Holly Parsons, 2004

My most memorable Glastonbury was 2004, which was the year I graduated. The festival was shortly before I moved out of my student flat in Bath and I went with a load of my Uni friends. Back in those days I used to litter pick for my ticket. I remember it being a muddy but not overwhelmingly muddy year. I was a practised litter picker so got myself into the circus and theatre fields, which was basically the easy life. I think it must have been before Shangri La as they were always really clean and litter free and there were very few people milling around at 5/6am when we started work. I went to the festival with £80 in my pocket...and came back with £250 for a number of reasons. Firstly, staff catering. Man that food is good! Secondly, found a clear plastic hole punched wallet - the ones you put in a folder when you are at school - half full of weed, which kept me and the crew going for a long time after glasto. Thirdly, just picked up full unopened cans of cider / beer that people had dropped and never found again which were perfectly good after a rinse. Finally, on the Monday we were helping another crew clear up the Glade and a friend found £700 in rolled up and stuffed bank change bag - the police were with us but they didn’t want anything to do with it so we students went home a bit richer! It was a good year. I have no idea which bands I saw (apart from Oasis, but didn’t hang around for long as we were really stoned and the crowd was a bit intense). I think that was also the year that I got drunk on Raspberry wine and a bit stoned and did some pretty epic mr soft dancing to Toots with my mate Simon. I spent quite a bit of time on my own milling around and getting lifts from the big barrel bin guys along the railway track from ‘work’ back to my tent which was pitched at Pennards. It was fine because I knew so many people at the festival (mainly working and so sticking to one spot) that I bumped into friends all the time. That is the year I well and truly fell in love with Glastonbury. I loved it before that, but by 2004 I knew that place like the back of my hand and I felt like I was home.