Transcript
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Rachel, hello and welcome to teenagers.
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Untangled the audio hug for parents going through the teenagers. I'm Rachel Richards, parenting coach, journalist, mother of two teenagers and two bonus daughters. It's the end of summer in the UK, and my two teenagers are getting ready to go back to school, but fresh in their minds is the reading music festival. It's become the big get together in the UK for kids who finished their GCSEs. So we're talking about 16 year olds Eve. You were to read about these festivals in the tabloid newspapers, you'd believe it's basically a field full of kids taking drugs, drinking all weekend and burning down tents.
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But is that true? And what advice can we give to parents whose kids are begging to go?
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Luckily enough, my girls have agreed to talk through what to expect, how to make the most of the festival, and what parents should consider before sending their teens. My girls are just giggling in the background. So so Phoebe, hello, hi, that's Phoebe's voice. Mia, hi, that's Phoebe and me. Thank you for coming in. Let's hope we can make this a useful episode.
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Right before you go, let's have a think about what we talked about before you girls go, I said no drugs, a lot, didn't I?
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Yeah, yeah. Listen, it's an obvious,
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implied, um, what else?
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What like reading the info on the website.
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How did you prepare?
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Um, I mean, like, I obviously went a couple of years ago, yeah, for the full weekend, and then this year, and you went for one day. Why? Well, because, like, I feel like the camping is an experience you have to you have, yeah, I agree. It's kind of a rite of passage, and the nights are the best, but it's a, it's more of a one time thing.
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So this year round, there's more for just the music and the vibes.
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Oh, nice. Yeah.
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Why that? Why
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the nights the best?
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They're the most fun. You kind of just sit around in the day and then music normally starts at 12. But if you don't know the people who start the 12, which is like, normally, that's what normally happens,
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yeah, because there's the small acts, are they? Yeah, but it's fun, because
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you can still discover people, yeah, that's true before,
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yeah. I mean, I looked at it and I one of the parents. I both my girls, went in groups. They went in groups.
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They tend to be sort of encampments of kids from the same school, so there's sort of safety in numbers. And one of the mums of the group that went said, why on earth did they go on a Wednesday when the music doesn't start? Until
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I went, I booked early bird. We went on the Wednesday, and it is so worth it. Why? I think because the first day on the Wednesday, also the gates at reading, they say that they open at six. They don't they open so much earlier. Yeah, you were in.
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I was, I was surprised. Yeah, don't get there at six. If you get there at six, then you can have as much camping spaces as you will the next day. So there's no point. Okay, so, yeah, you get to, like, kind of get to know the area. You get to, like, look around and the night that is the best night.
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Why? Because you have, you have nothing to do the next day. Uh
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huh, right, so
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you can sleep today. No one, no
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one behaved, thinking, Oh, I have to get up the next day throughout the entire experience.
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And yeah, and everyone's kind of just walking around in the night. So you that's the night where you can meet people.
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That's the night. Yeah, it's most fun that night, in my opinion. So
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for parents who are anxious, because there are a lot of parents who are scared about allowing their kids to go to festivals, go out, or whatever. What I think is really interesting about it. So the thing I said to the mother was, look, how many times do our kids get to be in a massive field with a load of people their age unsupervised so they can just go and meet freely? Yeah, I'm sure there are ups and downs of that.
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Did you? Did you feel like most people your age, or they similar? Actually,
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I had, we had a couple of 19 year olds next to us,
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19
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year olds, but, um, they were complaining so much about the fact that, literally, everyone had just come out of GCSE.
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That's the thing. Yeah.
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Everyone's Yes, yes, probably about, like, Yeah, from 16 to 20 most people, I would say, yeah.
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I mean, it's nice, because you do get mixtures of people. So obviously, like, there are older people coming, but I would say, like, the vibe is very young.
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Like, you've got a lot of
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interesting and it's interesting because I saw people coming to the festival who looked older, but I think they their sort of day day trip is coming in and out. But, yeah, that's
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the thing, exactly. Most people go for day trips, if they're like the campers, usually. And
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I think the festival split up. So I think reading is quite a young festival. There's board masters in the UK, which is a bit older,
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running in Leeds. It's already, yes. The
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joint. Like, there were a group of people from, I went to board masters, and they loved, they loved some of it, right? The thing
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about board Masters is that it depends on it depends on the year group. It depends on who you're with, yeah. But also, like, circumstances, so because you're by the beach, like,
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it's a different vibe.
