Sunday 11 May 2008

Cambridge Folk Festival

It's a little after 9.30am. Just half an hour after the box office opened for the festival and I have tickets!
They're not in my hand but they are booked and paid for. Not only that, I have booked to stay in a motorcaravan. Ooops.
My 70's tent might be groovy, but it is NOT a motorcaravan.

I got to the festival website at about 8.55am.
I clicked the Book Now button, expecting to be told to come back at 9am, but no, it told me I was in a queue to buy tickets.
I was over 1200 in the queue.
Mum rang, also over 1200, but lower than I.
We hung up at 9am, I started calling and got what we called in my BT days, PET. Permanent Engaged Tone.
I sent Mum a message: 1198
She replied: 1141, 1117.
Me: 1176
Me: 838
Mum: 783
Mum: 767
The tension was palpable. Can you feel it? (That made me go all Jackson 5 for a moment.)
Me: 724
Me: 717
Mum: 640
Me: 660
Mum: 594
Me: 646
Mum: 591
Me: 643
After dropping half way down the queue in just 15 minutes it had stalled to small drops, was this what the rest of the wait had in store?
Me: 600
Mum: 547
Me: 379
Mum: 547
Hmm, what happened there... I leapfrogged.
Me: 325
Me: 206
Heart rate steps it up a notch.
Mum: 196
Me: 90
Holy crap, from drops of just a few to suddenly being in double figures.
Mum: 18
Me: 40

This is where is all went a little haywire.
Mum rang as she was so close to the front of the queue.
Her page started to refresh, slowly.
As did mine. I was still at place 40.
Mum's page was still refreshing.
Mine refreshed again. Still 40.
Mum's page sort of refreshed - but to 'cannot display this page'.
Not really a step in the right direction at all.
Then mine refreshed to the exact same thing. No page was being displayed. It was like waiting on the phone for a really long time before being cut off.
What now?
I closed the screen. I clicked Book Now again, same screen, and again, and again, and again, and again and then suddenly it said 'what's your postcode?'
What was this?
Was I in?
Was I booking tickets?
I rang Mum.
Me: I'm in!
Mum: What number in the queue?
Me: No! I'm IN! I'm booking!
Mum: Well get on with it then!

And I did. Tickets booked, Cambridge Folk Festival and I are getting it on.
I went and read the 'Considerate Folkie Guide' which was absolutely hilarious. They have actually issued photographs of acceptable chairs.
I own an acceptable chair, but to be fair as they've changed the rules year after year on what is an acceptable chair and I now have three different chairs, the odds were that one at least had to be acceptable!

So, June brings me The Big Session and July brings me Cambridge. It's all good.

3 comments:

Domster1974 said...

I remember your happiness about having an acceptable chair a year or two back, and just how heated you got when talking about it, so I am pleased that you do not have the trials and tribulations of a new chair for your collection.

The number countdown was very amusing, I bet you got so excited and frustrated when it went on a run of lowering your number and then stalling.

I am imagining the hugest smile on your face. Now thats a skill to put a smile like that on your face ;op

Flibbertigibbet said...

Oh my god, do NOT get me started on the chair fiasco at Cambridge. I swear they're secretly sponsored by chair manufacturers!

I DO have a huge smile, not like Julia Roberts, but it's a good job I have good teeth! ;)

Domster1974 said...

I remember the last time we talked festival chairs you got very annoyed lol

Julia's smile is over rated, I would take yours any day over hers! She is not that interesting in real life, where as you are delightfully intriguing ;op