Danskcolin: Saturday May 16th 2026 "Have YOU ever found yourself at a music festival, and instantly regretted it?!!!!"

Yes, Friends, have YOU ever found yourself at a music festival and instantly regretted it? Most of us have, haven't we, particularly now that, despite the current inclement weather, this year's 'festival season' is in full swing - no pun intended!!!

Help may be at hand, however, if we're to believe this morning's Onion News! Read my 'potted' version here, included in my blog explicitly for your reading pleasure! [You're all heart, Colin! - Ed]

Kudos, that man!!!

And reading that story this morning, here in semi-retired Liphook, Hampshire, brings a bit of a cracked smile to the crinkly old faces of me and my wife Lois, no question about that!

me and my wife Lois - a recent picture

We're due to be 'gracing' a local music festival ourselves today, would you believe! And although, undoubtedly, fully paid-up members of the local 'old codger' set here in Liphook, and definitely getting a bit "yellow around the edges", we're not quite ready to choose the "Soundproof-Tent" option ourselves, not yet, anyway!!!!

And although the weather here in Hampshire, South-East England, looks threatening, Lois and I are going to 'wrap up warm', and accept our son-in-law Edward's offer of a lift to the first day of "Chiddstock" - the local version of the legendary 1969 Woodstock Festival - set to "kick off" today on the village green, in the little Surrey village of Chiddingfold at 1pm today.

And how could we bear to miss out on today's events at the festival, when the programme features our own dear grandson, Isaac (15), "rocking out" on vocals, with his boy-girl band "New Horizon", no less!!!

The tension is clearly mounting as we arrive early to the festival venue, drop Isaac off at the entrance to meet up with his fellow band-members to do their "sound-checks", while we ourselves are refused entry and get turned away by a bunch of elderly lady 'bouncers', would you believe! They're not quite ready to open up for the public apparently (!) - so they say! - and we just have to kill time with our daughter Alison and husband Edward, strolling round the village green, admiring the village duck pond and grabbing a coffee in the tiny village coffee shop "Elliot's on the Green", which is nice!

turned away at the entrance by some elderly lady 'bouncers', Lois and I are forced

to kill time by admiring Chiddingfold's village green and duckpond, and ordering

a warming cup of coffee and a Danish pastry in the village coffee-shop, which is nice!

With rain threatening, we leave the comparative warmth of the village coffee-shop and eventually meet up again with Isaac and the band, whom we find doing some traditional future-pop-star-style 'clowning' on the iconic "Chiddstock" sign, and on the inevitable "jumbo deckchair", which the 5-piece band somehow manage to all squeeze onto (!).

leaving the warmth of the coffee-shop and braving the cold and the threatening clouds,

we meet up with Isaac and his band, doing the traditional pre-concert 'clowning'

on the iconic "Chiddstock" sign, and on the inevitable 'giant deckchair' (!)

Lois and I buy a quick lunch of some 'wraps' or something like that (!), from a lunch van

before sampling the festival's opening act - youngsters form the Surrey Music Academy

Chiddstock may seem, on the surface, to be just another 'tin-pot' local festival but make no mistake, it's actually something quite out of the ordinary. This is a very well-heeled part of Surrey, and the festival makes tens of thousands of pounds for charity every year. And Isaac and his band, New Horizon, comment, later, on the professional quality of the sound equipment in particular - so much better, Isaac says, than playing in the corner of some draughty, crowded local pub, to put it mildly!!!!

And on the 'Chiddstock Big Stage' Isaac's band's performance is truly professional this afternoon, both Isaac's singing and the band's music - I know Lois and I are obviously biased, but that's still our verdict, so take it or leave it haha!!!

Lois and I, naturally, as fully-paid-up 'old codgers', don't recognise the songs in the band's 'play-list', with one exception: for their 'encore' number they choose the Franki Valli and the Four Seasons classic 1967 smash, "Beggin'", which is nice!

Here's a 'snatch' of it, if the technology works, that is !!!!!

Kudos, that band !!!!!

We can't stay on after Isaac's set, however - Isaac needs to get home to watch the FA Cup Final, and Lois and I need to get home and go to bed for a delayed 'statutory nap-time' (!).

What busy lives we all lead these days - it's literally non-stop, isn't it !!!!!

[I don't include you two 'noggins' in that statement, Colin! Just saying!!! - Ed]

Meanwhile, events in the political world are proceeding apace, as we find out from tonight's edition of Saturday Night Live UK. We see an estate-agent showing the latest batch of potential new prime-ministers around No.10: first Streeting and then Burnham, but there's a slight hitch when Liz Truss is discovered hiding in a store-cupboard, "beggin' " for another chance - cue for a song, there, Isaac !!!!