#womad2015

Following on from my last post - we had a brilliant time at the festival. It did rain constantly on the Friday,not easing off once and no amount of waterproofs could have kept us dry. We were, literally, soaked to the skin. So we certainly got the authentic festival experience. The boys were very good though and didn’t complain and the little one loved the consequent mud.

For once I did manage to pack correctly, and my outfits were spot on. A bit too spot on, in fact. We walked past one lady and my husband did a double take. “She’s dressed exactly like you” he said “even her hair is the same”. She wasn’t the only one and they were all middle aged mums. So I’ve finally managed to nail a look, maybe not quite the one I was going for.

As an aside, what age is classed as being middle aged? At 40, am I? Or is it a state of mind? In which case, with my love of cord and cardigans, I have been since I was 15.

On the Saturday the sun shone and we were able to peel our kagouls off. As we were wandering around, taking in the sights and sounds, what should I spot but an Oxfam tent. I couldn’t believe it, a charity shop at a festival! I excitedly texted Ingrid. We headed in and I got chatting to the lady (we’d arrived there via the real ale tent). She said that they do festivals a lot these days, especially ones that market themselves as being eco-friendly. They also tailor the stock for the particular festival. Animal print goes down well at Womad, apparently. I couldn’t help but think that it was a great idea. Festivals are the perfect place for charity shops – it’s not only great promotion for the particular charity but actually serves a real need. I’ve been so wet and muddy at a festival before that buying new ones seemed like the only option. A charity stall would have been perfect, I could have bought a whole new outfit. Festivals are full of clothes stalls that are a bit “different”, but second hand clothes really are. Why produce more clothes when you could have pre-loved ones, it’s just good re-cycling. And what’s more, if you were so inclined, you could do some charity shopping with a pint in your hand!