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Also, I think there's everybody thinks the board Masters is a lot safer than reading. When I want to disagree with that, because I know a lot of people have born masters ended up getting spiked
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really, yeah, that was a crush this year. Yes.
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And in reading, they are so safe. I mean, we had, I had, there were a couple of people who collapsed during one of like, Ray, she's this singer, one of her music performances, yeah. And everyone in the crowd was so lovely. Everyone was, like, shouting, and they're like, oh, yeah, help, help. And yeah, there were stuff all over the place trying, like, accent, trying to access people. And there's nothing to worry
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about. I think that's a really good point to raise. And actually, a friend of mine's son collapsed, and we instantly said, Oh, my goodness, was Did he take drugs? And she said, No, he's never had a fit.
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They he went, and she said, it was incredible, because his twin brother was there, and they surrounded him to protect him.
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Yeah, they formed a funnel out, straight away, he was taken to a medical tent, where by the time she got there, he was with a GP and couldn't be released because they were doing all the tests.
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They said there were no drugs in his system. So she said it would have been better, in a way, because at least they would have been able to identify why. But she thought maybe he just hadn't been sleeping. He hadn't been drinking enough water, yeah, but, but the response was amazing, yeah, it's
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really safe. I mean, I don't, I can't speak football masters because I haven't been but for reading, it's like, what from what I've seen? It's so safe. Yeah. And I had a couple of friends who who, you know, like claps and who, like, did not feel well at all, and they went to the medical center and they got treated instantly. Yes, there's
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a there's a calm meditation tent.
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Is there anyone in it? Funny enough. No. That's good to hear that they have a space. They've thought everything through, and you don't hear this stuff. No, yeah, exactly. So let's talk about cost, because the actual tickets are not cheap. Just before we go on the getting in there early was also good because you got those silent disco headphones.
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Yeah? Then
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that's very true. Yes, I didn't have, yeah, yeah. I didn't have the early bird tickets, and so I couldn't buy them on site, and by the time I got there, they were all completely sold out, even online. Yeah,
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so and your dad laughed and said, Why on earth would you want to go to sign at disco? But apparently, so much fun. In
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my opinion, it's, I went pretty much every single night.
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It's most fun on the first night. Is that right? Yeah, because there hasn't.
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Everybody's been like, waiting on the first night. Isn't on the Wednesday night. Oh, wait no. As in, the slight disc goes open, because it's like one of the first acts. So everyone's really excited for it. Everybody's been like, building it up in their heads, and it's a lot of fun.
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But the first DJ this year was absolutely awful. Look
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after your headphones as well. People, I ended up with two pairs somehow, and neither of them are mine, because I believe you
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house, what did you do with them?
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I went, sorry to interrupt, but you, you hand them back in, but the
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oh, they traceable to the person. Okay, okay, because I was worried that that person, yeah, there were some people going
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around like they thought that they could just collect other people's deposits, so they picked up like, four different headphones. But you can do you can't. No, you don't. You
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can do that with um, chargers. So no, also, oh, my God, it is such a scam for anybody going to reading in the next few years. Do not, no repeat. Do not buy a charger that is 25 quid from one of the charging places. If you go to the Android store, it's really good advertising for them. But you go to the Android store, where's the Android store, and you walk around the festival, it's got a massive Android figure on the top of it. You can't miss it. Anyways, they charge your phones for free. No, they charge them for free.
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So 25 pounds versus going to the Android store, that's amazing, having
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your phone run out at a festival, yes? Like, obviously running I felt so safe the entire time, and I only survived on one power pack, and that fast to me, it just depends on, you know, it's about being efficient, yeah? But, like, running out of charge the festival is really,
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really ideal. Yeah,
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you were running out, yeah,
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I ran out. Like, you have to coordinate so much.
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Really good point. And also, like paying for things as well.
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I think everything's, you know, there's no cash. Oh, so
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you really need your phone, you need, you
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need at least a
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credit card.
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And I had said before you go, it's really important to always be with somebody, because you don't, you don't. You're vulnerable otherwise. And we bought bum bags, yeah, for you girls, what did you think of that? Oh, that's
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so good. How
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to keep Yeah, don't need any valuables. Don't bring any valuables. For
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Americans, that's a fanny pack, by the way.
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Don't
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wear them as a bum bag, though. That just looks really bad. So how do you wear them?
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Because that looks so bad having them around your box. Yeah, of course.
