Leaving London, and Latitude.

All the sheep are pink this year.

So, this blog might get a bit more prolific from now on.  I've quit my job, and plan to subsist on the income from my evil property empire as I travel around.  First of all, various festivals of which the first, not counting Glastonbury, is Latitude.  I plan to get there on the Thursday, but... turns out leaving home is tricky.  The last minute tasks mount up, my bike doesn't want to go, splits a fuel hose and spews petrol everywhere, in the end I don't fancy putting my tent up in the dark so instead, a last few beers in South London.  Chris isn't getting to the festival until tomorrow anyway.

Relaxing in the house.

Modern dance.

Friday... lock the door and post the keys through the letterbox, I'm really gone.  A three hour ride to the Suffolk coast, have to visit Dunwich on the way, and get a cup of tea by the sea.  This is what retired people do yes?  Then off to the festival.  Bit different to Glastonbury, such clean, many seating, wow.  Chris is ill, guess I am on my own for the weekend.  Music at the Lake Stage with Honne, very young crowd.  Briefly endure some right on comedy - look how the patriarchy makes you pay for tampons eh sisters.  To the main stage - the Obelisk Arena - where Santigold hand out donuts and dance a lot.  Stage two - the BBC6 Stage - and Public Serviice Broadcasting have new stuff, is good.  But the cool stuff here is in the woods, such as the poorly named iArena where I watch The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.  Then to round off the day, Keith Allen's Establishment Club.  I had a beer or two with him once, don't think he remembers.  Good music though.

Saturday.  Lovely weather, good for a wander about.  Random Shakespeare / Choral mashup in the woods, then some string quartet plus rap on the Waterfront Stage by the lake.  Quite hot, grab some shade in the literary tent, brain surgeon is discussing his memoirs.  Hour long queue for swimming in the lake, well, been there, done that.  To the iArena for Marika Hackman and then the Twilight Sad, before finding some comedy... watch a sketch in which a man mimes a sequence running from buying a pint to descending to hell and ripping the devil's cock off, as you do.  Then stand up from David O'Doherty, rather good.  All blurring into one a bit, I eschew the main stages, Oscar and Prides on the Lake Stage, random stuff on small stages in the wood.  Even find a proper mosh pit!

Nice of them to write a song about my motorbike problems.  Or perhaps it was an oldie.

Sunday, wander down to the main stage where that TV 'choir' thing is on plus a hundred or so random festival-goers.  It is so middle class here.  Feeling a bit music'd out, sunbathe and read for a bit instead.  Modern dance on the Waterfront - seems to be mainly people pushing steel frames around.  The Boomtown Rats are rather fun - Bob Geldof looks like James May's alcoholic brother.  He does realise they're not very good yeah?  No queue for swimming today so I go for it - man I am out of condition.  Now a band I actually want to see - the Manic Street Preachers, a good if short set.  And that is about it... not too fussed about Noel Gallagher, but I find a couple of late night (ish) bands at the iArena.  And a brief stop at the Establishment Club, where a left wing poet is describing her Mills & Boon fantasy relationship with former UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom.  And why not.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.