Not Woodstock but Blogstock

I arrived with low hopes at a soggy field in what used to be Middlesex on Saturday morning. So this was Blogstock was it?

The security man on the gate told me that I was a VIP, which didn’t cheer me up that much and I headed off to a marquee from whose roof water was persistently pouring.  From that time onwards, everything improved, apart from the bacon sandwich.

I was given a lanyard, on which I wrote my name three times, and was told that I got free food! Hmm – things are looking up, I thought. But man cannot live on food alone and I was also told I got free wi-fi in this soggy field – that’s more like it!

The rain was easing off but a nice man, Dan, from the World Land Trust came and gave me a raincoat. This was not just because he is a very nice man,  which he is, but because he thought that it was my raincoat that I had left behind at the last World Land Trust meeting I attended. Despite various protestations that I didn’t seem to have lost a raincoat the whole might of the World Land Trust was focussed on returning my raincoat. It wasn’t my raincoat, but it was raining, and it did fit! Things were looking up some more.

Dan and I were supposed to be speaking to the crowds in this soggy field in a couple of hours time and we compared notes. Neither of us seemed to have an y notes to compare, so we had a look around. And I had a bacon sandwich which was free and a bit rubbish, but it was free!

Ring-necked Parakeets and Canada Geese flew over – bloody immigrants!

While I toyed with the bacon sandwich I tried to work out the Skyroam wi-fi portable hotspot which I  had been given (after filling in a form). It was a welcome distraction from the bacon sandwich. It didn’t take very long and then I was up and running with wi-fi in this soggy field – marvellous!  And it had stopped raining – marvellous!

And I met a cuckuu…

 

I told the cuckuu that he wasn’t really a Cuckoo, even though Cuckoo noises were occasionally accompanying him.

Cuckuu looks interesting, and I will investigate over the next few days, and then Bill Oddie was telling the cuckuu that he wasn’t really a Cuckoo…

It was a relief to see Bill – it meant that Bill, Dan and I could compare notes – but since none of us had any, we decided to wing it.  Bill’s arrival also, sorry about this Bill, made me only the second oldest person at Blogstock instead of the oldest. Things are looking up!

We were all at Blogstock to represent the World Land Trust, an excellent organisation, and to talk about travel, responsible travel and responsible blogging. So we did.

Bill was brilliant, as always – disorganised, charming, witty and getting across some serious messages whilst no-one realised he was doing it – but they will remember them afterwards because they were wrapped in humour.

I talked about blogging, the World Land Trust and Hen Harriers. I was wearing my Hen Harrier Day t-shirt (proudly) and then took it off to reveal an Inglorious t-shirt.  The e-petition was mentioned.

Our audience was of about 60 bloggers, mostly travel and fashion bloggers, and mostly of about half of my or Bill’s ages.  And c80% of them were female. Not the usual audience but they laughed at my jokes (it’s good to have Bill Oddie as your warm-up act) and gasped when they heard what happened to Hen Harriers.

And Dan gave this new audience information about the WLT and about their new carbon calculator.

And then we were free to chat, mingle, eat Pringles etc.

I learned some things about video-blogging, and some more things about Instagram, and some more about green web-hosting. And although it wasn’t raining I had acquired a new raincoat, the Skyroam wi-fi was working (and worked all the way home and beyond – more on this at a later date) and it was all good fun. Blogstock 2015 was fun for me, despite my low expectations. I might well be back for Blogstock 2016.

 

 

 

 

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