Emma Stoner, 2007

2007 was my first ever Glastonbury. It was an awful experience. I had recently moved to Amsterdam so I flew into Bristol on the Thursday night. My friend Ben picked me up from the airport and I stayed at his in nearby Cheddar that night. We drank red wine & whisky. Bad idea. The next day he dropped me in Glastonbury town to meet a friend at the pub where she worked to travel there together. I had a few pre-festival ciders. Another bad idea! I was drunk when we finally arrived at the festival. I remember the golden evening light on some haybales and walking with a group of people through the site. The Kooks were playing and it was a beautiful evening. It went downhill from there.

 
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I was supposed to be camping with my then boyfriend but I couldn't find him. Either I had no signal or no battery. In my drunken haze I hadn't considered the practicalities of a huge festival. I was used to much smaller ones and this was overwhelming! Eventually I got hold of him and he had to come and find me as it was dark and I couldn't find the tent. He was cross as I was late & drunk. Things weren't going well in our relationship and this would prove to be a final nail in the coffin. We camped together in a small pop up tent. I remember some bottles with what looked like stale cider or… I didn’t want to think!… 'romance' was definitely off the cards that weekend. 2007 proved to be the rainiest Glastonbury on record. It was a mud bath. I remember waking up in the mornings and putting on clothes which were stiff with crusty mud. You couldn't sit to enjoy the music so you just had to keep walking around. The squelchy mud sucked my socks off my feet a few times from inside my welly! I drank no more alcohol that weekend as I was so hungover from my pre-festival wine, whisky & cider combo. I felt a bit ill and by the Sunday I had a fever. I remember seeing The Who with a couple of friends and thinking – good I can go now! I rang Ben and his Mum came to pick me up. This really pissed off my boyfriend who stormed off yelling “You're in love with Ben” (he may have had a point... life is complicated at 26!). My last glimpse of the festival was of tents floating around on a river of mud. A couple of years ago Ben's Mum said “Do you remember that time I picked you up from Glastonbury Festival? You were a right mess!”