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So you keep in that, you keep your phone, you
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know, any cash, like, credit, yeah, any charger, charger, yeah, exactly, because
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we found that there was theft. There's so much stuff. Yes, people don't take anything you care about. Like,
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some people will just see your any tent is fair game, yeah? And they'll just, like people, just wander into other people's tents.
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Also, I really think it depends on where you're camping, yeah. So where I was camping, I was camping at the back of purple, which is this massive field, and everybody was avoiding that campsite because everybody thought it was the rowdy one. So everybody ended up avoiding it. Was it the rowdy?
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Well, no, because everyone avoided it. Okay, interesting, yeah, so, um, so
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you were pretty sick, but I think somebody in your group had their chair stone in the first day.
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No, take chairs. Take chairs. They are so useful just in the nighttime. Put them in your tents. But yeah, because she left, she left her chair out, outside in the night time.
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But, um, Shane,
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but, yeah, I feel like, I mean, you touched upon something, an important point, which is, like campsite, like area, because obviously you want to make sure that you're with, obviously your group that you're going with, yeah, for sure, like, it can make or break the whole, the entire experience interesting way. Or
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what are the no go, like, Don't camp here. The
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problem is, is that no, no. But the problem is that the colors change every year.
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But, I mean, are they? Are they? Should you be as far away from the main stages
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or as possible, especially like late at night, like you don't want to be tracked?
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No, of course.
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So, because it's quite the distances are large. When my campsite
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was, I thought the distance was actually perfect, because everyone can play. Yeah, we were at the back. It was, it was this massive field. It went.
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It stretched from, like the campsite to the back. But yeah, we were on the back, like on a path. So it was so easy to get from where we were to the actual festival. But nobody went back there in well, there were a few people, but it was like the perfect amount, because it's so easy to get to the actual festival because there's a lot of walking. Yeah,
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yeah. I
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mean, I backed up 2030, 40,000 staff. We looked at your steps and you girls had really been I mean,
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I only went for one day, so I hadn't even been there the entire time, but I did at least, like, 25,000
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2000 in one day.
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Well, get fit costs. So, you know, planning, planning ahead for cost. What are we okay, so
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firstly, I have something to say. So I bought my ticket, I think at full price, I don't know. And mine was in your day ticket. So obviously, like early bird and weekend tickets gonna be a lot, a lot more, but wait as long as you can. Oh, I would say not for if you're, if you're buying weekend ticket, obviously, like you want to buy in the TV, you're gonna want to jump on that. But if you're, if you're going for a day, it depends on the day as well. But you can end up with packages like, like, my girlfriend and I, we, like, bought our tickets relatively early, and then if we had waited, we could have got two for like, 80 quid. Really, wow, yeah. I mean, it's dependent on the day to go, but yeah, it's really, you know you need to be huh? Yeah, good strategic,
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good tip. So if it's a one day thing, it can be really worthwhile. Waiting the
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ticket doesn't even begin to cover the cost. When you actually get to the festival, it is extortionate, the amount of money you're gonna be
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spending, yes, but you were great because you both took food. Yeah, that's because you've done Duke of Edinburgh genuinely. Yeah, any top tips in terms of the types of food to take or dry,
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yeah. Well, put New York, I mean, they, I did, like my friends, and I didn't do this, but they brought one of these little like stove things.
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I recommend that. But also something I did not figure out until the last day was that they have these little stations where you can actually get hot water from really drinking water at every in every campsite, they have a station where you can get blue roll. They were giving out free waterproof phone cases.
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That's you can get hot water.
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You can it's actually, yeah,
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it's magical. Top tip out so many
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free things. Yeah, I
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would say dry.
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Definitely dry foods. Nothing like chocolate will melt if it's warm weather. Like, that's, I mean, obviously, like, you can, you can bring it like, but I would say kind of stock up on, like, you know, bars, things like that, nuts, whatever
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you can walk into town as well. Yeah, it's, but it's just. Tiring because you're tired, and then you've got quite a lot of walking to do to get back and forth. About
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drinks, yes, it's so much easier. I would recommend buying them before you actually go into the festival. Like, don't buy little cans of stuff.
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Buy bottles, because you're going to get through them really quickly. Yeah. And when you get into the actual festival, they only sell, like, beer, right?
