Sharon’s festy blog: Glastonbury Friday morning

Friday morning and Glastonbury is just waking up after a night that saw thunder, lightning, torrential rains and the inevitable return of the mud. Like most ticket holders, we’ve been here since Wednesday lunchtime, parked up in the campervan field on a hillside overlooking festival central, taking it easy in the sunshine and joining in the growing sense of excitement at the anticipation of another fantastic Glastonbury weekend.

Yesterday’s rain changed all that. One minute, our boys were playing with some new friends from nearby vans, in their self-built ‘kids area’ consisting of a couple of UV tents joined by bunting, the next they were screaming – not in fear of the lightning, but for their wellies, in the hope of some puddle-splashing in the near future. Freshly attired in cagoule, boots and waving his froggy umbrella, Son #1 was soon running around again outside, plastic martini glass held on his head, trying to ‘catch some fresh water’.

This is one thing we are so liable to forget about children. They love the mud and rain. With the right clothes, they will play just as happily at a wet festival as a dry one. Their glee in stomping through a particularly deep and muddy puddle can make their day as much as a Punch and Judy show in the kids’ field.

A rumour went round late last night that Michael Eavis, the anointed King of Glastonbury, had died. The bizarre relief felt when people found out that it was instead the King of Pop who had popped his clogs, shows how special this event is to the people who come here. Still, all the DJs are playing Jacko tunes and I expect no live set will be complete this weekend without a hastily improvised Michael Jackson cover.

With no break in the Somerset rain for now, we adults are contemplating navigating the Hill of Death (a particularly steep hill from the campervan field to the festival gates) with pushchairs and added mud. It’s looking grim. Meanwhile, the kids are demanding cereal and waterproofs so they can regroup with ther festival mates.

The music starts soon. Where are those wellies?