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Bestival 2008 and visiting Charles Dickens’ house.

September 9, 2008 1 Comment Filed Under: Uncategorized

Starfish at Bestival festival Bestival pic:kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover

Phillips hairdressing campervan, Bestival pic:kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover

aerobics in the mud. Bestival pic:kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover

Well there had to be one didn’t there…a total mudfest, Battle of the Somme, more survival course than celebration.
Bestival is a ’boutique’ festival which takes place on the Isle of Wight, scene of 60’s rock festival with Jimi Hendrix. Most famous resident: David Icke but also Alan Titmarsh, the TV gardener (looks similar to Icke but quite different views I expect). 
Nightmare to get there…made the mistake of driving to Southampton rather than Portsmouth. Southampton is a chav-infested hole. It has no redeeming features whatsoever. Get to the ferry, which by the way is the most expensive per mile ferry in the world, and the staff don’t seem to be aware that there is a massive festival happening over the water.
Parking? Overnight? Ooh don’t know about that. Says the ferry steward. 
Well as it costs £200 return to take my car over I am rather obliged to park really aren’t I? It’s cheaper to go to France. No wait, it’s cheaper to go to Spain even. Where the weather is surely better. The parking, when I find it, is almost as expensive as the ferry ride.
Southampton also had a boat show and a football game going on, plus Saturday afternoon shopping. Traffic at a crawl. I give up on Southampton and try to leave. Impossible. Drive around in circles. They don’t want you to go, they want you to stay stuck in their shitty pedestrianised, one-way system town. Stop car. Start crying. Get out. Plead with local residents (of which there are few, mostly Eastern Europeans there) for way out. 
Drive to Portsmouth. Easy. Sign posts even. There is a hovercraft located within a fun fair. Park car next to sea. Huge wave comes and drenches me. Grab stuff including pop-up tent I tatted at Glasto. Which I cannot pop down so I’m carrying this enormous nylon disk. The wind almost blows me into the sea.
Isle of Wight. Lovely. Nice architecture. People friendly and humorous. Stand at shuttle with big circle of nylon. Have another go at folding it down. American man takes pity on me and manages to get it into the little circular bag. American know-how. 
Drive through country side. Typically English picture post-card stuff. Sheep. Intensely green fields. Hedgerows. Little pubs. 
Am advised to put wellies on before I enter the festival. 
Don’t even think about wearing normal footwear, advises a mermaid. 
Walk in. No one checks if I have a ticket. Police with sniffer dogs parade up and down looking for drugs. One guy got caught for tiny bit of weed brought by mistake. He’s cautioned and must return to Isle of Wight within a month. Heartless.
Bestival is held in an amusement park. To get to the main bit you have to go, nay, slide, down a long muddy slope. 
I’m working at Groovy Movie,a solar powered cinema in a tent. Easy gig. Sit there serving real fresh chai, brandy coffees while watching films. In bad weather, we are very popular. People just want to get out of the rain, sit down, have a hot drink, watch some telly (films). It’s physically exhausting tramping around a festival site knee deep in mud all day.
I’ve joined my friend L, a Mancunian sambista who could flirt for Britain. Later, at the end of the shift, we manage to blag back-stage (a bit of a feat, eight of us using only one Access All Areas pass) to see The Sugarhill Gang. 
Now I remember these guys from the first time round. We have a great view. They are all older, fatter and look like suburban dads. They have black plastic bags tied around their feet as they clearly haven’t got wellies. Lol. Puts a dampening effect on their stage costumes. Still they are excellent and the crowd love them. We all go crazy when they do Rappers Delight, the first rap hit in 1979. 
They ask “Do you like hip-hop in the U.K.? Can you emcee?”. 
A competition to find the best emcee is held on stage. One girl, several white boys. I’m sorry but it’s still funny to see white boys rap, apeing ghetto-style gestures and putting on accents. The girl was booed, shame. 
Went for a dance in a gorgeous wooden marquee. The musical theme was 80’s in general. Disco hits and Human League, Gary Numan. 
The costume theme this year was appropriately Underwater. Spotted a maidmer, which has the head of a fish and the legs of a man, also foam starfish, lobsters, glittering jelly fish, sailors, pirates of course.
Sunday, had a proper look around site. Lots of sponsorship, Rizla, Philips, Red Bull, Top Shop. Found myself sitting on a deck chair in the Sunday newspaper tent. Too old for all this. 
In the evening saw Underworld who were fantastic, the theme tune to the 90’s. My enjoyment was also increased by the fact that it had stopped raining.
On returning to Portsmouth, my van tyres had been let down. Once fixed by the RAC, after navigating through a complex maze of Council Housing Estates, I found the Charles Dickens museum, located in Southsea. 
Dickens, generally associated with London, was actually born in Portsmouth, although he did return there to research characters from Nicholas Nickleby. His father worked for the Navy during the wars against the French. I was inspired by the sea air and the historic and evocative names around Portsmouth… Nelson! Trafalgar! I’m a big fan of Patrick O’Brien’s naval novels, set during the Napoleonic wars.

