Stuck in the mud

At the weekend my ever-patient other half and I took our 7yo to her first ever festival. It was supposed to be a safe, easy one: just 10 miles away ,easy to come home if things went awry. Of course, we forgot to factor in the great British weather, more specifically the great Yorkshire weather. When it took an hour and a half to advance 10 yards, the rain sheeting it down, steaming up the car, it was evident that if we ever did manage to get the car into the field we were never ever going to get it out again.

The view from our tent



And still the rain came. A brief interlude of sunshine on the Saturday morning enables us to dry out our waterproofs and then the rain returned and the mud deepened.

This was the easy path




But, thanks to towels, babywipes and a strict policy of 'boots off outside please', we managed to keep the tent dry, warm and mud free and some amazing music, food and local cider kept our spirits up. And then, on Sunday, the sun came out. A lot of the mud dried, we could walk without fear of losing our wellies and/or balance and ended up having a fantastic day filled with even more amazing musical talent, topped off with a brilliant performance by The Levellers (if you like left wing, folk inspired rousing tunes, which I do - and so did most of the crowd judging by the reaction).

listening to an acoustic set

Verdict? It was brilliant and please can we go next year says 7yo.

Now, finally home again thanks to the tractor driver who towed me out the car park, preparing for next week when we return to the school routine, I am struggling to finish my New Voices chapter. Partly this is because I want the last part to be in my hero's point of view and I don't know him well enough yet to know how he is going to react. I have my heroine firmly sorted in my head but right now he is an annoying enigma. It strikes me that writing, whether a book, a novella or even just a chapter, is an awful lot like my festival weekend. You start out with great optimism, then it all gets a little bit stuck in the mud. But finally, after a lot of patience and hard, hard work, the sun comes out and you can really enjoy the process.
Or maybe that's just me?