Day 3 - Party in the Park

We both slept really well, nothing to do with finishing off the wine! I put the heating on at 6am and we both headed for the showers at 7am.

Jonathan had the choice of three, I had to join a queue of three for three occupied showers. Once I finally got in I had the quickest shower and hair wash as was convinced water would turn cold at any moment.

We had breakfast of cereal and toast, and got ready for the day. We were both ready at 930, but then Jonathan had outfit doubt and promptly changed his top, which ment a change of shorts, socks, shoes and sunglasses.

At 945 we headed up to the entrance to get out pre booked taxi into Stirling. He was a chatty driver named Omar. He came from Romford, Essex but moved to Stirling with his wife in search of a four bedroom house below £200k so they could start a family.

He dropped us at Stirling Station and we walked through the City centre towards City Park. We had a couple of cortados from Cafe Nero and arrived just as the gates opened.

Once suitably scanned and checked for any illegal drinks or drugs we were through. It’s a lovely site. The main stage just in front of Stirling Castle up on the hill.

We grabbed a couple of pints and found a suitable spot for our chairs. I enjoyed Deacon Blue and Jonathan liked Cast.

After a Korean fried chicken lunch and another pint we saw Blue, Appleton, James Blunt and Level 42.

Blue sang what everyone wanted to hear as did James Blunt whilst apologising that he doesn’t have an happy songs. He did finish his set by crowd surfing in his dinghy.

Level 42 then played all their well known songs, as well as a couple of ‘oh that was them’ songs. We enjoyed singing and dancing with all the other over 50s.

Gary ‘oh Gary Davis’ then treated us to 45 mins of 80s disco. Always good to hear an entire field singing along.

I have to mention the toilets. They have been spotless! Clean, equipped with toilet paper, hand sanitiser and helpers to direct us to the next free cubicle. It can be done!

As the sun set we got ready for the headliner act Simple Minds. They were fantastic and it’s refreshing to hear a nearly 70 year who can still sing. He can also still do a backward curl whilst on his knees. I was worried he’d get stuck!

They finished at 915 after all their hits. I particularly enjoyed Belfast Child. The female drummer was amazing and enjoyed a solo in the middle.

We followed the throng of people on the half hour walk back Stirling train station. Our taxi was booked for 1030 as we hadn’t expected to get out quite so easily. So we found a spot to sit and people watched.

About half an hour later taxi arrived so we were back at the van for 11pm. We had a quick coffee and Jonathan watched the Brighton highlights (5-0 win!) before bed.Read more