Charles Dickens bedroom, l pic:kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover
Charles Dickens house, pic:kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover

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  1. caroline

    September 9, 2008 at 7:50 pm

    another great post… did I tell you that despite being born and living in Somerset until I was five, I grew up in a small town between Portsmouth and Southampton …
    so very familiar territory… had to make quite a concerted effort to have a good time as a teenager… but I did

    xcx

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

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Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heat My piece in the @hamandhigh about the  3 day @heathostile training course. Incredibly interesting & challenging. Link: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/things-to-do/hostile-environment-training-9037980 to read more #hostileenvironmenttraining
Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot eggs, cheeseboard, stracciatella & cucumber, tomato/strawberry/peashoot salad with real balsamic & spruce oil, home cured dill gravlax, smoked salmon, homemade sourdough crisp bread, potato salad with wild fennel & lots more! #supperclub #midsummer #eattherainbow (miss you @linnsoederstroem)
Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 years was great fun. I’m pleased with my food, the guests were lovely, it looked magical in the garden. But the weather! I even had to bring my duvets from the bedroom out. They looked like refugees. But this brought even more laughter! Next event September
My first supperclub in two years will take place t My first supperclub in two years will take place this Saturday 18th June starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £50 byo you can book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club there are still a few places left. Pescetarian menu. Scandi and botanical influences. #gettingbackonmyfeet #postpandemic #smallbusinesses #supperclub #london
I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile train I recently completed the 3 day  @heathostile training course. On the last day I was kidnapped by ex-special forces for a few hours & learnt how to deal with compliance training & a hostile environment. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. 3 intense days of combat first aid, navigation & how to survive in a war zone. I handled short, long guns, mortars, grenades, bullets, and tourniquet & bandaged an amputee. I learnt where to sit in a car, where to hide from a bullet, where to protect myself if in a car. It was brilliant. Highly recommended for any journalists, photographers, cameramen, charity workers, paramedics going into any difficult environment say a disaster or war. The stories from the tutors & the other participants were so interesting. My piece on it out soon. Book a course: https://hostile-environment.co.uk/  They also do jungle & desert training. I’d love to join the Antarctic expedition. Anyway that’s me hooded in the front. #adventures #het #hostileenvironmenttraining #experiences #travel
Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking o Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking on doors, going to libraries, searching through graveyards for my Irish forebears. It’s really hard to find information prior to 1850. I found this in last years trip to Arbroath in Scotland. Headstones wear out, records are lost or burnt in a fire, everybody has the same name and are known by nicknames, successive children have the same first name, that usually means they died and the next one is called by the same thing. Women did have children out of wedlock, and people remarried more often than you’d think, plus families fall out & never see each other again. I learnt that my Irish great grandfather michael went to Glasgow & met a woman who came from a similar place: somewhere wild & beautiful by the sea. Then they and their children came to london. Chasing the work & the money always. Politics and economics matter for they push people around from rural to city. And now we rodgers are Londoners. #ireland #scotland #family #travel #roots
How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My sister & a random Irishman come for the Rory Gallagher festival in ballyshannon. Sis has pulled already!  #getyourcoat #sexpistols #ballyshannon #rorygallagherfestival #ireland
Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my grea Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal,  where my great great grandfather john Rodgers was a postman, then a tailor, then a pawnbroker. #irishheritage #donegal #myancestry #irish #rodgers #travel
I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor timing considering what’s happened over the last 24 hours. Being British I’ve not grown up around guns. It’s interesting to be on this course and find out more about the reality of them, although my focus is learning the ‘golden triangle’ of first aid, communications and navigation. But at the same time It’s depressing how in America nothing will ever change regarding gun law. RIP.
Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa
Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite pop up yesterday. I’m all about repairing and upcycling my brocante finds: this time a beautiful pale wood lamp shade stand which had broken off at the bottom. I’m going to rewire it with 2 core sky blue twisted fabric wire, pop on my hand sewn pleated lampshade I learnt to do @workshopminerva and it shall be beautiful. Don’t chuck out your chintz: repair it! #therepairshop #selfie #interiors #popup
in June I’m having my first supper club in two y in June I’m having my first supper club in two years: here is the link to book: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club £50 18th June  Saturday night. Byo.
#chelseaflower coming up. Last year I bought these succulents and planted them in a vintage zinc garden sieve. Now they are flowering. My balcony is like a little greenhouse: I can grow aubergines & other plants that usually need to be under glass. #londongarden #may #plants #succulents in the garden
Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on t Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on the citrus. I used 7: 2 Italian lemons (from Lidl):some ordinary lemons and some limes (18p) at Lidl. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your citrus. I also used buttermilk from @fenfarmdairy in Suffolk from their honesty shop. Last night we ate it still warm from the oven. #cake #lemondrizzle #homebaking #citrus #buttermilk
A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spa A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spanking fresh asparagus / fried in olive oil, season, then add a little boiling water, not too much, put on the lid, dressed with lemon zest & Parmesan, @fenfarmdairy baron bigod cheese, good bread. This is how I like to eat. Claire’s plates found at the beccles brocante. #suffolk #suffolkfood #supper #dinnerwithfriends  #vintageplates
Can’t wait to see what they will be like when th Can’t wait to see what they will be like when they are fired. All my favourite themes: gingham and scallops. Thanks to @clairebelljar for a wonderful weekend and pottery workshop. Such fun! #workingwithyourhands #playtime #creativity #ceramics #pottery #suffolk
Making plates with talented potter & old South Ham Making plates with talented potter & old South Hampstead girl @clairebelljar in Suffolk. She has the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. Such a joy to be reunited with her. #friendsreunited #makers #potters #scalloped #wildflowers #cowparsley #pottery
Another budget gourmet recipe, the Sicilian capona Another budget gourmet recipe, the Sicilian caponata, which is like a more interesting ratatouille, in which you add capers, olives & vinegar. £2.50p. I was asked to develop a series of recipes which were delicious enough to serve at a dinner party but also cheap. I shopped at Lidl. #costoflivingcrisis #budgetgourmet #recipe #vegetarian #vegan #lidluk
Mackerel pâté, a recipe that cost under £2.50. Mackerel pâté, a recipe that cost under £2.50. Lemon & herb smoked mackerel fillets from @lidl (take off skin)3 big scoops creme fraiche from Lidl and juice of half a lemon. Blend. Plenty of black pepper. Serve with bread. #budgetgourmet #costoflivingcrisis #eatorheat
Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh o Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh on my decade as a single parent on benefits, how I learned to cook & how things are so much harder now because not only are ingredients pricier but the cost of cooking them is too. 3 budget gourmet meals serving 4, for £2.50 each. #costoflivingcrisis #budgetgourmet #povertyshame #singleparents #foodblogger
Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons. Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons.
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