NFR NFC >>>>>>2015

[mr gumby]

What the squirrel nutkins?

[ICGenie]

The Reflex Genie

Sole sister relexology

Ooh, you are clever people! I'd love to have Happy Feet (as my name means "happiness") but it's probably pretty done already.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Had my first four paying clients last week, need to get a FB page going but I need a name for the business first. Any ideas?

The first thing that sprung to my mind was ReflexOn.

[lucyginger]

I like a The Reflex Genie

[lucyginger]

I'll have a think, too tired to be clever at the mo!

[stuartbert two hats]

No Footing Rain No Footing Compromise

[bennyhana22]

Ben,

Are you coming to either the NFR NFC or the Efests meet?

Hi jeffie

I started to reply to this yesterday, then work went a bit mental, so that post never got finished/posted.

It was too rambling, anyway.

Bottom line is, yes, I would aim to come to a meet, most likely the NFR NFC one. I'm going to GF on my own, and am planning on helping to coordinate a bit of an efests soloists camping area, if we can. Just so there can be some opportunities to touch base with the same people, compare our days, even maybe watch something together etc.

I'm a really bouncy, energetic old thing, but a bit...awkward, when meeting people for the first time. However, I am determined to get together with as many of you as I can, because you're lovely. My only anxiety rests within my continuous obsession with packing as much in as possible (in life, as much as at festivals). My plan is to get the earliest coach I can (SeeCoaches sweetly said they'd try to get me on the first one from Birmingham), set up camp quickly, hopefully in the place we agree upon (I'm thinking maybe Dairy?) and then spend the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday packing in the miles to try to see as much of the site as I possibly can. I know I can't experience everything by a long way, but I want to feel that I 'know' the site as well as I can. So, there'll be a bit of me thinking that I should be doing other things, rather than standing in one place at a meet. I know that sounds ridiculous, and I'm not in any way unsociable, I just have a silly drive to do as much as I can all the time. It drives Mrs Ben up the wall!

Anyway, I seem to have managed to write an unnecessary long reply again, to a question that might have preferred a simple 'yes' or 'no'!

Yes, jeffie, I plan to come to the NFR NFC meet - where and when do you guys usually meet up?

Ben

[bennyhana22]

I've got a window! I am currently sat at my desk underneath it!! WOOO!!And it's lovely and sunny.

Ben, Yog isnt coming to Glastonbury this year but I'm sure some of the rest of us can aid your yearly "getting shitfaced"

Awww, that's a shame. I want to meet everyone, and Yog was right up there!

Regarding my impending annual intoxication, a bit of clarity:

My 'problem', is that I don't do anything outside of my annual festival. I don't drink - never have as such, as I just never managed to get over not liking the taste. Whatever the drink might be, all I get is the taste of the alcohol itself, which at the age of 45 still tastes really icky to me! I have drunk three times - once early on at medical school (rugby related thing), the night I qualified (I had promised one of my friends that I would) and then on my stag night - thus making it 22 years since I drank anything. The only way I was ever able to was to put spirits in a pint glass, fill it up with orange juice, and neck it. It was great being pissed, but in terms of the enjoyment of the method, it was no different really to taking a pill - other than the burning sensation of all that gin going down (gin was a traditional 'penalty' drink at my med school, so became my drink du jour on those three occasions).

So, no booze. I would smoke all the time if it wasn't so utterly dreadful for you. I smoke for a bit in the summer, leading up to and including my festival - I couldn't just start on Day 1 of the festival...you've got to get your, ahem, eye in, haven't you. When I'm at the festival, I will predictably overcompensate for a lack of naughtiness for 95% of the year and smoke a lot. It feels hugely fun to be doing something that I shouldn't. My kids (17, 15 and 13) do not know that I do this. I wouldn't want them to because, though I enjoy myself a lot, I wouldn't want them to think bad of me. I find it easy to stop again after a few weeks as I feel very guilty (towards the kids) for doing something to myself that is, in essence, so harmful to me.

I smoke weed at my festival too. Not masses, but 'enough'. I only buy it once a year, purely for my festival. I really like getting stoned during that period, and some of my happiest times are dancing until stupid o'clock, a bit off my tits.

