Life on camp III

4th & 5th July

Yesterday was the frantic day in getting stuff ready for the Festival, which was due to start at four, with the main events getting under way at seven. Sheila had a mixed day, in that she was again part of the fencing team first thing, then went shopping with Eli the cook, getting us some more supplies of wine and beer.

Meanwhile, I had had a "just" job (as in "Can you just do so-and-so, it'll only take five minutes"). In this case, it involved running a cable from the end of the music tent to the gazebo where they are selling CDs of the artists performing, for which they needed power for their card machine. Like all just jobs, this one took much longer than predicted, as part of the cable had to be buried, and the ground was rock hard, having had the marquee contractor's vehicles all over it for a week.

Then the electrics team were asked to rep[osition the small stage in the bar, from one corner to another. In its way, this was another example of the "just" job. The actual moving of the power supply was no more than a fiddle, and meant certain amount of time for Terry up the ladder. The trouble started when we came to move the low stage. The ground in the new location sloped towards the bar far more than on the other side. With aid of blocks of wood and some longer stub legs for one end, we were finally able to get it level.

The only thing was that, looking at it from the bar, it now appeared that the stage was tilted backwards by around 15°, so the drinkers will be having some strange experiences whilst watching the performers.

After all that, there were a load of bitty things to do – odd banners to position, or to be rehung to better effect, and so on. We put up a short stretch of night fence, to keep the revellers out of the children's play area, then finally it was all done, more or less, and we were able to relax a bit whilst those directly involved with the traders ran around.

We were all pretty quiet in the evening. Elanor arrived quite late on, and stayed overnight in the accommodation tent, as we had retreated to bed before she turned up.

Today we got our wristbands, so that we could come and go around site even when the public were about. We also got our nice red tee shirts with the Festival logo on, and our names on the sleeve – very smart.

The night fence was taken down right after an early breakfast. Sheila and I were given the job of putting up some signs that hadn't been ready in time, or where we'd not had a chance to do them the day before.

We were told that it would be apparent where each was to go, and this was indeed true for some of them, but for others we had to get advice, and there are a few even now that haven't gone up. Note for next year: when signs are ordered, please record on a site plan where they are wanted. A sign saying "Slippery surface" could be needed almost anywhere.

After lunch it's been very quiet, and we've had a chance actually to go round the show and look at the stalls before retreating to the boat to run the engine and do housekeeping type stuff.

It's a surprise 70th birthday party for Roger Burchett tonight, which should be good fun. Hopefully by the time you are reading this we should have recovered from it.