Kirstie's job log: 27
Kirstie Nicols helped out at the local BBC music festival - part of her plan to gain experience before starting her Masters in journalism. Get the picture  Camping is definitely not my thing. I haven’t slept in a tent for such a long time that I have obviously forgotten a few important rules – such as bringing some kind of mattress to lie on. It turns out no amount of alcohol can make you forget how hard, cold, and uncomfortable the ground really is.
Despite the terrible camping conditions, it was actually a really good weekend. The stage that the BBC was hosting was amazing, much larger than I ever thought it would be and there was a real festival atmosphere (complete with overpriced burgers) around the whole field. There was a staff hospitality tent providing free food, tea and coffee from early morning until late in the night which was very welcome towards the end of the day. Most of the weekend was spent taking photos of the bands, the crowds, the stalls and the backstage crew; so it was great to be able to walk in front of the crowd barrier with the camera and watch the bands without people’s arms and heads obstructing the view. In the evening, when the headlining bands came on and there were suddenly screaming fans trying to climb over the crowd barrier, I went up on the stage to watch from the sidelines (and take more pictures). High-wire act The only bit I wasn’t too keen on was when the presenter decided it would be a great idea to try and get pictures of the whole festival from the air, by means of a giant crane. Normally I’m not too bad with heights, but when you’re a couple of hundred feet in the air in a metal box that’s swaying because the wind’s so strong, and the woman who’s operating it tells you she can’t get it any higher because it’s on too much of a tilt, I decided that I wasn’t planning to stay up there too long, and got back down to earth as quick as possible! My new part time job at McDonalds is going well; I worked a couple of evening shifts during the week to make up for not being able to work over the weekend. Everyone’s very friendly, and I’m starting to really get the hang of what needs doing. Although a lot of the jobs are very monotonous, there’s so many of them to do and we change around so often that it’s not that noticeable. Despite that, if I could choose how to spend my time earning extra money, it would definitely be through working at festivals every weekend! Bold or stupid? Back in my real job, after a lot of thought, I’ve given them my last months notice. This means that I’ll be leaving in the middle of August and not at the end of September as I’d originally planned. It also means I’ll have a month and a half without work (and without pay) before I head back to university. I know its starting to sound like a very stupid idea (and I still panic a bit about it every time I think about it), but I decided that if the worst comes to the worst I can just work more shifts at McDonalds. It means I can spend the time concentrating on looking for more freelance work, and possibly help out a little more at the local radio station. I’ll be able to look into getting some more work experience at various places, and I can start preparing for moving out and studying again. I’m going to look into visiting various family members scattered around the world (the idea being that I wouldn’t have to pay for accommodation!) and see if there is a relatively cheap way of having a holiday that won’t eat into my savings. It also means I will no longer have to get up at 7 in the morning every day – but that’s not why I’m doing it. Or at least it’s not the main reason… Read Kirstie's previous blogs
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