Latitude I

I spent the last weekend at the Latitude Festival near Southwold, and am still a little shaken by it. To be honest, I didn't have a great time. It's difficult to explain why, because I did like the music, and the poetry and the theatre and all the activities; yet I felt slightly on edge nearly all the time. Even when listening and watching a great band, there was a part of me that just didn't want to be there.

I suppose it was the ambience that hit me, I just found that the crowds were too much for me, for all that time. Perhaps only one day at the festival would have been fine. I liked bumping into people whom I knew, though. Perhaps I'm just a particular type of middle-aged middle-class person with a narrow social orbit. Although Latitude was in the far east of England, 350 km from home and seemed to be full of Londoners we met half a dozen friends from just around the corner from us in Bishopston, one of the men I cycle with in Bristol plus his girlfriend, and also a couple of my south Bristol friends / acquaintances. Then I met with two of my cousins, two of their children (whom I'd never met before), and my brother's ex-girlfriend. I think that I was only relaxed when I was talking with or in a group of people I knew. So socially the weekend was great, but I was still uncomfortable.

It's strange that I feel like this, now. When I was younger I was much more sociable and was completely unfazed by such crowds, but gradually it's become less and less of a pleasure. I must be turning into a grumpy old man.

I only went to Latitude because Moonface enjoys them so much. After my last experience at Glastonbury she has gone to many festivals either on her own or with friends, but we enjoy each other's company so I decided to try again. The other factor, I suppose, was the chance to meet up with my cousins from that side of the country; 250 miles is a long way away and I hadn't seen Kate for many years, and had never met Lydia & Darcy, her daughters.

So it looks as if Moonface will be going to the next few festivals without me, except for the odd day trip. She's got at least two more lined up for the rest of the summer - good for her.

*******************

On the plus side, I have decided what would make a good weekend for me: exploring a city, seeing some art & architecture, eating & drinking, then going to see a band in a pub or club afterwards. City breaks are generally fun, but I've never tied any music into the weekends: that might make them even more memorable and exhausting.

:-/