Just going out for a little midweek cruise, and it's amazing how deceiving photos are. The view was great, the yacht was cool but it was actually freaking freezing and pretty boring being stuck out there working instead of having fun and just killing time waiting for it to end. I suppose that's like any work though, and there are certainly worse offices than this. I even think this may trump the fabled corner office?

Now back to the topic at hand, I'm trying to write this today (being Monday at this point) while the already blurry memories are still at their freshest. I can say that it was festival of great new experiences and cool new people but with all that happened I have been struggling to decide how to break it down in manner respectful to the complexity of the occasion. That lasted about 5 minutes and I realised I don't have it in me to write something poetic and beautiful so I am just going to cheapen the experience by breaking it down in to a form of awards ceremony for stand out performances, both good and bad. All names have been changed to the legendary status they deserve and so that people can continue their normal lives without fear of prosecution or persecution.

The biggest winner - This actually starts a little before the festival when Sergio offered Thor a spare ticket he had but then due to a lack of clarity on the acceptance of sed offer and unbeknownst to Thor he sold the ticket. Now due to years of playful banter even on the morning of Daisies when Sergio told Thor he had sold the ticket it was dismissed as a joke. So let's fast forward to the entrance gate and there is Thor without a ticket, but being a god on earth he doesn't trouble himself with trivial things like mortal rules such as needing tickets to enter events and proceeds to just walk right in untouched and unquestioned. He then returned the next day to claim his armband and as no one would dare deny a god they gladly offered it up. There is nothing like getting a free ticket based on nothing but absolute confidence in your right of entitlement to it.

The funniest moment - To provide a backdrop it had been a massive Friday night for our fearless leader Moses, mentioned in an earlier book of daisies, and being the last person up he was suitably punished by having tequila poured down his throat before opening his eyes followed closely by being dragged from the tent by his feet. So now that he was up, he was off and leading us again up one of the many informal campsite paths while trying to touch peoples silhouettes through the tents. There was no doubt at this point that something dramatic would happen soon, and then he saw them. There were two lovely ladies walking down the path carrying a skottel (gas cooker) lid between them, laden with various pots and pans that were freshly washed after 30 min walk to the dam and back. And he was off, running up the path and as he neared them he launched in to the air, it was at this point I thought to myself "too soon!" and so it appeared to be as he landed with both feet squarely in the middle of the skottel ripping it from their hands and sending everything else flying in to the dirt. What we didn't realise is that during his run the towel on his shoulder had blown up in to his face, but being a man of faith he never had any doubt that he could still clear it blind. So there he now was, standing in the middle of the skottel lid. There is not much one can say at this point but he tried to make a mends by sheepishly picking up the carnage and trying to formulate some sort of apology. We will never know exactly what was said for, as his trusty disciples, we lay strewn some distance back along the path crippled by tears of laughter.

The angriest/drunkest person - This has to go to our resident american who will henceforth be known as the congressman, the reason for which will become apparent shortly. Now while the congressman miraculously managed to stay at a level of drunkenness perilously close to breaking point the entire weekend without ever breaking, it was only at about 6.30 am on Sunday morning that he really found his best form. I was just returning from the electro tent, for which I will give myself an honorable mention for only leaving once the music stopped, and on arrival back I found some dedicated souls still sitting beneath the bedouin tent hanging on to the last threads of consciousness  Among them was the congressman who shortly after I joined them stood up and asked in the politest manner possible whether he could make a political statement. Being a generous lot we gave him the floor, it was at this juncture that he picked up a chair. My initial thought was that he was looking to use it as his soap box but it was as he smashed it into the ground that I realised I had been sorely mistaken. He then proceeded to attack all other free chairs, the majority of which he tried to direct towards Moses' tent but I feel due to delayed release issues he hit every tent but that one. The reason for this political statement is still unknown but as with any great political statement it included a lot of passion but made very little sense.

The most disturbing/educational statement- When the man known simply as "The legend" informed us that during the 90's it was considered perfectly acceptable to take E as a suppository. While clearly an enlightening bit of trivia the thought of this still keeps me up at night.

The most annoying thing - the queues, there was a queue for everything and most of the time they were not small. Daisies seems to be a victim of its own success with the numbers appearing to be substantially more than any previous years. Hopefully they learn from it and bump up all the facilities next year else it could threaten to detract from the amazingness that is Daisies.

The biggest resident hobo - First a little on the hobbit, known by this name due to hairy feet being his sole choice of footwear throughout the festival. He's always known to be a free spirit at these events. Things like having a tent or any real plan are not seen as priorities. He is truly the king of winging it. Now to set the scene, I wake in the morning in my tent to the sound of some heavy manly breathing behind my back. Despite my clearly drunken state when going to bed I was pretty certain that I had gone to bed alone. While I was building up the courage to turn around and identify the noise I noticed my clothing bag was covered by some filthy rug and straw was strewn over my entire tent. I then, as quietly as possible, sat up fully prepared to have to engage in some close combat with a perfect stranger and was overwhelmingly relieved to see the hobbit lying there still fully suited in his clothes from the night before. Apparently he had been found lying under the bedouin tent in the early hours of the morning, with nothing but that dirty rug for protection from the elements, slowly freezing to death and had been ushered in to my tent by some kind souls. And once again despite himself he had survived one more year.

So those are the most memorable aspects of this years Daisies. The "most memorable" can also easily be substituted with the "only remembered" as considering we had about 9 bottles of tequila and 100 litres of draft beer to share between 20 people at our campsite alone, it was not the most sober of occasions but as with every daisies it just gets better and better every year we return. Now we start the count down to next year. Time can't go by fast enough.