If you have teenage children and
are looking for a holiday with a difference and one to remember
- you could do much worse than the Cambridge Folk Festival. And
going to festivals also wins you lots of brownie points as pretty
cool parents. Your street cred amongst fourteen year olds goes
through the roof.
This year we had a plague of frogs and a truly biblical rainstorm, but we survived it all with true British grit. The tents stayed up and dry, mainly due, I suspect, to a plentiful supply of tent pegs. In our pre-children festival days we only ever had about three of them.
This year we were privileged to hear an awesome (teenage expression) selection of music amongst a crowd of amazingly good humoured and friendly people. I really can't say what I enjoyed most, although top of my must hear list were Eric Bibb and the Be Good Tanya's, both magnificent. But then there were all the magical surprises; the bands that shock, amaze, delight and simply leave you breathless.
Friday afternoon, to the horror of my 14-year-old daughter, I listened to the first few seconds of the Canadian band La Volee d'Castors, and all respectable vestiges of parenthood went out of the window. I kicked off my shoes and sprinted to the front of the main stage without a moment's rational thought. For a few precious moments I was 18 again and totally oblivious to all but the sheer enthusiasm and talent on the stage. Fourteen-year-old daughter was seen clutching her head in her hands with apparent embarrassment, but then you'd think she'd be used to it. After all, she's seen it all before.
But the highlight of the weekend
for me came on Saturday evening. At eight O'clock, amongst an
epic rainstorm, Tom (my 12-yr-old son) and I decided to exit Coldhams
Common Campsite, where we had been sitting out the weather, and
return to the main site to see the Holmes Brothers, a gospel/blues
band.
As we slithered and skidded through the ankle deep mud, holding each other up with one hand and trying to keep and umbrella upright with the other hand, I said to Tom, "We must be barking mad!". But, with the insight of a younger and brighter mind, he replied, "No, Mum, this is fantastic. We'll always remember this!"
Then, somehow, we squeezed into the hot and steamy crowd, miraculously finding our friends and Tom's dad. Then watching Tom cheering and dancing to the wonderful Holmes Brothers I realised the truth. Yes, Tom, I will remember this for the rest of my life.
KEEP ON ROCKING CAMBRIDGE!