Meeting People
This can take on different meanings for different people i.e. meeting people you know, meeting new people or not meeting people you know!
Meeting People You Know
With up to 100,000 people at some festivals (maybe even more), you decide to make a rendezvous with friends at some point in the weekend. The easiest point is the campsite as at least you are on the same field. Navigation can be made by using significant pointers. Firstly the watch towers, the flags, then by different tents and finally by familiar piles of litter and BBQ detritus. The best times for this in the morning or the first few hours after the bands have stopped playing. Any other time is when the music is on or you should be sleeping. There is nothing more annoying in the early hours than somebody shouting a name in what they think is whisper, whilst hundreds around can hear their progress.
It is more difficult during the day to meet with people when the festival is in full swing. Imagine trying to find someone in the middle of a Killers show when you are surrounded by population of a small town standing, swaying or sitting shoulder to shoulder. What are you doing wandering around when the band is playing?
The most popular method of locating your friends is by using the triangulation method. This is where 2 landmarks are used to describe your position or intended designation. "By the left pylon, in line with Gristleburgers (purveyors of offal based product). A 3rd landmark increases accuracy. But your choice of landmark is crucial. "By the dude in the yellow hat" is not a good landmark as you may find he has moved to the toilet queue or doesn't share your choice in music and has vetoed this performance.
This is called the 'Shoulder Method of Locating Friends'. It may be necessary to gain advantage by moving to a higher elevation to see your friends. In this case find a willing person to climb up onto their shoulders. I stress the word willing as refusal may offend!
Mobile phones, I hear you say. In such a large gathering of people, the mobile phone is rendered useless. There are so many using their phones that it is difficult to get a signal. In fact there are so many microwaves flying about that it may be possible to cook several low flying pigeons. Many text messages are received after the airwaves have slowed down. A familiar sound at 4.00am are message alerts going off all over the campsite, just at that point where you had just drifted off to sleep.
Meeting New People
Large events are full of like minded people, all enjoying the same thing as you. The reason for going to a festival. It is easy to strike up a conversation with most people. Your favourite band or artist, any gigs that you have been. 'Old Farts' are in their element as they can reel off their anecdotes of meeting the stars of the 70's and 80's to the awe and wonder of younger festival goers. There are numerous opportunities for these liaisons to happen. There are queues for most things from drinks vouchers to toilets to souvenir stalls. The 'Shoulder Method', as mentioned above, is also a good way of meeting new friends.
Another way of meeting new people is where you pitch your tent. You will become very familiar with them being in such close proximity. Every move or sound will alert you to what they are doing. If you pitch your tent next to one of the main tracks then you may also meet new people after the shows have finished. There are one or two that may decide that they don't want to walk 2 miles to their tent, or even get confused about which is their tent. These people may decide to use your tent or even just on it. This is called the 'Cuckoo in the Nest'.
Not Meeting People
As there are such large crowds, you think that it is easy to avoid those that you do not want to meet. But this is not the case, those people always seem to appear when you least expect to see them. It's not that they are stalking you, but they just tend to gravitate towards your aura. A disguise is possibility, as mentioned earlier, when it comes to clothes anything goes.
Here are 2 disguises that worked particularly well!
