18/07/13-22/07/13
Here I am just minutes away from the 2nd Ashes
test at Lords but I don’t have cricket completely on my mind, what’s going
on? Well in a couple of hours I’ll be
heading off to the Latitude festival so I doubt I’ll follow much cricket for
this match, apart from text updates from friends I’ll be cut off. I decided against taking the radio as I want
to enjoy the festival without being too side tracked, we’ll see how that works
out. Before I depart for four days of
over indulgence, England have won the toss and will bat in good conditions,
this was always going to be a bat first toss.
Bresnan comes in to replace Finn which will definitely strengthen the
batting a little but I’d have liked to have Finn in the side on his home pitch. Sure Bres will do well though. Five minutes till the start…
I kept in touch with the cricket while I waited for the
little lady and loaded the car, another poor start with England reduced to 28-3
with good bowling from Harris. Bell
& Trott began a recovery and made it to lunch, by which time we were on the
road to latitude!
The journey took us through the beautiful Suffolk
countryside in glorious summer weather and we had ‘Hot Chip’ pumping through
the stereo to get us in the festival mood.
We expected to be caught in festival traffic but it wasn’t as bad as we
feared. As we pulled into the car park
and began to unload Trott had passed 50 and the score had reached 120 but
before we locked the car he’d been caught in the deep and England were precarious
at 127-4. Not good enough on this wicket surely? It was now time to forget the cricket and
begin the long walk through the check in and to the campsite.
This is our third Latitude festival so by now we know what
to take and how to take it. The big comfortable
tent plus sleeping bags etc. were pushed on a fishing barrow and I had a big
Karrimor rucksack on my back. The walk
was about a mile and it was heavy going in the heat, my arms ached by the time
we reached our chosen camping spot, the same general area that had served us
well last year. Close to everything but
not too close. It took a while to get
the tent up and everything organised, it was too hot to do anything quickly and
too hot to hang around the tent so as soon as we were ready we wandered off to
the village to begin exploring.
Everything seemed pretty much the same as last year but joy
of joys outside the supermarket tent was an Ashes scoreboard reading 158-4, that’s a bit better! We were amongst the first to enter the arena
a little after 1730 and once again found everything in pretty much the same
places as last year. In some ways this
is a little sad as there is little new to discover but on the other hand it
makes everything familiar, like coming home.
Our first priority was food. The
Fish & Chips stand was close (right
in the middle of the arenas) and didn’t have a queue so that was good enough
for us. It was in fact dreadful, barely
edible and this franchise will be avoided at all costs in future. Next stop the bar, two pints in reusable
glasses, my bitter was ‘Hobgoblin’, I didn’t like it.
A text from lil sis. Close
of play 289-7. I’d have settled
for that after 28-3 but we need 350+ !!!
I wonder who got the runs…
We sat by the lake and watched the sun go down, chilling out
with music coming from a PA system somewhere.
All of a sudden a 20 foot white swan came out of nowhere, followed
closely by a second. In the
circumstances it was beyond surreal. The
explanation is obvious, yes there really were two 20 foot swans on the lake but
they were on boats and accompanied by ballerinas. These were followed by two more boats with
illuminated globes and more dancers.
Then finally a balloon in the sky and another dancer suspended beneath
it, all dancing to modern music but I can’t remember what. After that we went dancing in the woods, DJ
was Craig Charles and it was rammed, rowdy and fun. Bed 0130ish.
From here on in we’re in festival mode.
Friday
Hot. Damn hot. We drank loads of water and no alcohol.
Into arenas for flushing roulette and morning movements then
breakfast. Ostrich burgers, far better
than yesterday but not great.
First act Nick Helm
& the Helmettes in Comedy tent. Had
enjoyed them last year and with a different set, even funnier this time. The Helm is a great character.
Big Charlatans fan so had to catch Tim Burgess at the obelisk.
Love the guy but found the beginning a bit slow and flat, maybe because
it was a small crowd? Loved the dreamy
version of ‘Only one I know’ and liked the music when the pace upped a
bit. Would love to see the Charlatans at
Latitude!
Ashes scoreboard England 361 all out. Will that be enough runs? With our bowlers, probably.
