This is only my second time at my local rock music festival but you could be fooled into thinking I was some kind of veteran, giving advice to my girlfriend and her brother, Steve. Of course, the reality is that I just was very well prepared by my friends last year. Although 2009 (as long as it does actually feel) was a completely different story. I had just got back from a week in Valencia (to watch the European GP among other things) and then the following day went straight to Reading Festival for the first time. I do not think you can get more Rock and Roll than that but you can. Foxy, or rather t_dogg, has been in Spain this week and returns just in time for the festival. Did I forget to mention that this boy has been travelling across Far East Asia and Australasia for the past eleven months? So I am home from work, it has just gone 9pm on Thursday evening. I was watching the report from the festival on London Tonight. (A news programme I hardly get the time to watch at all these days). The mud has not actually put me, I am going to be well prepared with my wellies and my Kag in a Bag. I suppose I could go extreme and take my Ski Jacket if things really looked bad, but I believe the weather itself is going to improve over the course of the weekend. Something tells me though the ground underfoot, will be not so quick to dry. Everything is under control and I am looking forward to a fun filled three days in a field with my friends. Of course, I am disappointed that my dearest friend Barry and his lovely wife Lisa are not going to be there. I really enjoyed their company last year, it was good fun. Scott, Pav’s work mate is not going this year either, so it is going to be a different crowd in some respects. Having said that, there will still be the usual suspects, the aforementioned Tom Fox, Hannah and Ollie on Saturday, Mel (I believe for the whole weekend), Sarah and James (also for the entirety of the weekend). Last but my no means least there is Michelle and her brother Steve with his girlfriend Magda, so in terms of company, I think I am all set! Oh I forgot to mention my colleague Rich. He is an official Reading Festival veteran and will not be bothered by the climate at all. He survived the horrors of MudFest at Glastonbury in 1997. Reading should be a piece of cake for him, he is camping with some friends from Germany (as he does most years) and was only in the office on Monday and Tuesday to make best use of his Early Bird Camping Entry. I text him this morning, as I got to my desk asking how his tent was and that I would see him tomorrow afternoon. The response: “The outside is very wet. At least the rain has stopped.” I had been thinking of him, as I drove back home on the M4 yesterday afternoon. It was crazy, the spray was just making visibility poor and some fool in a Honda Civic thought he did not need to have his headlights on! The journey reminded me of the torrential rain I dealt with in January 2009, as we drove back from Gatwick after our ski holiday to Tignes. Pav has been building up to this moment for weeks, although there was no Junk Mail posted to me this year! It should be a great three days, even with the mud! Just been having been reading some entertaining tweets using the hash tag #ReadingFestival. The tweet from Thames Valley Police, did make me chuckle! I will try my best to update my Twitter feed, but I doubt I will be taking my phone into the festival arena considering the current conditions. I may also leave my camera at home, as these are other things that potentially will either get lost, stolen or more likely damaged. I will try my best to update the virtual world when I am back in reality of four walls in the evenings at the close of play each day. Most people know that I am not really a big rock music fan (entries from this blog would be a clear indicator of my true musical persuasions) but in any case, there are reasons why Reading does literally rock! Only 13 hours and 19 minutes to go as I publish this post! I better get a wiggle on! PS – Yes I know Pav, I still have to blog about my Valencia holiday and upload the photos to FlickR! Give me a chance!