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And that's not going to that's not gonna, no, yeah, the co op only soldier,
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yeah? Well, the co op only sells. Yeah, like,
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yeah, no, but at the stands, it was like,
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like, crazy, yeah, it's
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very, insanely expensive. Everything's expensive. That's why you need to bring lots over and at the Co Op, I really recommend going also sign up to become a co op member, because you get a pound off your first, your first.
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Also, we bought this giant bottomless sprite for 299 when one of those, like tiny, tiny ones, costs three pounds at the smart the co
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op is generally a highlight. Like, yes, we went for the co op this year.
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The Co Op do that really well, because they've had that at the Isle of www amindful life, co uk,
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Co Op, they
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do a really good job. Saxophonist, they really good. They entertain chocolate melting. It can go either way, right? We're in England, yeah. I mean, I'm sure in other countries it's going to differ. But you were Emilia, you were here Maya,
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reading it on a pretty shocking storm. Actually, 10 leaks,
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yes, and it was brand new, yeah. And
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so much my stuff got wet. Okay, one thing I would say, which literally saved the trip, because without it, I would have wanted to go home, is so my mum got a hotel right next to the festival, which was so good, because we went and had I brought all my friends me and had a shower back at her hotel.
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And that saved it, because we felt so grimy after all that rain. Yeah,
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it was only just, it was a couple of nights, and it was towards the end of the festival. Yeah, it's very it's expensive, I was gonna say, and I did that for all the Yes, so you can actually group together. So if you all pay, and if all the parents chip in, and you have one parent staying there, it means someone, and I did that this time. I've told you you're on your own in future, but it was just so that you had, because I did the same for you someone's
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first festival. It's better to have somebody, just in case something goes wrong.
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Exactly. Do you have any like, because obviously, like a lot of people, won't be able to do that.
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Do you have any advice for people? Um, well, who are brainstorms? You can shower there for 55 quid.
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Actually, actually my friend's son, so he walked into town and there was a gym then, yeah, I think we're still seven pounds. It's a lot of money, seven pounds. Seven pounds, yeah. But my point is cheaper than a drink. It's cheaper than, right, exactly. So there is that, there are wet wipes. But also, I think when it comes to the you know, it was particularly bad. I mean, we saw some pictures, some video of the leads, which is the sister festival people's tents.
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You have to consider all scenarios. And yes,
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that happened in our campsite, and we were sitting down because my friend was really smart, and she brought a bunch of chairs, which everyone sat down. She also brought a table, which was a camping table, and that was so, like, smart, great. And we made like a little circle so that we could be sitting, yeah, and just suddenly, intently passed off people still pegs there, yeah, like my friend, her tents, pegs got
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stolen. What?
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Oh, goodness me, yes. And also, you know, this is sunscreen, but also a big bin bag that you can line your stuff so you can put all your stuff in if it does
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start wearing.
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I did that. But you did it. You took a bin bag the first year you went in order to also a spare one to clear up.
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Yeah, tell me about it
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was an absolute state even by the second day, because also the group, I was in quite a big group. So obviously I had my friends in the tent, but I went with basically everyone from my school, and we were all in the same area. And not everyone has the same values about, you know, cleanliness and the environment, yeah? So by the second like, I would watch people literally, like, eat out of, you know, a carton of grapes, for example, just like, drop them on the drop it on the floor when they were done, and they would treat it like their bin bag. So literally, by the second day, like it was an utter pigsty pillow fluff everywhere. Like, yeah, people don't really have any respect, so it's nice to just bring at least, like, keep your area clean, yeah, actually
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something which they were doing, which I thought was really smart. I don't know they did this last year, but. So they were handing round bin bags. Oh, really came over to us, like, smarting bags, because
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they were lazy.
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Everyone's lazy, right? And they just need to give them a way to clear up. And
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then they had them, like, the full ones on this wall for recycling bags, and you could tie it to, like, the great, yeah. And were people using them? Um, no,
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but I would say, I would say, like, mess is expected.
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Like, every single festival you go to, there's going to be, I think so, a huge amount of rubbish. Yeah, I say on the whole writing itself was actually really clean, yeah.
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Like, from what I can remember, the it depends on what camp you're in, again, obviously. But like, the camp that I was in, the toilets were so clean. I genuinely, like, even by the last night, when usually I've heard from other festivals, sometimes they're like, overflowing with just, like, disgusting things. But when I went, like, they were absolutely fine.
