I was on my knees for a break so ended up taking off the Thursday and Friday.
But before I get to our trip to Glastonbury let's rewind to Wednesday night.
On Wednesday we went to another comedy show in Brighton, it's been quite the year for comedy hasn't it. This time it was the turn of Suzi Ruffell. As she's a lady we hadn't seen much of her. It's only been recently that panel shows have lowered themselves to include women (whoops feminist rant again). But on the occasions I have downloaded TikTok her 'bits' were one of the things I really enjoyed.
And no I'm not a luddite about TikTok, in fact - due only to the fact that I had a 12 year old when it first came out I was actually a fan of TikTok early. I used to really enjoy watching teenagers and early teens teaching people how to dance and just generally having all the fun times that somebody of that age should have. Then came COVID and the adults found it and basically trashed it. Now and again I download it to see if it's gone back to it's original form, it hasn't.
Aaaanyway, bacy to Suzi. She's from my husbands home town of Portsmouth, but has moved to Brighton, so she was on home turf. She was great actually I really enjoyed it. She even came up with one joke that was so great that the audience spontaniously applauded. Suzi is a lesbian and she and her wife have a daughter. She did a long bit on being a parent and then went onto the pressure that people have to have more than one (as a mother of a single child, I appreciate this). She then went on to say that when people ask her now she says 'well my wife and I have both stopped taking contraceptive, so now we're leaving it in the hands of god'.
Yes I know it doesn't really work without the preamble and without being delivered by a skilled comedian, but I'm still giggling days later.
On Thursday (first day of holiday) I tried to be lazy, but there was 'stuff' to be done to prep for the weekend. On the Friday we all headed off to Glastonbury early. It was a good journey, though longer than I expected. For some reason I had it in my head it would take about 2 hours, but it was a good 3.5 hour journey. As we set off early we missed all the traffic and obviously it's off season for the tourist traffic.
Arriving in Glastonbury we parked up at the house I'd rented for the weekend and headed to the Abbey. We joined a tour that talked us through things and I'm glad we did because it sort of set the thinking for the rest of the weekend. It was also cool to see where Arthur was supposedly buried. As with everything in Glastonbury an open mind is beneficial - for me this is an easy thing to do because I believe in fairies and I believe that any legend is based on truth.
Glastonbury is a lovely market town basically, but it's the oddest mix of high church and paganism. Throughout the town there were different religions. Including somebody claiming to be the reincarnation of Jesus. Who am I to judge! Equally there were many shops where you could by crystals and shops that focussed on fairy law.
When I was 16 I was pretty sure I was going to go down the hippy route and I think there's still a certain amount of that in me. But in the end my bish, bash, bosh, get it done side really won out. Though part of me would love to be part of that community, I know another part of me would be thinking 'but is this really all bollocks'. So as with the rest of my life, I'll just be me and all the smart people will think I'm grungy and all the hippy people will think I'm a stiff. All the other people will just think I'm a bit odd. I've never really easily fit in. But fortunately my husband is the same (though he has no hippy in him, for him replace hippy with surf dude).
Day 2 was the big event, Glastonbury Tor. I'm not sure what it is about the Tor, but something about it just sings to me. I think it's one of the most beautiful things and I find it quite spiritual. I can't think of anything else man made anywhere that has the effect on me. When I'm in Appledore the nature has that effect on me, but that's different.
On two occassions previously husband and I have driven in circles around the Tor, but failed to find parking. Now we know why - there isn't any. But this was the main reason for being their to make it to the top of the Tor. Husband and son were interested in the general history of the building, for me it's because it's believed to be the home of Gwn ap Nudd, the king of the fairies and lord of the underworld. The Tor is supposedly the entrance to a fairy court.
I did get some odd looks taking lots of photographs of the floor of the Tor, because most other people were taking photos of the outside. But hey, each to their own.
As with the previous week the weather was wintery'ish. Too cold not to have a coat and too hot to wear a coat. So we all got dressed in various layers we could take off and put on. It was the wind that was creating the cold, when you were in the wind it was freezing - out of the wind and it was warm. Neither husband and I had thought to bring a hat because the cold wind was a new thing for the winter. So in the morning we headed into town to buy one.
Given all the shops in Glastonbury only sell hippy gear I suggested to husband that we focussed on him, because I was pretty confident I could go into any shop and find a hat (which proved to be correct). We walked around the whole town and then, about to give up, discovered a basket of hats that were boringly suitable for husband and son. I walked straight into a shop. Saw a hat I liked and bought it. Job done we headed on our journey to the top of the tour.
