Five Things I Wouldn't go to Greenbelt Without

The Big Green Amorphous Caterpillar  bides its time...

For all Greenbelt  afficionados - you'll have noticed a new feature on this year's  GB blog: My Greenbelt Five, where folk are asked to list the five things  to  which they're most looking forward  at this year's festival and why.

I thought I'd do one  here.  Thanks to a technical blip (partly my memory, partly my bank) I've not yet been able to download the programme, so I've no idea yet what I'm excited about - unless you count my first bath for six days after I get home. But nil desperandum, I've been inspired to make my own, alternative Greenbelt Five: Five Things I wouldn't Go to Greenbelt Without (Five Things Without Which I wouldn't Go to Greenbelt? ) Here we go:

1. Duct tape - Or should that be Duck?  After the rain we had on the Friday  night last time, there'd easily have been enough water on site to provide modest  leisure  facilities for any number of our little feathered friends.  After jamming my porch door on the first evening I was extremely grateful for its sticking powers. (The tape, not the ducks!).  It also held up the legs of my makeshift camping table  - lovingly forged from an old Sylvanian Families tin tray that used to belong to my daughter.  It's mended the frame of my 'Granny' trolley, (another festival must have, great for lugging all your clobber on site)  and I can imagine that it'd come in handy for mending torn canvas and snapped tent poles. 

2. My cosy green fleecy blanket with pretty tasselly bits.  You can go glamping in a pop-up tent as well, you know. Who needs teepees, oriental rugs and firepits!

3. My Kelly Kettle. Never try to separate a Greenpatch from her supply of boiling water and teabags! (Fairtrade, of course). Everything Stops for Tea, after all! It will work this time, of course it will.

4. My Rohan merino base layer top, (woolly vest for the unsophisticated). A couple of these saw me through a mammoth five week walking trip last year and yes, they really can be worn for days at a time without ponging too much. A real Godsend on those chilly evenings on the campsite. Worth every penny.

5. My faithful bog standard Nokia phone gets its annual workout at Greenbelt. It can't email or tweet  - I leave that to the dawn chorus - just good old PAYG calls and texts.

If I can just sneak in another one: on Mr GP's advice, I'll reluctantly add earplugs. (Who wants to sleep with wodges of greyish gunk stuck in your ears?) But needs must - I'm volunteering this year and suspect I may be pitched rather nearer the centre of the action than I was last time round.

So there you have it.  Any Greenbelters reading this, I'd love to know what you'd put on your list.

This time last year: Thunder and Rainbows - Francis and Ignatius paint the garden aka creative prayer practices

A glimpse of life in the Greenpatch household a year ago: Light my fire - Thunder and rainbows. Eeyore, Saints Francis of Assisi and Ignatius; Julie Andrews; the first Christmas crib; Every Now and Then with Jesus; flag-making; the examen;  Jackson Pollock and decorating Greenpatch dog in tasteful shades of sage green and buttermilk..  the joys of creativity...and kelly kettles.

Put another way - it's Sunday evening, I'm out of inspiration, but would prefer not to be greeted by a grumpy menopausal potato every time I log on here. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Nouvelle Cuisine - Steamed Fish

Steamy and oh so fishy goings-ons via The Beaker Folk and Letter From Home. Makes my own forays into Nouvelle Cuisine seem quite tame really.  Don't know what's got into everybody; I blame all this jubilation and weather we've been having lately.

Smoke gets in your eyes

Took advantage of Mr GP's absence at a BBQ to have my own cooking session en plein air, and give my kelly kettle, (seen here at Greenbelt 2011), it's first outing of the year. For the uninitiated a kelly or poacher's kettle is simply a double-walled metal chamber, with the water kept in the chimney wall. You  fill the base with fuel, place the chamber on top,  before lighting  it. The kelly then gives a convincing imitation of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, and 3-5 minutes later le voila, tea is served! The beauty of this little chappie is that it's compact, light, can burn any fuel that's to hand  - green brownie points here - enabling you to whip up a quick cuppa at a moment's notice wherever you are, whether that's the riverbank, wilderness, even the desert... Yes, camel dung makes excellent fuel I'm told, not that I'm ever likely to be in a position to try that one out. It also appeals to the latent Girl Guide in me. After all, my patrol were awarded  the wooden spoon for best cooks 1972. (If my memory serves me rightly, lukewarm   porridge and lumpy mince of doubtful origin featured largely on our menus!)

Luckily nobody passing by the Greenpatch residence at about 5.30 this evening  caught sight of the smoke signals, or if they did, heard the cursing, blinding and puffing and had the presence of mind not to call the fire brigade. It was just me, re-discovering the knack of getting the sodding thing to keep burning. There's a certain technique to this (which I didn't quite master at GB whilst trying to brew up in a howling wind on the first day!) It Consists of pointing the kettle into the prevailing wind, blowing vigorously into the holes in the base, head down like a demented hen, whilst simultaneously posting fuel as fast as you can into the chimney. It took a few trial runs and a moud of messy ash today  before I  realised that I'd have to put  aside romantic backwoodsmen notions of scavenging for pine cones, kindling and grasses -  and settle for  using billions of little squares of cardboard;  far more efficient and less smoky.

 Not the best of timing, I must admit, kellying on the same day as having my hair done. I pong as if I smoke 60 a day. Great cup of coffee though.  However, I need to get in a lot more practice before I can fulfil my dreams  of plentiful hot water for cuppas, washing, and sneaky late night hot water bottles. at GB.

Jubilee- Kelly Kettles, Choirs, Corgis and Cupcakes

                                                 Jubilee cupcakes


Just off the phone to GP son, who's at a street party in Norwich.

Back down south in Maison Greenpatch, celebrations so far have been more low key. Highlights to date:

1. Cupcakes I bought this luscious lot above in the Saturday market. They didn't last long!

2. "Rock" Went with friends to a performance of the Roger Jones musical about the calling of Simon Peter. Great fun; very moving.

3. Choir I made a one-off visit to Newchurch choir to join in singing Zadok The Priest as part of the joint Jubilee celebrations; the Queen's Diamond coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the ordination of  a retired priest and member of the congregation. Which brings us to...

4. The Royal College of Music Chamber Choir in all their bedraggled splendour singing their hearts out in the river pageant finale. Did you see them? Talk about true British spirit; they weren't going to let a piddling shower of rain stop the show! Marvellous! (Though I must admit to having snoozed through much of the rest of the pageant.)

5. The Queen's home movies Well, that gave us a glimpse into  the lives of the Royals that we've not  come across before. Two snippets in particular, made me smile: one scene at Balmoral where the family were seen brewing up on a poacher's kettle, just like my favourite Kelly Kettle. And those stars of the show, the  ubiquitous corgis, especially Prince Charles's throwaway reference to the breed's snappiness (corgis being originally bred to round up cattle); there were not a few scared sentries around, apparently. Ouch! Too close to home. I've still  clear memories of the Headmistress's corgi at my prep school, who struck terror into the hearts of everybody, and was perfectly capable of bringing an entire 'crocodile'  of nicely brought-up young ladies and accompanying teachers to a terrified halt! Research has revealed that my memories aren't playing me false, either!

Mr GP, needless to say has completely ignored the entire shebang in favour of pub with his mates and golf. But shhhh...he's not noticed that I've sneaked in and changed the radio from Planet Rock to Classic FM's wall to wall Jubilee themed favourites!  All together now....