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Yeah, yeah. And actually, when we've been to the Isle of www, amindful life, co UK's been doing that, but I think it's generally people. It depends on the group. I think it really does depend. And I think so. One of the things about the tents is I would never allow my kids to come home without their tents, so I picked up the tents on the last day, didn't I earlier in the day, so that you then didn't have to worry about it later in the
00:21:16.980 --> 00:21:27.619
day. The end of Lim Gallagher, which was at 1130 we saw people walking to try and find their parents in, like, the places where they were parked, and they had all their stuff with them, and they looked dead.
00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:46.119
I had a bit of a nightmare, though, because I didn't give you all my stuff. So we gave you the tent and, like my main bag, but there was still stuff that was like, I don't know why, I think. And so, yeah, that was a bit of a nightmare trying to but
00:21:46.119 --> 00:22:01.259
Amelia had a better deal this year because I found a wheelie bag. It's just an old one that was in a shed, and I gave her the tent in that, and it meant that she could put a lot of stuff in that, so she wasn't carrying things. It ripped. Yeah, it was old. I mean, it wasn't a new thing. So on
00:22:01.259 --> 00:22:42.638
the whole, like, I mean, I got this from other people and did it as well, but you don't really want to spare it depends on who you are, but you the like, Jen, like, the normal advice is not to spend the night on Sunday night or the last night. That's when it all kicks off. Yeah, people have nothing left to really stay for, so they're all just, yeah. Like, there was, I remember when I left, there was a shopping trolley. There was a shopping trolley in one of the bushes, on one of the bushes, and people like hurling bottles around and pissing in cans and throwing them, right? And that's that's even like that was as we were leaving. It got worse and worse throughout the night, right? So you want to get your stuff out and then enjoy the evening so that you can just go home. Like, I
00:22:42.638 --> 00:22:47.019
mean, that's ideal, but, yeah, I mean, I'm sure lots of people don't, but I think that's, that was ideal.
00:22:47.019 --> 00:22:47.259
That's,
00:22:47.259 --> 00:22:56.919
you know, I know so many people who left halfway through the festival. I know quite a few people who left before the music even started, wow. Like, really?
00:22:53.378 --> 00:23:00.479
The thing is, festivals, you either really like them or you really don't like they're either your thing or they're not. Yes,
00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:08.940
you had a friend who had just had enough wanted to go home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually talking about taking you home the year.
00:23:05.700 --> 00:23:41.079
So last year, when I collected you, Phoebe, that was really tough, because stupidly, I I parked in the car park that they told me to park in, and then it got late and I started driving towards the site, and they end up in this one way system, and you can't stop around driving. I was screaming. And this year, I did it so much better. I didn't go to the car park that they indicated. What I did was I went across the river to an area where nobody really goes, and parked in a filling station.
00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:49.240
Just let everybody know where we were. It that was so much better. We got home way quicker than other people who were fighting their way through traffic. We just went back routes. So that was really smart.
00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:51.579
Yeah, that's definitely like,
00:23:51.578 --> 00:23:53.199
if you're going with the go, if you can
00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:54.460
coordinate with other people,
00:23:54.519 --> 00:24:00.398
yeah, yeah. I mean, that was the thing, No, exactly, our cars were stuffed or there were trains
00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:04.440
the trainers London. So that's useful, true. And
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:06.359
actually, you get really tired though,
00:24:06.358 --> 00:24:07.259
don't you? Yeah,
00:24:08.460 --> 00:24:10.920
what do you?
00:24:08.460 --> 00:24:15.720
What do you? I mean, how do you pace yourself? Because you said that the fun stuff happens at night, but that means you're not getting
00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:25.160
enough sleep. So, yeah, no, sleep through the day. What when the music is on? No, the music starts at 12, and you normally didn't know the person playing at 12. Okay, so, yeah,
00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:27.680
so an eye mask or something, because obviously, when you're
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:43.180
in a test and because you, like everyone around you, is gonna be screeching and all that stuff. But um, one thing I would say is, oh, I brought noise canceling headphones. They were so good, but, yeah, they didn't get started you sound
00:24:43.180 --> 00:24:44.019
like such a prince,
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:59.920
but one thing I would say so we know a couple of people who went and decided to camp on the other end of the festival, and they were completely out. They had a couple of people in that campsite. Was so angry because.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.700
Had no atmosphere. It was a half an hour walk to the other
00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:04.920
thing you want to be
00:25:04.979 --> 00:25:06.838
so as a trade off, right
00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:08.220
next to me, there were
00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:26.480
really happy, yeah, that they were that they were that far away, because they really hated it. They really, actually wanted a good night's sleep. But yeah, I would say just go for, like, in the middle, if you're gonna go into a campsite that's, like, close to the festival, go to the back of that campsite.
