Happy Holidays - Part Three

WOMAD Festival Reading - July 2006
Originally uploaded by gavinandrewstewart.

The third part of my life as a lotus-eater took me ( and my daughter) to the WOMAD festival at Reading, UK. WOMAD is a great festival which I have really enjoyed over the years. This, however, was my first time as a father. I have to say that taking a young child really changed my perception of the festival. In the past I have meticuously planned with the programme which artists I would see on which stages and moved from A to B in a happy but purposeul fashion. However, with a small child I was much more open to serendipity and moving slowly.

In fact, over the course of the time I was at the festival I didn't really take in more than a few minutes of the programmed music. I did, however, enjoy the informal drumming, the stalls, the workshops, the fair and the general sense of being in a brightly coloured place where people were having good natured fun!