I always think that I would like to try other stuff, but never really had the opportunity. I would always worry about what the hell I was taking, pill wise, as there is so much shit out there. I have no interest in charlie (saw two boys cutting in the Woods at Latitude two years ago - no way were they more than 15. Sheesh...), but would really like to have a go at MDMA or acid, maybe just a couple of times. My love of squelchy, bleepy, minimalist techno would be great with something else on board! FUTURE, some of the godfathers of Acid House are strongly rumoured to be at GF and I could imagine a couple of hours with them, with me a bit 'happier' then usual!

So, my intoxicant history is pretty tame. It's not a case of me 'going mental' for that 4-5 days. I'm never out of it, am always in control, and never have any periods of no recollection etc. I have thought about taking some vodka to GF and maybe getting a bit pissed, but I'm not sure I will - it's just not something I really do. I often reflect on how many days a year friends of mine would be, at least partly, intoxicated on booze - must be 150-180 minimum, I reckon. I'm sober for pretty much every single one of those, and sometimes, after all this time, it can be a bit wearing, being the only one in the place not even a little bit pissed.

So, young Lucy, another ridiculously long response to a short post!

I am aiming to join the NFR NFC meet, so if anyone wants to play to use me as their pharmaceutically challenged plaything, we could talk...Yog, where will you be, when i need you!

Ben

[bennyhana22]

Final post for now, as I am monopolising the thread:

One other fun thing I did today was to go meet a nice young lady who is going to do a tattoo for me next week.

I currently have two, one on my right arm from a long time ago that, whilst not regretting, I no longer like a lot. I don't hate it, nor does it bother me, it just doesn't resonate with me. The other is on my right thigh, and I still adore it, and feel that I always will.

So...the plan next week is to have another one on my right arm that will incorporate into it the existing one, so that you will never know it was ever there. Clever, eh?!

I've been thinking and planning this for ages, and met the tattooist just today. I mentioned it to Mrs Ben for the first time tonight, and she was super cool with the idea. I haven't told her what the new one will be - we agreed for it to be a 'surprise' once it's done!

I am telling you this, because, like my festival life, things like my tattoos don't really form part of my life with most other people I meet in day to day life. I think that one of the reasons that my annual festival is so important to me, is because it is the one time in the year that I feel truly at 'home' in a peer group, in a community in which I can be my true self. My beautiful wife is wonderful, but we live in a very normal bubble, with people who share none of my interests or philosophies. I know that sounds a bit like I am romanticising festival culture, and trying to project it as more than it is (just a fun experience with music and arts, in a field), but I ​genuinely believe that there is a population of people for whom it means much more than that. For me, it is the closest that I have ever got to a feeling of inner spirituality. And no, that's not the ganja talking!

Enough rambling...

Night all, unless I dive back onto the thread with a (mercifully shorter) post or two later

Ben

x

[jeffie]

Who?

Um, did I say or do summat?

[jeffie]

Until you find they are friendly for weird reasons and want you to take part in their strange occult rituals.

Or is that just here?

"Are you local?"

[jeffie]

The Reflex Genie

The Reflux Genie - probably not helpful

[jeffie]

Final post for now, as I am monopolising the thread:

One other fun thing I did today was to go meet a nice young lady who is going to do a tattoo for me next week.

I currently have two, one on my right arm from a long time ago that, whilst not regretting, I no longer like a lot. I don't hate it, nor does it bother me, it just doesn't resonate with me. The other is on my right thigh, and I still adore it, and feel that I always will.

So...the plan next week is to have another one on my right arm that will incorporate into it the existing one, so that you will never know it was ever there. Clever, eh?!

I've been thinking and planning this for ages, and met the tattooist just today. I mentioned it to Mrs Ben for the first time tonight, and she was super cool with the idea. I haven't told her what the new one will be - we agreed for it to be a 'surprise' once it's done!

I am telling you this, because, like my festival life, things like my tattoos don't really form part of my life with most other people I meet in day to day life. I think that one of the reasons that my annual festival is so important to me, is because it is the one time in the year that I feel truly at 'home' in a peer group, in a community in which I can be my true self. My beautiful wife is wonderful, but we live in a very normal bubble, with people who share none of my interests or philosophies. I know that sounds a bit like I am romanticising festival culture, and trying to project it as more than it is (just a fun experience with music and arts, in a field), but I ​genuinely believe that there is a population of people for whom it means much more than that. For me, it is the closest that I have ever got to a feeling of inner spirituality. And no, that's not the ganja talking!