00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.480
What about things like drugs and alcohol?
00:25:34.039 --> 00:25:54.759
What I mean? So I'm gonna put it into context. I was talking to another mother, and she said to me that her son's tent was raided, yeah? And I said, Gosh, that must have been a shock. And she said, Well, yes, because they were drug dealers in the tent next to his, and they wanted to check his tent. And of course, he came up clean, yeah, but would, did you see much evidence of drugs? Well,
00:25:54.759 --> 00:26:25.039
so here's the thing, yeah. So I showed up late because I didn't have the early bird tickets, but the rest of my friends did. So they were all in, you know, and I turned up alone, and there's they do drug check. Well, no, they don't do drug checks. They do, like, bag checks and everything they have sniffer dogs. And here's a piece of advice, don't pet the sniffers, because I was quite a fan of dogs, and the dog took a liking to me. I ended up in the drunk queue, and I
00:26:28.098 --> 00:26:30.439
was there surrounded by really long queue, yeah,
00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:44.319
oh my god, I was there for three hours. I mean, it basically took up my entire first day. I was in such a bad mood, but, but the thing is, the bag checks are so unthaar It's not funny, like they, they didn't even go through my bag.
00:26:44.380 --> 00:26:46.660
They, they didn't find my alcohol, and it was a drug.
00:26:47.140 --> 00:26:50.079
So you had, you had a small bottle, a miniature.
00:26:50.259 --> 00:26:57.460
So Phoebe's really, really honest, you had a miniature in your sock, and you were really panicking. And then you had a whole bottle.
00:26:57.579 --> 00:27:11.220
I had, I had, I know, I had a whole bottle of vodka. I had two bottles, and a whole bottle, and I had another bottle in a water bottle, yeah, and they were both at the bottom of a bag, yeah. And so I thought the odds were they wouldn't actually check down there, which I was right. They didn't check.
00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:37.940
But when they asked me for alcohol, I thought I would give them something to kind of throw them off and make it seem like I was really honest. So I just gave them the miniature, okay, but, yeah, but that literally, within about five minutes, that's not even an exaggeration of walking to try to get to my tent. And I literally had just shown up, I was approached by two different people just asking whether I want to ketamine, like there are drugs everywhere.
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:47.859
That's just going to be that's like a fact of festivals you're gonna it's not just running like it's an airy festival you just got, you know, keep your wits about you not accept anything from anyone. Because, yeah, that's like,
00:27:48.038 --> 00:27:51.759
if you are going to accept something, accept it from like, a trusted source.
00:27:51.880 --> 00:27:54.160
Like, who can you trust the festival?
00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:56.140
I mean, don't festivals?
00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:56.140
No,
00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:01.140
don't even your friends. Where would your friends? Your 16 year old friends? No,
00:28:01.740 --> 00:28:04.380
I'm not talking for me.
00:28:01.740 --> 00:28:06.059
I'm talking just in general. If you are, no,
00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:09.359
I don't think you can trust any Don't, don't, don't think you can.
00:28:09.358 --> 00:28:29.239
Don't do drugs in general. But even then, don't do them at festivals like that is the worst, worst place because of all the things that could go wrong. Like, you don't want someone to go wrong festivals and and people get spiked. Like, spiking is such, such a problem.
00:28:24.679 --> 00:28:47.858
And so same with alcohol, like, you want to make sure that you're getting alcohol from yourself your friends. You want to bring it with you, yeah, and then if you ever do get drinks, I mean, it's the usual. You just need to, like, make sure that you know and that your friends know that you need to keep your cups covered, you know, nothing or not even in cups. You want to keep them in cows, yeah, yeah.
00:28:47.919 --> 00:28:52.058
And then, you know. But people you know, can get spiked from injections. Yeah,
00:28:52.058 --> 00:28:57.459
in the crowd there's, um, there are some really useful, like, cup covers you can get off Amazon to come Yeah.
