Wilderness thankyou !

Mon 7 Aug 2017, 22:28

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

The Good. As Tim says, the huge variety of 'stuff' to see and do. The best for me was catching the unexpected - a wonderful jazz singer & trio in the Heineken Hall (but take your own drinks!), a modest blue grass outfit in the Folk Barn whose audience increased 10fold when it started to rain and whose seriously good picking then went down a storm (sorry!), the hi-energy 12 piece BYOB big band at the Carousel, not even on the programme. The food - serious over-indulgence. The nature walk in the Cornbury woods for a bit of calm (and because we can't otherwise), the silliest cricket match with no. of streakers scored alongside runs & wickets, not to mention a commentary likely to amuse or offend just about everyone - a joy and great hangover cure! Lots of that wellness stuff (if you need it) and even a big tent to have a rant in....(who on here might like that??) And finally, Grace. A star. Wow, I'd forgotten. Loud, proud and who would dare stop her? Remember Russell Harty...

The Bad. Traffic management. Two words, 5, 4. Second begins with C, two Ts in the first. Especially for pedestrians. Worst example, two way traffic on the single width driveway from the lakes to the main drive with fencing to the edges of it. No signs from the station, people wandering all over. Much more besides, don't know who they're paying for this but 2 words, 5, 4!!

And - when are they going to get the sound right for The Atrium?? Far better than last year admittedly (when the choir was inaudible) but the system looked little bigger than the Carousel's (audience of 500 max) where for the glorious Nina Simone tribute it was 10,000 - so barely audible outside the covered area. Ex roadie says, 'hey guys, it ain't rocket science'. Who am I to disagree?? Oh whoops, that was Annie, not Grace...

Oh and the lakes. Normally clear but will be cloudy for 3 or 4 months according to one estate worker I spoke to - because of the amount of silt churned up. Not sure what that does to the ecosystem but sure messes up the fishing! Not to say they couldn't accommodate a few locals Helen - as could the rest of the estate cope with more permissive walks in Wychwood...

The Ugly. Dave & Sam - personally, I don't know how he can show his face. That said, the reaction from some was maybe understandable but just not cricket arf arf!.

Overall?? 4 days out of 365. Or one weekend a year. And a glorious one - if it floats your boat and can afford it so I hope this doesn't come across as smug bastard.... I've always had a policy of inviting my neighbours to the party so James, am with you let's see what we can get them to do next year!

Finally. Mr Jimi couldn't have had it in mind but Wild Thing, I think I love you...