Enough rambling...

Night all, unless I dive back onto the thread with a (mercifully shorter) post or two later

Ben

x

Ben, without meeting you, after those three posts. I like you.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Awww, that's a shame. I want to meet everyone, and Yog was right up there!

Regarding my impending annual intoxication, a bit of clarity:

My 'problem', is that I don't do anything outside of my annual festival. I don't drink - never have as such, as I just never managed to get over not liking the taste. Whatever the drink might be, all I get is the taste of the alcohol itself, which at the age of 45 still tastes really icky to me! I have drunk three times - once early on at medical school (rugby related thing), the night I qualified (I had promised one of my friends that I would) and then on my stag night - thus making it 22 years since I drank anything. The only way I was ever able to was to put spirits in a pint glass, fill it up with orange juice, and neck it. It was great being pissed, but in terms of the enjoyment of the method, it was no different really to taking a pill - other than the burning sensation of all that gin going down (gin was a traditional 'penalty' drink at my med school, so became my drink du jour on those three occasions).

So, no booze. I would smoke all the time if it wasn't so utterly dreadful for you. I smoke for a bit in the summer, leading up to and including my festival - I couldn't just start on Day 1 of the festival...you've got to get your, ahem, eye in, haven't you. When I'm at the festival, I will predictably overcompensate for a lack of naughtiness for 95% of the year and smoke a lot. It feels hugely fun to be doing something that I shouldn't. My kids (17, 15 and 13) do not know that I do this. I wouldn't want them to because, though I enjoy myself a lot, I wouldn't want them to think bad of me. I find it easy to stop again after a few weeks as I feel very guilty (towards the kids) for doing something to myself that is, in essence, so harmful to me.

I smoke weed at my festival too. Not masses, but 'enough'. I only buy it once a year, purely for my festival. I really like getting stoned during that period, and some of my happiest times are dancing until stupid o'clock, a bit off my tits.

I always think that I would like to try other stuff, but never really had the opportunity. I would always worry about what the hell I was taking, pill wise, as there is so much shit out there. I have no interest in charlie (saw two boys cutting in the Woods at Latitude two years ago - no way were they more than 15. Sheesh...), but would really like to have a go at MDMA or acid, maybe just a couple of times. My love of squelchy, bleepy, minimalist techno would be great with something else on board! FUTURE, some of the godfathers of Acid House are strongly rumoured to be at GF and I could imagine a couple of hours with them, with me a bit 'happier' then usual!

So, my intoxicant history is pretty tame. It's not a case of me 'going mental' for that 4-5 days. I'm never out of it, am always in control, and never have any periods of no recollection etc. I have thought about taking some vodka to GF and maybe getting a bit pissed, but I'm not sure I will - it's just not something I really do. I often reflect on how many days a year friends of mine would be, at least partly, intoxicated on booze - must be 150-180 minimum, I reckon. I'm sober for pretty much every single one of those, and sometimes, after all this time, it can be a bit wearing, being the only one in the place not even a little bit pissed.

So, young Lucy, another ridiculously long response to a short post!

I am aiming to join the NFR NFC meet, so if anyone wants to play to use me as their pharmaceutically challenged plaything, we could talk...Yog, where will you be, when i need you!

Ben

Hello Ben.

I'm sorry to let you down in your hour of need. I'll be there in spirit though. I know exactly what you mean about Glastonbury being kind of spiritual. I'll miss it tremendously this year I reckon. I do need a break from it though.

I'm not sure I'd advise the vodka route. If you are not used to drinking then I'd say steer well clear. It'd be too much of a gamble with having a bad time I think.

[bennyhana22]

Ben, without meeting you, after those three posts. I like you.

Ben, without meeting you, after those three posts. I like you.

Awww, thanks jeffie!*

Ben

*mercifully short, as promised

[bennyhana22]

Hello Ben.

