Saturday at Glastonbury. Healing, Heat & Homoeopathy.

Ihad a plan for today, but should have known it would go out the window as Iwandered towards the Green Fields. Time at Glastonbury takes on a very strangequality. We call it Green Time.  Nothingis urgent and hours can slip away unnoticed with, or without alcohol (or othersubstances). On the way I stopped at Elementals. A field where you could settleon a comfy sofa, discuss things spiritual or, it appeared, get your hairshampooed and styled.  I enjoy theartwork around the festival, not placed on a pedestal but all functional here.I saw people sat around giant tables on giant wooden chairs, I saw dragons,lions and ogres.

People rested, suspended in giant moss pods suspended abovepools and surrounded by foliage and flowers.

I meandered up to the Sacred Space,looking out over the valley with the festival stretched in every direction.Everything was relaxed and gentle, that is until someone commits the cardinalcrime at Glastonbury.  Weeing in a hedge!The Green Police, dressed like green clowns, appear from all directions,blowing their whistles do draw everyones attention. The offender then has alecture about how the Environment Agency are monitoring the surrounding riversand streams after past disasters. You could be caught with your trousers downand find several thousand people booing you. Don’t do it!

Ichatted to Sam, a member of the Travelling Homoeopathic Collective in thehealing fields. They, and all the other alternative health offerings, were asbusy as our pharmacies, with many of the similar problems presenting. Iwondered about the sunburn, sneezing, sore throats and sore feet. Sam explainedthat they are an acute clinic and patients do indeed report relief from theirailments. I need to keep an open mind because our own experience here is that,for instance, Cromoglycate eye drops DO provide immediate relief despite what Iwas taught at university. I’m undecided about whether homoeopathic remediesshould be prescribable, but it would be hypocritical to prevent sales of anyitem due to lack of efficacy evidence. After all, look at the revenue we getfrom cough mixtures when the BNF says of demulcents, “some patients believe thatsuch preparations relieve a dry irritating cough.” And of expectorants, “thereis no evidence that any drug can specifically facilitate expectoration.”

Idecided to scrap my initial plans and take the music as it came. I have 40 Gbof music on my laptop, but skip through listening to snippets, trying to findwhat I really want to hear. Today was like that with the live bands. I enjoyedsome Stornaway, Tame Impala, Nicolas Jaar, The Centrefolds, Paulo Nutini, Elbow, and Nick Lowe.

I did settle in the Acoustic Stage to see Pentangle. The name broughtback buried memories from my early teens and as soon as I heard them I knew I’dmissed them, and it was wonderful to have the original line-up. I hadn’tplanned to see Coldplay but went by the tree with friends to watch. They had,by far, the biggest crowd I’d seen this year. The sun had finally come out andeveryone was in great spirits. I have to say that, with few exceptions, theirselection demonstrated again what an accomplished stadium band they are. It wasgreat to watch the lasers and when all the giant balls bounced towards us, Itried to take a photo. Someone else should have had the camera. As I turned, agiant ball attacked me from behind. I can report that it feels very strange tohave the top of ones head suddenly enveloped in rubber. As my hearing returned,the laughter was louder than the music!

I decided I was too tired to hike up tohear my friends in Mad Dog McRea playing at Croissant Neuf, and wandered backto write my blog

AsI sat outside my tent, the loud Glastonbury noise continued but suddenly irecognised Mikes voice and the songs of Mad Dog. I heard the whole thing, rightacross the other side of the valley. Proper Glastonbury!

Goodnightchums.

 

Jim.