Harvest

Remaining calm right now. There's a train track broken somewhere along the Ipswich line and the first train of the day, the one I need, is still in the train yard it would seem. I've called my employer to let them know and I guess he'll take over until I get there. Can't be helped and there's not much I can do about it, so I'm not too stressed.

Haven't had a day off since last Tuesday and won't do until this Thursday, you can be sure I ain't doing shit that day! But I can't complain too much as I've been having a pretty good time despite obvious tiredness. Met the mayor last Wednesday, I was in a bit of a smart arse mood and was trying to get a reaction out of him through my weirdness, but he was a pro and was unshakable. Until next time Quirk.

This past Saturday I was at Harvest festival volunteering at the Amnesty stall all day. Was there for about 11 hours all up and had one of the best festival experiences ever! We were campaigning for women's rights in Egypt as they will be electing their new government soon and women are being kept out of the process even though they played a huge part in overthrowing Mubarak.

Oh wow, my train's here, exactly 15 minutes late. Credit where it's due, pretty impressive to replace a broken track and get the train here only 15 minutes late. I'd better message my employer, hang on a sec. Done. Back to Harvest.

We had a tent with a great view of the Windmill stage which was the second main stage where we would see bands like Mercury Rev, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Mogwai and The Flaming Lips. It meant I could stay at the stall without worrying too much about which band to see, although I did run off for a bit to see TV On The Radio and they were awessssome.

We ended up getting 181 actions from people which is pretty good by our standards. It's a shame what with so many people that you couldn't get a lot more than that especially as we're only asking people to fill in a card and not asking for any money. But this is the world we live in, better to focus on the 181 people that took action many of whom were very enthusiastic about the cause.

Then around 8:45 I helped a drunk girl make her way to the river stage as she was very lost and confused. Quickly went back to the stall to get Carmen and made yet another trip to river stage to see Portishead. It was heavy on the new album which suited me as it has become my favourite of their albums. We stood in wonder somewhere in the middle of the hill singing all the familiar words we'd heard a million times before. Fully satisfied we slowly walked our way back to the stall to help carry all of the gear to our coordinators car before heading home.

I made a point afterward about earlier this year when I had decided that perhaps festivals and concerts should be left for those with more stamina. Certainly this year's Soundwave, the last show I went to, was a major struggle.

But Harvest was anything but, it was almost a perfect day especially once the weather shifted in the afternoon. I'm more confident now that I've still got that energy in me or at least the potential to get even healthier. That's good to know.

Andy Scott