I'm sorry to let you down in your hour of need. I'll be there in spirit though. I know exactly what you mean about Glastonbury being kind of spiritual. I'll miss it tremendously this year I reckon. I do need a break from it though.

I'm not sure I'd advise the vodka route. If you are not used to drinking then I'd say steer well clear. It'd be too much of a gamble with having a bad time I think.

Consider my previous medical advice reciprocated, Yog!

Ben

x

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Is that a virtual stutter Ben?

[jeffie]

Night all

[jeffie]

Awww, thanks jeffie!*

Ben

*mercifully short, as promised

Twice even

[jeffie]

Ben, stay tuned for the meet up details. As in no-one has sorted it yet.

[bennyhana22]

Twice even

I have no idea how that happened! Went to edit, couldn't make any progress, though f*ck it, pressed cancel!

Ben

[bennyhana22]

Ben, stay tuned for the meet up details. As in no-one has sorted it yet.

I'll barely be off here for the next three months...eyes are peeled.

Ben

[ICGenie]

Hi jeffie

I started to reply to this yesterday, then work went a bit mental, so that post never got finished/posted.

It was too rambling, anyway.

Bottom line is, yes, I would aim to come to a meet, most likely the NFR NFC one. I'm going to GF on my own, and am planning on helping to coordinate a bit of an efests soloists camping area, if we can. Just so there can be some opportunities to touch base with the same people, compare our days, even maybe watch something together etc.

I'm a really bouncy, energetic old thing, but a bit...awkward, when meeting people for the first time. However, I am determined to get together with as many of you as I can, because you're lovely. My only anxiety rests within my continuous obsession with packing as much in as possible (in life, as much as at festivals). My plan is to get the earliest coach I can (SeeCoaches sweetly said they'd try to get me on the first one from Birmingham), set up camp quickly, hopefully in the place we agree upon (I'm thinking maybe Dairy?) and then spend the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday packing in the miles to try to see as much of the site as I possibly can. I know I can't experience everything by a long way, but I want to feel that I 'know' the site as well as I can. So, there'll be a bit of me thinking that I should be doing other things, rather than standing in one place at a meet. I know that sounds ridiculous, and I'm not in any way unsociable, I just have a silly drive to do as much as I can all the time. It drives Mrs Ben up the wall!

Anyway, I seem to have managed to write an unnecessary long reply again, to a question that might have preferred a simple 'yes' or 'no'!

Yes, jeffie, I plan to come to the NFR NFC meet - where and when do you guys usually meet up?

Ben

Number one Glastonbury tip; do not try to do everything. You will end up doing nothing. Never, ever plan to see two headliners in one night. If you're enjoying what you're doing, stick with it until it either finishes or you're not enjoying it any more. Try not to make too many plans. The hardest thing about Glastonbury is accepting you'll always be missing twenty things.

[jeffie]

[bennyhana22]

Number one Glastonbury tip; do not try to do everything. You will end up doing nothing. Never, ever plan to see two headliners in one night. If you're enjoying what you're doing, stick with it until it either finishes or you're not enjoying it any more. Try not to make too many plans. The hardest thing about Glastonbury is accepting you'll always be missing twenty things.

Thanks, ICG.

I didn't articulate that bit well. I have a dreadful history of military planning for my festivals. Last year at Green Man, I saw 43 bands!

I decided long ago that it was essential to change my model for my first Glastonbury. I have resolved to scrutinise the programme to within an inch of its life, and then decide very carefully on a very modest number of must sees, way, way fewer than I would ever previously have 'accepted'. I want the festival to happen to me. I want to let it take me where it wants to, rather than me (try to) dictate everything.

So, rest assured I am setting out with a very relaxed philosophy.

What I failed to articulate was that, over the first two days, before the main stages kick off proper, I want to try to get around as much as I can, to visit as many places as I can, to feel as if I've journeyed around much of the site. Being fit, and on my own, and possessing an indefatigable energy, I know that I will be able to visit more than many others constrained by other people and their needs/desires.

Don't worry, I have very realistic expectations and, as I said, a genuine excitement for letting Bimbling being my default state, rather then 'Come on, come on, if we run we can catch the last 3 minutes of The Wave Pictures before sprinting for 20 minutes to catch....' etc.

Ben

Edited March 5, 2015 by bennyhana22