Saw Coves on the
lake stage at some point in the weekend and I think it might have been
Friday. Got drawn in by a cover of
‘wicked game’ and enjoyed the rest of the set.
Also saw ‘I am Kloot’, didn’t like it much.
Spent some more time in the comedy tent. Tiffany
Stevenson & Angela Barnes
were OK, Andrew O’Neil was a big
surprise, very funny and different. Marcus Brigstock was pretty good too. The MC, Lee
Nelson warmed on us through the day too.
1600 Text from lil sis;
Aus 96-7 at tea. 49 to avoid follow on.
1629 lil sis;113-9
1641 from Mr Red; Aussies
in huge trouble!
1652 Mr Red; Swann
5-44
1707 lil sis; 128 all
out. Swann 5, Bres 2, Broad 1, Jimmy 1. 233 ahead. I’m your own personal Geoffrey Boycott!
Bloody hell! Well
that’s the game then. Less than 2 days
in and this match is effectively over, there will be no close finish this time.
1838 lil sis; 31-3 at
close
Another dodgy start for England but by now I’m sure someone
will play an innings and England will get the runs.
Back to tent for early evening rest.
Evening meal was Curried goat for me, excellent! Mango Chicken for the lil lady, good.
Saw a bit of Calexico,
not bad
We intended to go see Texas but stopped in at the Obelisk
for the beginning of Bloc Party and
ended up staying for the whole show. We
knew very little about them so had no expectations and found ourselves really
enjoying the show. The front man seemed
humble and likable and the music was much more to our taste than the Coldplay
clone headliners of previous years. Bloc
Party were a big, happy surprise for us and the first night had delivered.
We chilled out by the lake with donuts, no surprise to see
‘Swans & co.’ again. It had been a
long, hot, debilitating day. It’s great
to have dry sunny weather because it makes many things easier, you can just sit
down anywhere for an example. After our
spring this year I hate to moan about summer but today had been too hot. We
felt knackered and dehydrated so had a night off dancing & had an early-ish
night, about midnight.
Saturday
Memory becoming more hazy now.
Today it rained in the morning. Weird drizzle showers swept in but by the
time we reached for a jacket they passed and we didn’t seem to get wet. It was still hot though and once again we
drank loads of water.
Breakfast - Buffalo burger, very good.
Festival attire this year, mostly shorts and tee shirt with
a hoody tied round the waist. A hat is
essential, Indiana Jones style for the day then Baseball cap for the
evening. Thick socks and comfortable
footwear, whatever you can walk a long way in and still dance.
Comedy tent. We saw Joe Lycett and Rob Beckett, can’t remember which was which, one was OK the other
(blonde one who joked about his face?) was good.
Much of today was spent wandering around the arenas looking
for something that would hook us in.
Saw Bo Ningen on
the Lake stage. Seen them before and
enjoyed them despite literally laughing at the Spinal tap beginning. They drew a good crowd today and their set
was warmly received which they thoroughly deserved. I love the hypnotic rhythm and the tortured
physco guitar.
Wandered over to I arena, there was a lady playing a harp,
we didn’t last a song. Sorry.
Couple of updates from the Ashes scoreboard revealed England
building partnerships and stretching the lead and increasing the pressure.
Texts
1402 lil sis; 119-2 Root 65 Bres 35
1427 lil sis; Bres out 38
1515 Mr Red; More bad
umpiring. Going our way but spoiling
game. This will not be another 2005!
1542 lil sis; Tea
171-4. Root 97. Bell 16
1615 lil sis; 178-4. Root ton
1734 Lil sis; Bell out 74. Root 151
1737 Mr Red; 500 lead!
1803 lil sis; Close
333-5. Root 178. Bairstow 11.
The game was decided yesterday. A massive lead, it’s just a
case of getting ten wickets tomorrow, nothing to worry about, no distraction to
the festival.
After a late afternoon rest and magic beans it was time to
get back into the Obelisk arena for what we hoped would be an evening of
dancing….
On the way we had dinner.
The Thai green curry deal, which was tasty, filling and decent value.
