24th August - First day of Greenbelt

Mum and I arrived at the station fairly early. We waited on the platform for a while, but we didn't see te train arrive. I went to speak to one of the guards and he said that the train had arrived at a different platform. We rushed over there but we were too late. So we had to go back to the enquiries desk and work out which train to get. Fortunately there was another train about half-an-hour later. I caught that one and eventually got to Cheltenham at about 1pm. I caught the bus to the racecourse and walked to the halls of residence where I was staying. I unpacked and then went over to the box office to pick up my wristband. I met Jude (the Arts team leader) and went over to the hub tent for the briefing meeting. I found out that I'm working on the Forgiveness project exhibition in the Centaur building - a collection of photos of victims of crime and people who had lost relatives as a result of terrorist bombings. They had learnt to forgive the people who kiled their relatives and their stories were challenging. I have found out that I only have to work 4 hours altogether so I have a very easy job.
After the meeting I went to get some tea - I had a crepe and treated myself to a rainbow cookie. I had a wander around the site and met up with Sue from 25+ at the Tiny tea tent. She was with a friend from London. After talking to her for a short while, I went over to the grandstand to hear John Bell's talk on "God and His girls".
As usual his talk was interesting. I learnt a lot about women in the Bible who are rarely mentioned, but have stories worth telling.
After the talk, I went over to mainstage to see "Over the Rhine". I managed to see most of the gig. They were quite good. Then came the Billy Bragg concert. He was great. At one point he asked the audience if they wanted to hear the Carpenters or Bob Dylan. We voted for Carpenters, but got a bit of both - it was good fun. He then got us to join in with his own version of Bob Marley's "One love" which had the chorus "Let's drop the Debt and it will be all right". The lyrics were thought provoking and we joined in enthusiastically.
After the concert I went over to Last orders in Centaur. I heard Jude and Andy interview Ann Morisey (the speaker for this Sunday's service) and Mark Yaconelli who is speaking at Greenbelt for the first time. Jude asked each person she interviewed various questions in order to determine their carbon footprint as this year Christian Aid are focusing on climate change and trying to make us more aware of the impact we have on the environment. By midnight I started to feel quite tired so I returned to the halls of residence. I have had an enjoyable first day and it looks like there is plenty to look forward to tomorrow.