The Truck That Never Was

Friday 20th July 2007 1.30pm: Hurrah! We’re on the coach to Oxford. We’ve printed out the line-up and chosen which bands we want to see, I’ve super-glued down the flapping sole on my boot and worked out exactly how much vodka to tip into Volvic bottles to keep us drunked up for the weekend. This year’s Truckin’ adventure has begun!
3pm: The coach still hasn’t left London, we stare slightly forlornly out the windows at Brent Cross and the miles of tailed-back traffic ahead.
4.30pm: We’re in Oxford! Once London spat us out at Hillingdon, we sped up here in no time. Mrs Williams has welcomed us back to our usual room in her guesthouse, and we’ve unpacked the water-proofs.
4.35pm: A phone call from Jim: Truck is cancelled. Truck. Is. Cancelled. Thanks to the crazy, biblical non-stop rain, the river has burst its banks and flooded the site. How inconsiderate. We are distraught in Oxford.
Saturday 21st July 2007 9am: A text from Jim: The show is going on! A spot of emergency Trucking is taking place today and tomorrow with various bands playing at Brookes University in Oxford. We ponder the line-up (hmmm, BJM…tempting), but our spirits are broken. We board the coach back to London, it speeds along through unbroken sunshine.
1.30pm: Back home. Lovebox Festival is taking place in the park next door. I unpack my unsullied festival gear to the sound of Super Furry Animal’s set. Oh the unbearable pathos!
SFA play ‘Hello Sunshine’. It pisses down. We have a cup of tea and sit on the sofa identifying Super Furry tunes. This is as good as it gets.
8pm: A thunderous version of ‘Call Me’ rattles the window frames. Deborah Harry and Clem Burke are in our ‘back garden’, standing on bits of grass that we've walked across countless times. That’s quite weird.