Field Day '08

filthy dukes

my trusty old "do the collapse" t shirt
tunng

of montreal



the notwist

More photoblogging. This time from the second Field Day in Victoria Park which had improved facilities (though still queues, or at least confusion over queues around the toilets, the urinals were always free but difficult to get to) but managed once again to bring a convincingly leftfield lineup and a young hipsterish but friendly and chilled crowd to this beloved East London park.  Highlights were tunng (who played in the rain and made the rain seem lush and somehow fitting, and it stopped at the end of their set), the fantastically morbid Alasdair Roberts and The Notwist. (They took ages to set up in a rammed tent, it was pissing it down outside, and the DJs decided to play really cheesy 90s club music. When they did come on I was a bit worried but they managed to win the crowd over with a very charged, nerdy, complex and somehow still uplifting  and emotional set, they always seem to go down well at festivals in my experience.) Of Montreal were good too but the sound was crap on the main stage and it rained the whole time, so a bit frustrating, like reaching out to something that is slightly removed. Still it happened, especially "The past is a grotesque animal", even though barely audible at times, I closed my eyes and went into that zone/breakdown. Also saw Richie Hawtins, Foals, Filthy Dukes, bit of Efterklang, etc. all quite entertaining...   

Thames Walk, second leg: Cricklade to Upper Inglesham

Some pics from the second leg of the Thames Path, from Cricklade to Upper Inglesham. Our destination should have been the old town of Lechlade but bus connections made it difficult to do that so we had to cut it short slightly. This is somewhere near Swindon, and near the Cotswolds. The countryside is fairly flat and very quiet around there, just a few old villages here and there, and the Thames is just a pleasant little stream, in its adolescence so to speak, kinda amazing if you know the big urban river down in London. A colleague wants to walk the whole path and I'm joining her as much as I can, we've already been at the source and have done two legs now (though I've done quite a few parts of the Thames walk before, especially around Henley, and also going out of London). Most of the picture were taking in a small village called Castle Eaton that - confusingly - doesn't have a castle, though there is an impressive old church and churchyard backing right onto the river, and a very old school pub with a beautiful riverside garden that feels almost like a private garden and that was almost empty during our visit. 

Even though the forecast was "heavy showers" we didn't see any of that - in fact the sun came out after a while and I even got quite burned in the end. The light was beautiful though, and the way the water reflected the lush scenery, and the shadows on the deep green, it all made for some trippy pictures, somehow reminding me of the images used for old Cocteau Twins/4AD covers. So in the unlikely event that the Cocteaus would make another record (yes please!) they could use these, I don't mind...