The most fun in the world

One night at Glastonbury festival about ten years ago, I gave myself the mission of finding the best fun in the whole festival. I left my friends and set off on a solo expedition through gigs, dance tents, weird tents, campfires, conversations, kitchens, scores of people, and even the first aid tent to see how fun it was to try to help people who were feeling fucked up.

Finally I made my way up to the stone circle, where the tradition is for all those still awake to gather and to see the sunrise in with drumming, dancing and bedtime reefers. After a whole night's exploration I came back to my friends and the dawn found me lying literally in a pile of them. Ah, I thought happily. This is the best fun in the whole of Glastonbury.

“Of the oriental cults that swept through the ancient Greek and Roman worlds,” writes Barbara, “Christianity is the only one to have survived in any form. The reason for its success, at least in the first two centuries, probably lies in a quality that the other cults never attained and, as far as we know, never tried to attain: namely, a sense of community that could outlast the emotional charge of the ceremonies and rituals themselves.” Dancing in the Streets, p72

One of the strongest kinds of gold I know is good love. I walk home alone thinking of this and of the desire that Hannah and I share to plug the Fun Fed's work into real communities, real relationships, real love, rather than bunches of strangers who come together for a few hours or days and then dissipate.

This kind of shared experience can have a powerful effect on relationships. Last night my guest-house-mates and I went to Ecstatic dance, which was wonderful. We saw such playful and beautiful sides of each other, and this morning at breakfast we were all playing and dancing and laughing around the kitchen together like a team of little groovers. We feel very close now.

I'd like us to weave this into real life.

I've been to a gazilion workshops and festivals and things in the four months I've been doing this work, and on my list of most fun or golden moments are:

“Yodelling in the open back of Gilbert's truck with Jenny"

“Chopping wood with Laura"

“Washing up and singing Stevie Wonder while mopping the kitchen with Victor and Brian.”

I've changed location and community about once a week for the last 8 weeks, and more broadly been travelling for the last eight months. I miss my friends and family.

I have an almost ceaseless desire to eat cake. And I think what I really want is love.