After another brief stop in Cheltenham for wellies and beer
glasses (both essential pieces of equipment at festivals) we found our way to
Cheltenham racecourse through a combination of Nick’s memory and sense of
direction. He is well known for reliably heading in the opposite direction to
the intended destination so this was nothing short of a personal triumph for
him!
Being a day early we were one of the few people on site. As
we arrived Sue, the steward organiser hoped in Vince to guide us to the field.
We parked near another van belonging to a Welsh postman called Andy, according
to Sue.
The next morning Nick went on a mission for cell phone
topup, stamps etc and I hung out just in case I could be useful. Sure enough
someone didn’t turn up for a shift so I got roped into a very easy hour or so
on a gate. We spent the afternoon enjoying some decent Wychwood beer (Wychcraft
and Goliath) and playing games in the van while the rain pitter-pattered on the
roof.
That night we had the stewards briefing and afterwards got
chatting to our neighbour Andy as we wandered back to the campsite. He
disappeared into is camper and came back with a cider each! We thought this to
be very generous and started to protest when it came time for another. But he
said “I’ve got to drink all these by tomorrow and I’ve got 18 of them!” – “Why
by tomorrow?” I asked, with it only being the first day of the festival I could
see no hurry “Well the bar opens tomorrow!” was his reply. Fair enough we
thought.
We had a great night chatting with Andy and he told us some
great places in Wales to visit. At one stage a huge dog went past and I
commented on my ‘once bitten, twice shy’ stance – I not a fan of big dogs. Andy
just turned around and said “Well I’m a postman”. Nuff said.
