WOMAD

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  Ive just popped my WOMAD cherry! Im blown away!

  I work at UK festivals throughout the Summer and have been to a fair few abroad too and to all those of you having a gripe about one thing or another - you dont know how lucky we are! Check out the things that managed to get to people worked up;
  Bogs not clean enough? WHAT??? WOMAD had the cleanest bogs Ive EVER SEEN at a festy!!
  A nonchalant security guard? Better that than the usual obnoxious, ignorant, Stuart Security thugs/rackerteers/dealers and jobsworths.
  An incompetent WOMAD employee? Festies are confusing. Workers get stressed.
  Somebody smoking too much pot next to your tent?? Its a FESTIVAL FFS!!!
  Somebody trading UNOFFICIALLY?? Heaven forbid!
  Too many CHAVS??? People swearing? Get used to it - festies are a microcosm of society.
  The chav comment made me chuckle - I didnt see a single punter that could be described as a ned/chav/scally all weekend. I did see lots of teenagers having a wicked time though.

  Fair play WOMAD. If this is what the moaners are reduced to griping about then you can pat yourselves on the back for putting on an AMAZING festival! I saw some of the most stunning performances ive ever seen (DJ Marky, Ngoni ba - despite the tech probs - the Tinarewen lead singers band, and the climax to the festy- the Japanese drummers), in beautiful surroundings and amongst a lovely crowd - and we enjoyed watching the vibe getting more and more friendly and chilled out as the festy went on. THANK YOU WOMAD!

  A last point about the provision of water for campers. Ive came to WOMAD from Global Gathering. They had a licence for 40000 campers which were divided between two fields of 20000 each. Each field had ONE water outlet and ONE set of toilets. Nuff said.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2008 6:52pm by DJ Pod

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  Re. comment about water provision. My gripe is that there are no separate taps for people that want to wash their hands after using the toilets. It's the one thing I complained about last year and presumed it was due to problems with the mud. I was always able to wash my hands at Rivermead and expect the same at Charlton park.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2008 8:28pm by Jess01

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  So many ill thought out comments here to tackle all at once!

  "An incompetent WOMAD employee? Festies are confusing. Workers get stressed." - Ridiculous comment. Festies are confusing? If I hired an IT consultant to fix my PC, and he turned up stressed, rude and incompetent, should I turn a blind eye because 'computers are confusing'? If an 'organiser' can't 'organise', and a 'liason' can't 'liase', then they're in the wrong job and should be doing something less 'stressful'.

  "A nonchalant security guard? Better that than the usual obnoxious, ignorant, Stuart Security thugs/rackerteers/dealers and jobsworths." - If it was your family/stuff/ego that was at risk from thieves, I'm sure you'd change your tune pretty swift.

  "Somebody smoking too much pot next to your tent?? Its a FESTIVAL FFS!!!" - Ohhhhh, ok. I thought weed was illegal...next time there's a sexual assault at a festy I'll tell them you said it was ok. When you said that you popped your WOMAD cherry, is this perhaps the first time you've posted on a forum as well?

  "Somebody trading UNOFFICIALLY?? Heaven forbid!" - You said you 'work' at festies....you don't mind paying £700 for a pitch fee whilst someone else sets up shop next to you, undercuts your prices because they don't have overheads, and swears within earshot of your punters? I suspect you won't be in business very long!

  Unbelievable.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 9:37am by DreadPirateRanger

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  Unbelievable would be comparing smoking weed to sexual assault on the grounds that both are illegal. Are you Ann Widdecombe in disguise? Did a film crew follow you round as part of new reality TV format? "Ann meets the hippies" or some such.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 9:56am by Funzle22

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  Are you some kind of mentalist DreadPirate? Smoking weed is hardly comparable to sexual assualt!! Get a grip of your own ill thought comments.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 10:37am by Yeahbutnah

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  I'm with DPR on this. Although his (or her?) drug/assault comparisons aren't very well matched, making excuses that the 'setting of an illegal activity' somehow makes it more 'acceptable' is a quite frankly stupid remark.

  WOMAD has always had a Zero Tolerance attitude towards drugs, and simply saying 'it's a festival, therefore it's ok' is absolute rubbish.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 11:41am by RachelPS

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  "WOMAD has always had a Zero Tolerance attitude towards drugs, and simply saying 'it's a festival, therefore it's ok' is absolute rubbish"

  Actually I think its ok anyway, its just better at a festival.

  Also I could write an essay on examples of where the setting effects the acceptability of illegal activities so its not so stupid. Id start with civil disobedience.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 1:26pm by Funzle22

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  Its strange to read such anger when I'm still floating on the happy cloud of music and chilled people I found at WOMAD. Tolerance generally puts you in a better headspace. Worry about these things when you are seriously inconvenienced and until then enjoy the good things that are going on.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 3:40pm by Prue

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  Quite agree Prue - what a great weekend and after such music, seems unnecessary to get stressed out about any aspects of it. We parked in the camper field and had to move due to noisy neighbours, but no matter, found a lovely spot with nice people on all sides and had a fine old time.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 8:32pm by Beulah

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  Martin Pod put his/her views and feelings about h/h experience in a fairly balanced way, I think; I don't at all agree with all h/h says, but feel that it would have been much more constructive and better for this whole strand of discussion if DreadPirateRanger would have expressed h/h reaction without the sarcasm, ridicule and patronising remarks.

  Posted on 29-Jul-2008 9:40pm by Tintinnabulation Borborygmy

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