Festival season, Finsbury Park (with afterthoughts)

This year is the 8th Wireless festival, and someone has woken up to the fact that only a fifth of the bands include women, so suddenly there's a women-only stage. About which I have mixed feelings - remember, in the 1990s or was it 80s, those courses on Women's Literature - probably they were a step in the right direction, necessary to get more air-time for women writers, but really what you want is for there to be no need to have special courses for men or women (or LGBTHXIQYYY).

I mention the festival because it's one of several that happen nearby, in Finsbury Park. With windows open - it's another beautiful clear warm evening - I can hear the music and the voice of the crowd, filling the streets that warm bodies will soon be coursing along, on their way home or elsewhere. The tube station ... well, this is what they have prepared, and the barriers were being put out as I hastened home -

What's nice, though, is the way the young folks put glitter on their faces and are relaxed and having a good time. Yeah, I remember being young and having a good time with music and friends.... long may it continue!

However a tickets cost upwards of £55 a day, and the official tickets are sold out, with warnings not to buy from ticket touts.

This is what it looked like in some previous year, in the park -

Bird's eye view of Wireless Festival (via)

"They" put up a big fence that leaves a tiny bit of park around the edges. And "they" impose a strict curfew and send letters round to residents reassuring them. Which is good.

And there are several events, several weekends in a row, because once the fence and stages are up, it makes sense to use them more than once.

About 45,000  people are expected. If 5,000 fill the Albert Hall, and on leaving you're part of a seemingly endless stream of people going to South Ken tube, then nine times that number heading home is quite mind boggling. No wonder the main road has to be closed for an hour or two.

The lull before the flood

The music has stopped. Across the street, as I write at 22.22, Tesco has its shutters at half mast (showing it's closed - against the rampage of hungry festival-goers, I cynically thought, but it had suffered a power outage about 6pm. [And this happened again on the subsequent night!]) and a few people are making their way north, towards the overground station. All quiet on SGR. Probably quite busy down at the tube station. Going through it at 9.15, I saw posses of high-vis police, travelling in groups of six or more.

The music continues Saturday and Sunday, with gates opening at 11 and the programme starting at 12.30.

Addendum - Walking in the park in the cool of the morning, I discovered that the fenced-off area fills half the park -

 ... and got set straight on what was on, when -

Wireless is next weekend....