00:28:57.578 --> 00:29:28.578
But, um, yeah, I would say it like you're, like some you're you're going to a festival, you're probably going to be drinking, definitely going to be drinking. And it's better for your parent or someone you know, or yourself to buy the alcohol, because then you're a lot less likely, because, I mean, your child is going to be going somewhere to get it anyway, so it's better for them to get it from someone they know, or from like you, or whatever other than so
00:29:28.578 --> 00:30:09.598
for all the parents at home listening to this who are horrified that my children drink alcohol, we're not, we're not really a drinking family in that way. But my attitude is, pick your fights, and I think when you're going to a festival, they're going to drink. It's better to Yes, absolutely. And did you see people? Well, you've just done a job last night where there were young people staggering around, blind drunk. It's not attractive at all, is it? And you know, so what did you see? Much of that at the festival. People. Pull that drunk, yeah? Because I just don't think you're safe, yeah, if you get one like that, you have to be. You want to make
00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:28.640
sure it depends. We did it in night. So we had, we have two bottles, and so we would, we did it one between six of us, yeah, and so there would be three people drinking the first night, and then three people didn't drink as well, so that they could look after the three people if something had gone wrong. See,
00:30:28.638 --> 00:30:31.219
this is smart.
00:30:28.638 --> 00:30:33.919
This is this is the answer. It's the way that you do it. It's not what you know. Yeah,
00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:42.400
you just want to make sure that you're like, it's essential to stay with your people the entire time. Yeah, and just make sure that you're with a safe, trusted group of friends.
00:30:42.699 --> 00:30:48.939
How easy was it to get water? Because that was one of the things we talked about before, was making sure you always drink water. Yeah.
00:30:49.358 --> 00:31:03.719
The thing is, it depends on where you're situated, because it's it can be a trek to get to the water stations, because they're like, in between the camps and the festival, um, but yeah, it's really easy to get it once you're there. You just have to walk to it. Have to walk to it. And
00:31:03.719 --> 00:31:05.219
do you have to have your own bottle
00:31:06.298 --> 00:31:18.959
to have reef, like, they have, like, refill stations, great. But, but also, I remember, like we last year, Billy Eilish was the last act.
00:31:14.278 --> 00:31:45.219
And obviously there was a massive crowd, like, there was such a dense crowd there, and it got really hot, and obviously it was also the end of the night, so if you hadn't been drinking water, then, like, you're gonna get so dusty and dehydrated. And my girlfriend, like, was in quite a VAT state because you hadn't been drinking water. And it was at the very front of the like, stage. There was a guy behind the barrier. He was literally just, like, giving out free cups. Yeah? So we went and found him, and then he was just fantastic.
00:31:45.220 --> 00:31:47.920
Yeah, they did that.
00:31:45.220 --> 00:31:47.920
They did that this year as well.
00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:51.460
So we were standing we were standing up for like four hours.
00:31:51.460 --> 00:32:08.640
My friend, my other friends, were standing up for longer than that because they wanted to see people before. But everyone we wanted to see was on the main stage. So we got a really good position and just stayed there, yes, but yeah, the people at the front, you just need to put your hand up and then, yeah, everyone would be passing everyone there.
00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:08.759
So lovely. You get taken care of.
00:32:08.818 --> 00:32:10.618
Yeah? Really good. I really like that. Yeah.
00:32:11.219 --> 00:32:13.499
Why did you only go for one day this year?
00:32:14.578 --> 00:32:19.499
Well, in truth, there was only one like, well, actually, no, that's not true.
00:32:17.278 --> 00:32:24.858
There was so many acts I would have loved to see, but I, I was kind of done with the camping.
00:32:24.858 --> 00:32:35.419
Yeah, it's not really my age what? Yeah, they're not really my age group anymore. I mean, some people my age were camping, some people I know from school, but, but, yeah, it was
00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:36.740
only great
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:44.559
to just go through one day because you have no, like, luggage, you have no bad story about you not having to worry about your tent. That's what
00:32:44.920 --> 00:33:02.519
we've always done, because we have done a few music festivals already. But each time we've gone for one day, you get dressed. You can be more fun. Yeah, fun with dressing up because you're not worried about I mean, Amelia took her and Amelia didn't take her best clothes. You took sort of old hoodies and things, didn't you just so that
00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:10.078
you didn't. I actually, I actually took my school hoodie because it has my initials on it. Who's gonna want to steal somebody's
00:33:10.138 --> 00:33:13.078
school hoodie?
00:33:10.138 --> 00:33:15.898
Yeah, just, just because you don't want your favorite
00:33:18.118 --> 00:33:23.118
personally, I think it's really down to the person. I absolutely loved camping next year,
00:33:23.118 --> 00:33:25.818
I'm gonna get I loved it too.
