My Date with Download

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks. I had two weeks off work, detached myself from my phone and the internet and enjoyed spending time with Gareth. It was my birthday, we went to Thorpe park, Great Yarmouth, sorted out all the paperwork etc for our house move and then....we spent six days at the long awaited and dreaded Download Festival.

Anybody who has been reading my blog will have seen that a month or so ago I blogged about Download, why I was going, how I felt about it and what I was expecting. I wasn't especially looking forward to going and I was quite scared that my reluctance and fears would cause problems between me and Gareth, because music is his life and Download Festival is like his haven.....it was a big thing for us.


We left on Wednesday morning in high spirits, the sun was shining and we were both incredibly happy as we had just signed the tenancy to our beautiful new house...the beginning of a new part of our lives. We had a long coach journey ahead of us and, as we eventually approached Download festival, it began to rain. It started slowly and I tried to dismiss it and keep spirits high but it quickly turned into a two and a half day downpour resulting in a VERY MUDDY festival field. (The picture above is an actual picture from the event....MUDDY). 


We got off the coach, quickly dug through the bags for our wellies and rain macs and then started the seemingly never-ending journey to the camp site. We queued for ages just to get to the entrance, then had to drag the bags through the 'village' which was already pretty muddy, down a massive hill, just to discover that particular camp site wasn't open, back up the hill, around a little bit more, and eventually to the final camp site. By this time, my hands were stinging and sore, my back ached, I was hot, sweaty and so thirsty it was hurting my lungs (if that's possible). Gareth had lost his temper several times and chucked a thousand or so 'I told you so's' at me. I was frustrated, crying and incredibly muddy...not looking like a good start to our little holiday. 

The backs of my legs after just
walking to the camp site and
putting up the tent (there
was still grass at this point)

My wellies and leggings after just walking
to the camp site and putting
up the tent

We eventually managed to pitch our tent in a prime location; close to the toilets, opposite a doughnut and coffee stand and a little shop. From this point onwards, things started to improve. We spent the Wednesday evening and the whole of Thursday plodding through the mud and the rain, looking around the shopping stalls and sitting in our tent playing cards (very rock n roll). These two days passed really slowly and by Thursday evening I felt like we had been there for about a week. It was actually really nice spending this time together doing something a little out of the ordinary. Friday afternoon was the first day of music so I went to bed on Thursday night a little bit scared of the part I was fearing most....crowds of people and music I don't know. 


After a two hour wait to get into the arena (because of ground conditions or some rubbish) we eventually flooded in to see the first band....which were actually the third band because the first two had been cancelled. Lots of people were angry, cold, wet and frustrated but it was all quickly forgotten as they swarmed into the arena to finally start their Download experience. 


Despite my initial fears and reluctance I actually had a quite a good day on Friday. Throughout the day there wasn't really any bands that I knew but I think that if I had known some of the songs it would have been much easier to get excited about the performances...I'm a girl who likes to sing along to a song...it doesn't really matter what it is, if I can sing along then I will have fun! Friday's programme wasn't very exciting for me, the only set that I really wanted to see was Slash; in fact, this was the only thing that I had been looking forward to about the whole weekend and........................................I missed it!


Yep......I made all the effort in the world to go somewhere that I didn't want to go - just for Gareth. I managed to find one thing about it that I thought I would enjoy and I didn't get the opportunity to see it. It wasn't really anybody's fault. All the performance times were a little bit confused because of the late start; we had just seen one band (can't remember who at this point) and then spent about 40 minutes waiting in a poxy little tent arena for another band, only to then realise that if we waited any longer we would miss Slash. We left without seeing the band, went over to where Slash would be performing, just to discover that it was already jam packed and no matter where we stood I couldn't see a single thing.  SO...I got a massive mood on, stormed back to the tent in a strop and cried a tiny bit because I had missed the one performance I wanted to see.


On Saturday, I actually had a really good day. There were a few more 'me' bands, it hadn't rained for about 24hours, the rain mac was off and things were beginning to brighten up. I enjoyed myself all day. However, I was forced to have another minor strop whilst watching Corey Taylor because, once again, I couldn't see a single thing. As I had missed Slash, Corey Taylor became my new focus for the weekend, but I couldn't see anything then either. I watched the whole performance through other peoples cameras above the heads of the crowd and sulked. Despite this, he was amazing and it was a little bit emotional.


Sunday was my least favourite day. By Sunday afternoon I was very tired and very achey and my feet were seriously rejecting my wellies. There wasn't really any bands that I wanted to see and I felt like we spent a lot of time just waiting around. I had a lot of fun with Gareth and the sun was shining but we were both ready to come home.


I would love to be able to say that my highlight from the weekend was Slash or even Corey Taylor but actually the highlight of my whole weekend was this............................

A polka dot guitar. I'm sure I have previously mentioned my love of guitars and I've definitely mentioned my love of Polka Dots....this actually made my weekend!!!!!!!!!!!! I spent at least half an hour daydreaming about how to get this guitar from the slightly crazy looking man on stage.....needless to say...it didn't happen!

What I loved about my date with Download: Camping, back to basics, being dirty and it being ok, nothing but each other, a book and a packet of cards for entertainment, the happy atmosphere, the 'holiday feeling',free hoodies....I can't even list anything else, I simply just enjoyed the experience.....I didn't even hate the mud....!?! it's all part of the experience! 

What I disliked about my date with Download: The toilets!, trying to keep the tent mud free, the price of food, not being able to properly clean your teeth, the attention seeking people.....there were lots of genuinely nice, friendly people but there were far more attention seekers. It frustrated me that people couldn't just go, enjoy and appreciate the music and have a nice time without constantly fighting to be the centre of attention. It reminded me of the insecure groups at uni who are constantly fighting for acceptance and attention.....get some self confidence and just have a nice time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY BIGGEST DOWNLOAD HIGHLIGHT.........Gareth!

He was beyond amazing. He looked after me and protected me more than I could ever have imagined. He was constantly looking out for me and trying to keep me safe. I could see that he was permanently on guard, keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble or brash drunks and constantly diverting me away from anything that he thought would make me uncomfortable. He was affectionate, loving and generally the perfect gentleman. His attitude made me incredibly happy and I was prepared to do anything to make his Download experience amazing.

Thank you Mr S. :-)

It might sound like I've moaned a lot but I actually had a really good time and would definitely go again! It definitely pays to try new experiences....life would be very dull otherwise!