Remote Island

In the County Press this week, we were given a break from the usual drivel of Charlotte Hofton by the self-styled, red squirrel teaser that is Alex Dyke, an Isle of Wight Radio DJ. One of his side bar snippets contained a quick article referencing the Isle of Wight Festival and the ‘Freeloaders’ who gather the other side of the River Medina to listen to the Festival.

It appears the rumours may be true and the Isle of Wight Council are proposing to close down the public right of way by the river over the festival period. This means the Freeloaders won’t be setting up camp and allegedly trashing the place as Alex describes it. I was planning to pop down to the river this year as I hadn’t bothered to get a ticket for 2008. The atmosphere down by the river is relaxed and cheerful and I think it’s great for families too – last year in Seaclose Park I had to explain to my teenage daughter what the guy in front of us was sticking up his nose just before Muse played their set.

Alex stated that Council Tax payers’ money is used to tidy up the desecration caused by the Freeloaders. I find that a little hard to believe, the site down by the river on the Monday following the weekend Festival was clear – most people tidy up after them and there were a number of people making the site tidy and restoring it to it’s former glory as the following photo proves.

As for Freeloaders, I wonder if Alex forked out from his own pocket for his ticket this year.

If I could ever book a Fantasy Festival, it would probably look something similar to last year’s splendid effort by Solo. Headliners included The Prodigy on Friday Night, Foo Fighters on Saturday, and Coldplay rounding up events nicely on Sunday evening. News on the 2007 festival has been rather scarce of late. Around this time of year we usually have an initial announcement of who is going to attend. So, to get the ball rolling, here are my three headliner predictions. This goes on the usual IoW festival theme of a dancey Friday night, a rock fuelled Saturday evening, and a more mainstream event on Sunday to finish.

Fri: Kylie (doubtful), Leftfield - I really struggled for a dance act here, it’s difficult to find something better than the Prodigy, although Kylie is a rather obtuse choice compare to those guys
Sat: Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers - these guys have to come to the Isle of Wight at some stage.
Sun: Snow Patrol - please, please, back again for the 2nd time, did an absolutely splendid job first time round so I was told.

Who would you want to see?

Finally, the Isle of Wight County Press website has been redesigned. The previous design didn’t take advantage of the rich content on offer. Now we have a decent navigation system, RSS, and a great fresh and consistent look. Well done CP.

Design isn’t a language I speak often, but I’m always out for a bit of inspiration now and again. In my RSS reader, I subscribe to Web Creme for the latest in web design. Imagine my shock when I realised that a site that Fire-Island wrote a few weeks back made the shortlist. The head of tea operations at Fire-Island must be very happy with himself.