Myself along with FriendM and FriendH had bought tickets for the Radio 2 "Festival in a Day" at Hyde Park and it was yesterday. The funny thing is I never really did big concerts or music festivals when I was younger but really got excited about doing this.....although there would have to be some compromises!
When we looked at the trains for Ipswich to Liverpool Street we discovered that there was obviously going to be rail maintenance of some sort as every train was showing two changes and taking more than double its normal journey time, so I decided to drive in far enough to use the underground only. I packed some drinks and snack food and checked my garden chairs then put them in the boot, that's when I noticed that I had lost one on my acrylic nails (buggar but no time to do anything about it) then I picked up FriendM and FriendH and off we went along the A12. An easy run really with the added entertainment of hundreds of motor bikes going the other way, obviously on a charity bike ride of some sort.
Parked up at Newbury Park station and marveled that the car park was only £1 for the whole day. Out of the boot came a backpack and a folding garden chair for each of us to carry. Then into the station and we played with rarely used Oyster cards (we can be such country bumpkins hahaha) then onto the platform where they announced limited service on the Piccadilly line but gave no details, so we quickly re-planned our changes to avoid any possible problems. We arrived at Hyde Park Corner and carrying our heavy load walked down to Marble Arch and Oxford Street and found a Pizza Hut where they actually had a table free for us and we sat enjoying a leisurely lunch. Then loaded back up with our packs we set off for the park and tickets in hand walked through their security system......actually rubbish security as they asked each of us in turn "have you got any glass" to which we said "no" and that was it. Just outside of this barrier it was possible to see the big screens quite clearly and it looked like lots of people were going to watch from there for free!
We found a good spot, not too far back and somewhere where no-one would sit directly in front of us and hopefully easy enough to get back to if you walked off to the loos etc without getting lost, and we set up our chairs and settled in while watching Jules Holland and Sandie Shaw. That's when I noticed my nail on the grass, it must have fallen out of my garden chair! As luck would have it I had brought my little first aid bag which contained super glue, so my nail got stuck back on and I was whole again and well chuffed :o)
All this was done in glorious sunshine. Beverly Knight was brilliant also enjoyed Bellowhead who I'd never heard of before and we were even entertained by a couple who could really dance well and performed just near us, but by about Will Young time it had rained so much we were all soaked and most of the 30,000 audience were standing and with umbrellas so viewing was hard but we stuck it out through more artists than I can remember including a brilliant James Blunt. By now it was dark and the wind had picked up and our wet clothes made it feel even colder, so although we had taken chairs and raincoats and scarves we had had enough so decided to leave before the end. Most of the food we had brought but not eaten hit the bin so we didn't have to carry it back, then folded my chair and headed out of the gate, then noticed my nail had popped off again so FriendM stated I was leaving the way I arrived! Tube and car and home was just two hours later! A great day out in spite of the weather.
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