates and presentations as well as a huge number of food outlets; a craft village and various other entertainments including a high wire act, a cricket match (with much nudity) as well as “wild swimming” in the Lakes below the venue.

I had also signed up for the Wilderness Choir – a motley collection of festival goers albeit led by a professional musician who had agreed to learn a four part version of “Space Oddity” to be sung as the opening song of a David Bowie tribute set on the last night of the festival. We all gathered by the big Red Bus in the centre of the festival area and were divided into Bass/Tenor/Alto/Soprano and were taken through our paces on the Friday morning. It was really good fun and actually sounded very impressive even in the early stages. I genuinely found participation really satisfying. The rest of the day was spent in exploring the myriad entertainments on offer under the blue skies and sunshine of the Oxfordshire country side including some wild swimming which offered a very vivid contrast to the bathwater temperatures that we are used to in the Arabian Gulf – it was absolutely freezing and the kids (and adults) were a little wary of the mud and reeds that had to be overcome in getting in and out before the swimming proper could begin. It was – ultimately – really good fun but we were fortunate that the sun was shining as the water was extraordinarily cold…

Summer Holidays 2016 Part 4 (Wilderness first day)

This year it was Es turn to choose a special trip and her choice was a music festival in deepest Oxfordshire. In fact it was more of a music and food festival. We agreed that we were probably a bit past the hardcore festival camping experience (particularly since we were taking the kids and going with my Sister and her family) so we booked a mobile home ( as did M and her family) from the chap in Harrietsham who rented us a mobilehome for our France trip last year) and headed to the Wilderness Festival.

This year we did not have to contend with operation stack. However I did have to contend with a 5 hour delay at DxB as I managed to arrive for my flight just as an incoming flight decided to land without the undercarriage down which caused the closure of both runways for a number of hours.

As a consequence it was early morning before I reached Maidstone so I was not at my brightest when B and I went to collect the motor homes on the Thursday morning. However after loading up with enough clothes and bedding for at least a week (the festival was only for 4 days) we were soon making our way in convoy towards Oxford (M drove her car as she was taking J back early for his tutoring). The weather was beautiful and after around 4.5 hours drive including a stopover at the services we were ushered through ancient trees and freshly cut grass into field near the main arena. It was a great setting surrounded by woods and hills with various categories of campsites from "glam ping" and tepees to "live in vehicles" (us along with some truly beautiful classic Airstream motor homes and an eclectic array if VW Camperrvans and customised vans).

The kids had time to race around the field and deposit huge clumps of newly mown grass in the vans as they clumped in and out and the we then went in search of food. The entrance to the arena was next to the main stage opposite which was a number of old fashioned fairground attractions including a big wheel and a helter-skelter - both of which saw considerable use by the kids before the weekend was out. However our first priority was food and the area was crammed full of pop up dining venues ranging from tents with crisp table clothes and silver service cutlery to market stalls selling bacon (or rather hog roast) butties. There was no shortage of food or indeed representatives from some of London's more fashionable restaurants and there was no problem in finding something to suit the tastes of 8 hungry people.

After having a quick tour around some of the music stages we headed back for our first night "under canvass".