Dean Sas

What a weekend.

Got up slightly later than I expected, went up to Matts where Dobbs picked us up, then we travelled to Matlock to get Tom. Then it was off with Dobbs behind the wheel and Matt as the navigator, onwards and southwards as we headed off to probably the best festival in the uk this year.

We got there in the end. Found our accomodation, parked up and then went exploring a little. We made a stop at the shop to purchase junk food and alcohol, then headed back to our room to have a drink and relax afterthe drive.

After a while the place began to fill up a little, we noticed a bunch of lads move in just across from us, after a few minutes they were throwing chairs outside and sinking the legs into the ground, one of them came into our chalet after a while and started talking to us, he was quite clearly under the influence of something. While he was chatting one of his mates came out with half of the Pontins brush held under his nose shouting “seig heil” and marching around with his hand in the air. It wasnt the most auspicious of beginnings.

We ended up going out after a while, sat around and had a few drinks, walked around the various rooms then headed up towards the Beat stage. We caught Aspects, Edan and Insight first, they were all great, loved the Aspects beatboxer too. Tom went back to our room for a snack and shortly after that someone told us our friend had collapsed. So Dobbs and I went to try and find what was happening and where he’d got to. While we were walking back he caught us up, so we walked back with him and got Tom to come out again. I can’t remember much else, apart from us ending up sat down in Pulse Ranks.

Eventually we decided to walk back and noticed the crazy Norwich neighbours had security around dealing with them, Tom told us that when he got back they’d had a bonfire on the go.

Got up about 11 the next day, decided to go and explore Hemsby. Drove up in the car, found a cafe and got breakfast, i had a bacon butty and a sausage butty, which to be honest wasn’t the antidote I needed but it was ok. We decided to go on the beach then, only to get on there you have to climb this massive sand dune, so after standing at the top for a while I said I was gonna run on down the steep other side. Which I did, and it was really great. So I ran up and jumped down. Repeatedly.

After lunch (huge hot dog and some candy floss) we went around the arcades which was really fun. Tom and I both won some cheap arcade bling. Walked around a bit more then decided to head back, so we went and relaxed a bit at the chalet. After a while we played football in the 5-a-side nets with some random guys and some random perfomer. We got beat 10-5 or something. They did have one more player though, nothing to do with my football skills.

Ended up heading out for something to eat at the restaurant, then went into Beats where DJ A’la Fu was playing, I think it was then when we was stood on chairs around the tables at the back dancing, of course eventually I fell off and landed on the floor. Nothing was harmed though and i jumped straight back up. When Ty came on we pushed up towards the very front to catch it. He was fantastic. The crowd loved him, he got people singing, waving and bouncing about. After he went on we went outside to grab some air and a drink.

For some reason, I stood on the 50cm wall outside between beat and slump stages, walking up and down, dancing away. I spied a collection of cans in the corner, so I decided to check see how long they’d take my weight for. About a second before plummeting towards the floor head first. I bounced straight up and a security guy came over, apparently there was no glass in my head, it was just cut. Which was quite a good thing.

Headed on down to Slump Ranks for a while, watched the b-boys, messed around having a little dance which was quite fun. So much so that we walked up to Pulse and stood at the bar dancing to various songs that we were singing, couple of other people joined in too.

After spending more time in Slump where we bumped into the crazy Norwich neighbours, I bought the Kung Faux dvd, then we went back to the chalet to drop that off. Then we made our way back up to Beat Ranks to catch Roots Manuva. I somehow managed to walk along the wooden railing thing outside Slumps without falling. Then went in to watch Roots Manuva who was good, not quite as good as i hoped though.

I’m not sure what happened for the next few hours, we went to the burger bar and got food, and we ended up in the games room in Slump where dobbs and matt played snooker. Anyway after a while Tom and I was feeling a bit tired, so we said we were going to go to bed. In time honoured student tradition, I acquired a cone on our way back. However by the time we got back to the chalet and had something to eat it was light, so we decided to go back up for a while longer. Anyway we were sat outside and i thought it’d be a good idea to stand on the table and dance, only the table top fell off. and i ended up on the floor again.

For some reason Dobbs and I went inside, decided to come back out shortly after to see what the others was doing, so i left dobbs and went running towards the door hands outstretched ready to push it open. And push them open i did. well the left one, the right one didn’t even move when my head hit it at full speed. Leaving me with a cut in my head that was bleeding quite a bit. I got a plaster on that, then we hung around a short while longer before going back to catch some sleep.

Woke up sunday and played football a bit, then headed off to hemsby went on the beach again, played football for a while. Then for some reason we started trying to do gymnastic type stuff. I fell on my head trying to do a headstand (y). Dobbs and Tom were quite good though. The beach had a stone pillbox left over from ww2, which was quite interesting. In a further fit of gymnastics we climbed onto it, and I jumped off.

Time was running out and i wanted to catch Sage Francis. We got to beats and Tes was on, he was quite good, tried to get the crowd going and didn’t really succeed 100% though, which was a shame. Anyway after him Sage Francis was up next. He just strolled up onto the stage with his backpack on, like he’d just walked in off of the street. He proceeded to sing ballads, tell jokes and of course rap. He had no support on stage, just him and a cd player with backing music, still held the crowds attention with ease. Probably my favourite act all weekend.

We decided to get a drink after that, so we sat down and watched Dangermouse and Jemini. Who were pretty damn good, then we checked the other rooms that were empty and decided to go for food. So sat in there for a while. For some reason we ended up back in our room. Dobbs, Tom and I decided to go out for a while longer, left Mat watching House Party. Tom and I bought masks which people appreciated. When we came back at about 11 he was asleep on the bed. So we woke him up.

Just sat around chilling for a while, opened the curtains after a while and noticed people still partying on our block, so dobbs and i went out for a while. There was just people milling around talking, dancing, music playing, people playing football. After a while we sat down infront of our chalet noticed the guy who was on with Jemini just aimlessly walking around our block and some girls walked past with a pan full of pasta and offered us some. Kind of summed up the whole atmosphere of the weekend.

I’ve still missed out a million and one things but there’s only so much typing a guy can do! Please feel free to share your dedadventures.