Download Festival.

DD3 was going travelling round SE Asia, Oz etc in her gap year with 2 girlfriends and we bought her rucksack from one of those outdoor shops to get the right size etc (she is small, petite even!)
Anyway once she had the right size, they filled it with weights to give her an idea of what she would be carrying and she went over backwards like a ladybird on your patio, legs in the air and had difficulty getting up again!! A useful lesson on "travelling light"!!

You are a true gem Tegan thank you. He tried on his backpack full of all his stuff and his face was a picture! lol I don't think he has ever carried that amount of stuff before and his tent wasn't on it at the time. He is going down and back on the big green coach so, like you said, he hopefully will get chatting to someone as they go. I will keep you posted as it happens and like I said, I will give him your details, so thank you once again, I really appreciate it. Xxx

I don't drink and am used to getting up at unearthly hours to pick up my kids or deal with a grandchild emergency so even a call in the early hours isn't a problem, other than the fact that I sometimes jump in the car in and drive off automatically and then have to think about where I'm actually going. If he didn't want to contact me he could always phone you and you could phone me. He'll probably make lots of friends on the coach. I'll be at Southwell for the folk festival at times but always check my answerphone/computer as soon as I get in.

Aw, you have all been very kind. He has got wet wipes both for freshening up and toilet but I will say about toilet rolls. I did mention condoms but he said it wasn't his intention to go and sleep with anyone (he is still pure and innocent) so I'll leave that one up to him. If I have a Download grandchild in nine months, then I can tell him I told you so!

Tegan I read your inbox message first and wondered why you had left me your phone number. I thought maybe I had arranged for me to stay with you while he was at the festival without it registering in my mind. And then I read your post on here, now it all makes sense. Thank you so much, you are a lovely lady. I will give him the details you have given me and if he does become stuck in some way, then at least my mind is put at rest that he will be well looked after, thank you.

He went for wellies today and I will sort out some sun cream, although it has to be tropical for my son to take any items of clothes off, takes after his father in that department.

I am intending to enjoy the time he is away, riotous parties, toy boys lining up down the path, food delivered by handsome men, balloons, banners and firemen kissagrams. Anyone interested?

Sun cream is important of course but this is Britain.
Equally important to have wellies and waterproof clothing !

The S.O. says his son told him the food there is very expensive. The Co-op at Castle Donington is always very busy [it's a couple of miles walk from the festival itself].

My DS has been to Download with his eldest step son a couple of times. They had a great time. They camped once but never again - he said he was getting too old to rough it! You're bound to be anxious - I was when DD and her partner started going to Glastonbury - but he'll be fine and he'll have a great time. It'll probably be the first of many. Toilet roll, wet wipes, energy bars, and if he's camping a head torch is useful apparently!

Tegan . So kind x

Tegan that's a lovely gesture - Gransnet at its best.

I live just down the road from Download ruby; I'll pm you my tel number so if he needed something he'd forgotten I could pass it on to him.....

Good point millymouge

Don't know if anyone has mentioned but a toilet roll is very handy!

Should be bolshie was implying he had Communist leanings!

Buy sun cream, my son (43) never thinks of that, even last Sunday when helping his Dad at the allotment but he did admit when he came back he should have put some on. If you give him some and he doesn't use it that's his problem rather then him getting burnt because he didn't have any. Rubylady if you cannot be Bolshevik at home where can you be? He sounds like a lovely normal lad dealing with life as best he can for his age.

My son has been to a few festivals such as Bestival. One of his main gripes is that some adopt a policy of not allowing festival goers to bring their own water in etc. and then charge over the top prices inside. Aside from that he has always come away very tired but glad he went, even when it rained. I hope your son enjoys himself and has a great time.

I completely understand how you feel rubylady. Of course we worry about our kids, whatever their age. Nineteen or not, this is his first time going to a festival - and on his own! It's perfectly natural that you want to do all you can to make sure it all goes well for him. I know I would!
I hope he has a great time - and you must try to sit back, relax and enjoy the weekend without him. He'll be fine

Love is really quite hard, isn't it, letting go! I am sure your son will be fine Ruby and however much you worry about him, he should be able to take care of himself, if not, perhaps this is the way to find out? I do hope he enjoys his first Festival, and perhaps manages to make some friends, as I am sure they do on these occasions.

Absolutely understand what you mean rubylady, you want to make sure you've covered the important things in your own mind without necessarily letting him know you're checking and maybe subtly suggesting things that might be a good idea. It is a big step going to a festival on your own for the first time - hope he really enjoys himself and the weather is kind to him

Thanks everyone. Indinana, you made me laugh, I hadn't heard of this festival until he wanted to go.

Alea I know I have had problems with my son, and moaned about him on here. I don't seem to say when he is good to me though, probably like many people don't with their loved ones. He has had lots of social problems in his life and I am very proud of him even thinking of going to his first festival and to be brave enough to go on his own because he loves the people who are on stage, Ozzy Osbourne being one of them. Plus, we have had a lovely day today going round shopping finding all the things that he needs. True, he is going to uni in another 3 months. Therefore this part of his life will be over and I will not get to do things with him like this ever again and so I am enjoying it while I can. I was asking anyone if they had any good tips on things for him to take. He is not perfect and I have been really honest over the last few years about him, but show me a perfect teenager? Is there one? I wouldn't be a normal mother if I didn't worry when he is going to his first festival on his own, with no one with him, 19 year old or not. It is all part of him growing up, but I worry because I love him, shoot me!

I still think Rubylady's son should be taking responsibility. Presumably he has finished his exams and bearing in mind he will be off to university in the Autumn, he is old enough to have a go at independence and (with all due respect) his mum should not need to think about what he needs. Let him ask his mates, or learn the hard way!
Step back * rubylady* enjoy the foretaste of empty nesting, let him be an independent adult. He will appreciate home comforts all the more.

Thanks Jenty - the way it was written - "download, rock etc" - made it seem is if it were a music genre. It doesn't take much to confuse me

Indiana ....Download is a music festival thats held every year in the uk...

You can download all sorts of music, from classical to nursery rhymes, so how can it be a genre?

I assume he already has sleeping bag, tent, backpack, etc?

What is Download?