Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

… is currently falling by the bucketful on the Isle of Wight Music Festival according to the BBC.

Having been successfully resurrected in 2002, the three-day open-air Isle of Wight Music Festival is due to start today (Friday, 22 June). Booked to headline are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Friday), Pearl Jam (Saturday) and Bruce Springsteen (Sunday). Restricted, for policing and safety reasons, to a 65,000 capacity, a ticket would have set you back £160 (USD 240) to attend the three-day event. Looks like it could well be a soaking in more ways than one for those who coughed up the full asking price.

Very much a far cry from the halcyon days of the original trio of Isle of Wight Music Festivals that climaxed over the final August weekend in 1970 when a reported 600,000 were in attendance. With a then everyday population of less than 100,000, residents of the Isle of Wight found themselves swamped and, as a result, successfully lobbied to have future festivals banned on the island – that was until 2002.

No rain in Spain right now...

¡Hola Tristanbacker! – now there’s a coincidence of location ... because according to your profile, you [Jesús] live in Elche and work in Torrevieja. The reason why I say coincidence is because while I’m in the habit of being in the UK for eight months of the year - as I am currently - during the other four months one will find me in the near to you city of Alicante (barrio Playa San Juan to be precise). Where, if my online information is correct, the weather is indeed presently a rain free 27C / 80F - and, what’s more, over the coming several days the temperature is forecasted to go even higher.

As a now retired Brit who has steadily grown accustomed to the misery of a largely grey and damp climate that is the British Isles. The ferocious and unrelenting summer heat of Spain’s Costa Blanca is the main reason why I prefer my particular southern part of the UK at this time of the annual seasons.

For those who may not be familiar with European geography; the Costa Blanca stretch of Spain’s southern Mediterranean coastline hosts the two principal cities for that region, Valencia and Alicante. Direct flying time from London is more or less 2 hours 20 minutes.
Re: this weekend’s washout that is the Isle of Wight Music Festival of 2012.
CLICK HERE for a slideshow of mud-soaked photographs

Re: High Tension in Torrevieja
Jesús; according to THIS ONLINE ARTICLE in the English language Costa Blanca News, it seems there was something of an uprisingby the African illegal street traders following a clamp-down by the local police of Torrevieja.

I understand there are similar problems in Alicante along the Explanada with such unlicensed “looky looky” street traders. However, they seem to be better organised than their Torrevieja counterparts because I notice they tend to have several lookouts posted along the Explanada. At the first sign of the police run-like-hell warnings are sounded and they scatter in all directions. It's quite amusing to watch dozens of them suddenly scoop up their wares and rapidly flee their pitches to avoid being fined and having their goods confiscated.

Hi Peter, I know San Juan Playa because two of my uncles live there. Good place to live... you are in the spanish California
Several of my UK clients in Torrevieja are like you. The good weather is good for them. I´m very happy to meet here good rickenbacker friends. I´m going to check your festival pics.