Toilets were rammed but we managed to get that job done and
squeeze into a good position towards the front of the Obelisk for the start of Hot Chip. This band is one of very few that I was quite
familiar with at the festival this year and both of us were looking forward to
dancing. They sound good on CD, how will
they be live? The answer was quite
brilliant! They were fun, bright,
sounded great and we danced for the whole hour amongst a group of people half
our age. We had high hopes for Hot Chip
but they exceeded expectations.
Next up were Kraftwerk,
a band that has pretty much passed me by except for a couple of hits in the
eighties. I appreciate they are said to
be influences for many of the bands I love so we resolved to stay at the
Obelisk and give them a go. This proved
to be a great decision! We hadn’t
remembered to pick up the 3D glasses that most of the crowd were wearing but
that didn’t matter, once again we were hooked up by the beat and danced through
the whole set. It was noticeable that a
lot of the glasses clad crowd were just stood watching the 3D effects and we
were in a minority of dancers. No
matter, Kraftwerk were pure class and we thoroughly enjoyed the show.
After fuel provided by donuts we just had to keep on dancing
so circled the sound systems looking for something to dance too. None of the DJ’s really kept us busy but we
spent most of the time in the woods for ‘Musical bingo’.
Two very battered and knackered party people returned to the
tent around 0330.
Sunday
Memory more hazy still.
It was cloudy when we got up, not sure when that was…
Down to the arenas for a dump then…
Text lil sis; 347-7
dec. Root 180
It’s Just a matter of ten wickets now, will be all over
today.
Breakfast was a nice Venison burger for me and a not quite
as nice hog roll for the lil lady.
First music of the day was the legend Bobby Womack performing at the Obelisk. A nice, soulfull beginning to the day. A big soul band and great backing
singers. All good. We were still knackered from our big Saturday
night so had a leisurely stroll around.
There was nothing much that interested us so returned to the for an
afternoon nap finding the…
Ashes Scoreboard Aus 60-4
After a long rest through which texts telling of Australian
wickets came through regularly we dragged ourselves up and headed down towards
the arenas.
We missed the beginning of Eddie Izzard but snuck into the crowd and soon picked up the
various threads of his routine. He was
very good but not great and I’m very glad we got to see him.
Dinner was Chicken in Black bean sauce. Nice.
Saw a tiny bit of Rudimental
in the BBC tent then wandered over to Obelisk for Grizzly Bears who should be called miserable bears, wasn’t our
thing at all and made worse because we missed the start of the next act... Back to the big tent for Disclosure who we really liked and we were soon dancing along. Only saw about half this set but enjoyed it.
Somewhere in the early evening the final text came through
announcing England had won the test match in the final over of the day. This was a poor performance by Australia, if
they can’t improve England will win 5-0.
We couldn’t decide which headliner to see so started at
Foals which I quite liked but the lil lady wasn’t convinced. We hot footed over to check Beach House out but only lasted about
two songs (not lively enough for our mood) before legging it back to the
Obelisk. The more Foals went on, the more we got into it. A good show, loads of roaring guitar but we
didn’t rate it as highly as the previous two evenings.
We never want Latitude to end, so wandered round the lake
and the various sound systems ending up with Dermot O’Leary but were too tired
to dance much. We crashed in the early
hours.
Monday.
Hot, tea, decamp, labour, patience, home.
Highlights.
Best Dinner Curried
goat from stand near the main bar. Thai
Curry
Best Comedy Andrew
O’Neil
Best Music Hot
Chip/Kraftwerk Bloc Party
Best DJ Dermot
O’Leary
Best Surprise Swans
& Co.
Three Latitudes now and three fantastic weekends, all
memorable for different reasons. We love
Latitude and will be back next year!
And the cricket.
Australia were awful, they may come back stronger but England are 2-0 up
and still not firing on all cylinders.
The Aussies bowling is pretty good but fitness is already taking its
toll, they have a decent keeper but their batting line up is full of holes.
Cook and Trott will both score big runs before long which
will worry the Aussies. The KPego may
miss the next test but when fit has a point to prove. Matt Prior is not at his best with the bat
but his glove work has been fine.
England look a more disciplined side with Bresnan in the attack and the
bowlers are just purring. If the KPego
misses out I’d like to see poor old Compton get a chance but it’ll probably be
Taylor.
It’s hard to see Australia winning a test at the moment,
despite my previous slight pessimism this series could well end up 5-0.
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