Thursday at Glastonbury. The sun comes out.

The sun came out and then it rained, and then the sun came out . . . .  I awoke to the rain hammering on the tent, but the sun soon came out and the whole morning alternated between one and the other. But I had to get up and out to work so headed down to the taps for a wash. I’ve camped here in years gone by, with all services provided in the Medical services compound but now I love the simplicity of washing and ducking under the cold tap with minimum fuss.

Sophie, Rachel and Ellie in Medicine Man.

I had a great morning in the Medicine Man Pharmacy. As well as looking out on the festival goers as the heavy rain finally gave way to clear sunny skies, I got to talk to people. I love the banter and discussed the festival, the camping, and the music with anyone who would listen. If things get quiet, I can shout to the passers-by and round up business! The customers all just want to have fun. One chap was very proud of his festival hat with a hand that lifted its middle finger when he squeezed a button. “Earplugs”, I asked? “That’ll be £1” and I held my hand in a similar gesture. “Oh. You want two packs?” . . .

I’m also in a fixed spot and many friends and pharmacy chums came to visit. It was especially nice to see members of our old team. Katie & both Adeles looked in for a hug and a chat. Sadly, many of the old team weren’t called back for the FMS pharmacy this year, and we spoke of times passed and missing friends. I met pharmacist, Raj, from Birmingham. He was here as part of the Stilt-Walking support team! Good work if you can get it! Eh Raj? Business was brisk all day with many predictable items such as antifungals, loperamide, painkillers and, of course, blister plasters. This is the part of the festival where everybody discovers the sheer size of Glastonbury and their legs and feet take a hammering. It wasn’t just blister plasters, we ran out of all plasters and waited for James to restock. I’ve had requests over the years for lice, worms and other infestations. Today was the first time I’d been asked if I had anything for ants!

I expected to finish early afternoon but James got held up in the gridlocked traffic trying to get into Glastonbury and, although he reached Shepton Mallet by 4.30pm, it was nearly 9.00pm when he finally made it to the pharmacy with more stock. It was just like the old days, I thought. I really didn’t have a problem with working on though, since the festival doesn’t officially kick off until tomorrow.

I met up with Sally, Louise and families, friends (and hangers on). One of the lovely things about being here with them is that they know so many people. We went to see one of Lou’s ex-pupils, Josh Thorne, perform at Croissant Neuf. It really was very good but I had to ask Sal’s teenage daughter what kind of music it was. “Dubstep” she said. “Oh”, I said. We then had another invite ‘behind the scenes’. We were escorted into the Circus and Theatres, staff areas and I met some lovely and interesting people. After a tour of Lynn’s caravan (like something out of ‘Gypsy Weddings’) we went to the Green Room Bar. It was like a tented cocktail bar with a huge stage set up at one end. This was why we were here. Lynn and Sal’s brother Robin were invited to play percussion with Charlie Miller and his band (a regular Glastonbury reincarnation of Soul Agents & Babyhead ). I danced and sang so much to hits from AWB, Bob Marley, Etta James, my voice started to fail. But that wasn’t the end.

Robin (left) gets to join Charlie Miller.

Other family and friends had made it to the Avalon Cafe to see Plymouth band Mad Dog McRea and I headed over. They sounded superb and it was great to see one of my hometown groups playing to a huge and enthusiastic crowd. So enthusiastic that the crowd wouldn’t leave until the bass player came back on and asked them to let the next band on. They’re on tomorrow in Croissant Neuf tomorrow night at 11.30. They should do well with anyone who doesn’t want to see U2, Primal scream, Cee Lo Green, Fatboy Slim or any of the other official gigs on at that time.

I haven't found milk yet. . .

I couldn’t find any milk as I wandered home to my tent. What was I going to have on my cereal in the morning? Aah! I found some chocolate milkshake!

Goodnight all.

Jim.

Goodnight.