I rang, curious about how this particularly delicate distinction – the £1 or £2 service – is policed? Surely where commerce is concerned the festival needs to make sure it is not being taken advantage of?
"I only heard about this today, but I understand that it is operated on a trust system," said Anna Wade, a festival spokesperson. She went on to explain that there are also free toilets on site but the distinction is that those in the tastefully named "Poonarnia" are cleaned regularly.
Lovely.
And since we're all here: way to go with the name, Poonarnia. Managing to be tasteless, sexist and childish in four syllables is no mean feat. I'd probably find it amusing if it weren't for the usuary thing.
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It's amazing how completely you have missed the point of a festival like Boomtown. This was one stall in a massive site for people to use if they wished. There was no shortage of alternative facilities either.
ReplyDeleteRyanair of festivals? It's the complete opposite. It gives you so much more than most of the UK's bland and generic mainstream festivals. Where else can you emerge from a forest to watch top quality reggae and dub on a stage built like an aztec temple? Or watch NOFX play in a giant town square. There are so many hidden stages and things to see it's almost impossible to cover everything in one weekend. Compared to the more established, bigger festivals, Boomtown gives you so much more and is a wonderful and unique experience.
The definition of Boomtown is a town experiencing rapid growth, which is a pretty apt name for something that appears overnight once a year and leaves thousands of people with a massive silly grin on their faces.
Couldn't have put it better myself
DeleteYou work for the festival, don't you? Someone else posted the same form of words about a week ago, the last three lines verbatim.
DeleteI'm guessing this guerilla PR from the festival *waves* And my congratulations was for "Poonarnia", not the name of the festival, which would have been obvious if you'd followed the links or counted the number of syllables in each name.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHaving read both Simon Emmerson's and John Spiers' heartfelt posts as booked artists, I'd say that Ryanair should consider litigation over the comparison.
ReplyDeleteYou need to read Simons apologies
DeleteBoomtown don't run PooNarnia. They're at Glastonbury as well as a load of other festivals >> https://www.facebook.com/poonarnia
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that Poonarnia does not reflect on Boomtown? Or is your argument that all the festivals Poonarnia are at are equally grasping?
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that my post from yesterday appears to have been mysteriously deleted. I think Poonarnia reflects on Boomtown in the same way that this post reflects on your lack of ability to think logically and do a moments research before posting! Can you make the same argument for how boutique camping indicates festivals are stealthily charging people to sleep
ReplyDeleteI removed your post because it was pointlessly rude and antagonistic: nastiness on the web attracts nastiness and you seem nasty. I'm tempted to do the same with this one. These things are your concerns, not mine.
ReplyDeleteOK, so you've posted something from social media, in the process comparing a festival to Ryanair. It's based on a (wrong) assumption about something that a quick Google would have averted and then your (pre-edit) post then went on to label the festival as being tasteless, sexist and childish. I think that would neatl fit your definition of pointlessly rude, antagonistic and nasty surely?
ReplyDeleteSure, no one like people having the taking the piss out of them, but in all seriousness though, you're a journo and you've just said that issues of fact-checking and not mud slinging in the wrong direction are my concerns not yours? Erm, hello?
What is the wrong assumption? And why are you assuming I didn't Google something? What makes you think this originated on social media? And why is there no face attached to your profile, Pev?
ReplyDeleteSo, in order :
ReplyDelete1) Wrong assumption was stating that the toilets were run by the festival in your original post before you edited it.
2) I assumed you didn't Google as the first hit on searching for "poonarnia" is the facebook page of the company that run it that are clearly their own entity. Third hit is their own website. (I'd posted a link to the search in the post you deleted)
3) I thought this originated on social media because you wrote in your first paragraph "subsequently appearing in a Facebook feed near you.". Maybe that's a bit ambiguous though...?
4) There's no picture for me because I'm not a blogspot user and I posted though my Google ID which doesn't have one.
If you think any of the above is wrong and you're offended I'll happily delete my posts if you want - you edited your original post to correct it which was the right thing to do so fair cop.
Having said that, I'm still curious why you think optionally paying for loos is a big deal when the equivalent has been offered in the form of boutique camping for years? That's just an interesting point of discussion though...
ReplyDeleteOh and also you didn't pick up on the pricing - if it's £2 a poo and £10 a day pass, I wonder how many people really need to do more than five poos a day...? :-D
ReplyDeleteThe reason I changed one word in this post yesterday is because you and someone else were intent on misunderstanding the sentence in which it sat. It was a clarification, not a correction. It should have been obvious I was referring to "Poonarnia" not "Boomtown" because Poonarnia has four syllables and Boomtown only two. It's all about context. It makes zip difference to me who gets the money from this venture. It's the fact it exists in the first place that drew my attention, hence the pay off about usuary. Do we go to music festivals to have our bodily functions monetized? Not me. There's an expression that springs to mind about festival organisers who know the price of everything and the value of nothing, but that's veering close to cliche. I'd like for all the toilets to be clean. Curiosity satisfied?
ReplyDeleteAs a point of note this has been going on for years though. Searching through my memory, I *think* I first saw pay-per-poo composting loos at SGP in 2009? But it's not just about the cleanliness - they had a chap doing aftershave and perfumes on exit and a small disco attached as well. I didn't go myself but I understand one of the cubicles at the Boomtown one you could go all the way through and there was a hidden venue / bar behind too.
ReplyDeleteSure, everyone wants to go to gigs and have as good facilities as possible but I think you're missing the point. Fundamentally you must have your basic level of needs satisfied (anything less deserves an instant flogging). However, if people wish to offer an optional higher service at a cost then that's fine too. Whether it be posh bogs, boutique camping, champagne bars punting out crap bubbly at £35 a bottle, festival rickshaws to take your kit to the campsite instead of walking, expensive posh meal venues with big name chefs instead of cheaper outlets etc... These are all things which give people options and they are fine as long as the standard stuff is also there for everyone that doesn't want to partake. The things you should be shouting from the rooftops about are shows where these things exist without an alternative (naming no names) or equally bad, the shows where normal public are only allowed to bring a small quantity of their own alcohol in in order to force them to use the over-priced commercial bars (again naming no names). With ticket prices where they are these days it's not nice at all.
I've made a start. We clearly disagree on some things. Why don't you go on and do the things you suggest?
ReplyDeleteThat was a waste of my time
ReplyDelete