I was really dreading the walk up the hill, my knees don't do well with up and do really badly with down. Also it was a stepped route up and steps are absolutely my knees nemesis. I took a stick with me and did the walk really carefully, just telling husband and son to go off and do their own thing.
Actually the stick really did the trick. I used it to take the pressure off my knees. It was literally the last 20 feet where I struggled, it was a thin path of steps and there were suddenly people coming up and people coming down. I picked up the pace so I wouldn't get in the way and had a sudden pain twinge. But after that all was good.
Once we got to the top it was freezing, we had the full force of the wintry wind. But picking the right side of the hill we settled down to have some sandwiches and take in the views before heading back.
I realise that I'm bouncing around with this story, you'll have to order it yourself, but it all makes sense if you can be bothered to jump around.
On the way down the hill we visited the Chalice Well. Unfortunately it didn't allow dogs so we did it in shifts. Husband went back to the house with the dog and son and I went around the gardens. The well is supposedly the burial place of the holy grail. The water is red and supposedly the blood of Christ, but even with my open mind I suspected it was due to the amount of iron in the water. Still I bought a couple of bottles home and I've frozen one and made the other into ice cubes.
Son was satisfied that he'd drunk the blood of Christ, I pointed out that in true 'us' style we'd actually drunk it out of an empty Coke Zero bottle. Somehow we always manage to strip the mystery and romance from life.
Son and I walked home and I went back again with husband. It was nice to have some him and me time. We spent quite a bit of time on a wooden swing just contemplating our navels.
Anyway, I did the spring properly and even took my shoes and socks off to have a paddle (you're encouraged to) in the spring bath. It was absolutely freezing so it was a very brief paddle, but I did it.
So that was the second day. A lot of things crossed off our list.
We didn't manage to do the white well, which was a shame, but on the Sunday it didn't open until 13:00 (I'm guessing because of church), which was a bit late. We made the decision to go to Avebury to see the standing stones. Husband and I have been before, but it was many many years ago. In fact I think it was when we first started dating each other.
We drove for 1.5 hours to get to Avebury, we were just getting ready for our next adventure when husband said...................... I've left my bag behind in the kitchen in Glastonbury. He first of all tried to blame me, saying that I was the one preparing lunch. I put my foot down and remind him that I had said that I was responsible for getting food together for myself and the dog, but he was responsible for packing for him and son because there wasn't room in my bag. Don't get me wrong, it was me that made the sandwiches, all he had to do was put them in his bag. I didn't even move his bag to the kitchen.
To give husband his due he didn't press this one after that. I was all for going straight back to Glastonbury (his wallet was also in his bag), but he was adamant we should do Avebury. So we did.
Things were very different from the last time we were there. Then it was just him and I in a field and nobody else seemed to be aware the stones were there.
Now the National Trust has taken over and turned it into a theme park. Why a set of standing stones that have stood since about 2850BC needs to be turned into a theme park by the National Trust I don't know. But they basically ruined the experience, there were hundreds of people there, things were roped off and basically the magic was completely ruined.
I don't leave Avebury with fond feelings at all, especially as once we finished we had to drive 1.5 hours back to Glastonbury and then drive home. In total from leaving the house in the morning we were in the car for 6 hours, with a 30 minute break in the middle to go to the ruined Avebury. I was not in the best of moods.
On top of this husband couldn't get his music working in his car. So that was 6 hours in total silence.
About an hour from home I literally started to break into a cold sweat, I felt like I was being held hostage. 6 hours in my head (when I'm not in a very good mood, due to circumstance) is a very frightening place to be. To make matters worse my headphones were in the boot so I couldn't even listen to my own stuff.
Arriving home we did about 1/3 of the unpacking, but we were all quite worn, so we completely blew our mystical weekend by ordering a Dominos.
That was it really - a really nice weekend (well a nice Friday and Saturday - Sunday sucked). I would go back to Glastonbury again. Let's see if and when that happens.
Monday was the last day of my break and was somewhat frantic. I finished the unpacking, changed the sheets and also cleaned the house because we'd had to cancel the cleaner, because we were away. I also took son to the Pumpkin patch, but that's filtering into next week's post. So I shall leave that as a trailer for much excitement to come....................... (you can't wait, I can tell).
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