Enochlophobia! Mysophobia! And Melophobia Too -

Just To Be Thorough

(You know me).
     Forsooth, your humble scribe has finally gotten round to reading a link he saved over a year ago, from the BBC website, about music festivals and how to stay dry.  I'll put up a link though given it's age it may not work properly any longer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39947171

     There you are.  In essence, it relates the rise of festivals in city-centre venues, for example 'Bushstock', which does not take place in the distant outback, but rather Shepherd's Bush (a region within the city of Sodom-on-Thames, a.k.a. London if we're being formal).

Thus
(Sorry, no sheep)

     The advantages of such festivals are obvious.  For one thing, you're not sharing a field with a flock of sheep and the many deposits they thoughtfully leave behind.  For an - sorry?  What's that?
     "What are those strange long words you were using in the title, Conrad?  Are you showing off again?"
     Of course I am!  Who else is better-qualified to recognise my brilliance than me?*
     They are the various reasons you wouldn't like to attend a music festival out in the breezy air of the countryside.
     "Enochlophobia":  a fear of crowds.  Art?

A fearful lot, indeed

     Some festival crowds appear so large your humble scribe is convinced they can be seen from space.  And you will find that, no matter where you stand, someone taller always comes and gets in front of you.
     "Mysophobia": A fear of germs and disease, more specifically in this case, mud.  It might not be true of this year, because we have been having a heatwave of incredible duration (3 weeks and counting, when it's usually 3 days), although the bad weather norm can return at any time, but one constant at these outdoor festivals is mud.  Art?

There could be whole bodies buried under there ...

     Darling Daughter went to the Leeds music festival a couple of times, which seems to have cured her of any desire to attend festivals again, as it was cold, wet and - muddy!  Both times.
     Quite what the phobia for a fear of muddy crowds is I don't know, and I don't have time to research it today.  Maybe later.
     "Melophobia": a fear of music.  Why are you at a music festival, then?

Yes, well, that's just being post-modernly ultra-ironic, isn't it?

     As I was saying, at a city centre festival the ground beneath your feet is paved, and if it rains there are extensive drainage systems to remedy the wetness.  Plus, there are numerous covered venues you can take shelter in, quite besides the ones putting on music.  It's also possible to catch the late bus home, where you can sleep in a bed and use a flush toilet, of which other festival dwellers can only dream.  Art?

The Salford version

     This is SFTOC, which takes place at various different venues in Salford, and which I recommend a very great deal.**
      Now to see if there are any obstructions in this factory chimney by dropping the motley down it!

Uninvited Guests

At summer festivals and sundry celebrational events you tend to get flies, as on 30th January 1943, during the Second Unpleasantness.  This date was significant, since it marked the accession to power of Herr Hitler.
     In order to flatter the dictator's sense of self-worth, his long-term crony and ally Goering (head of the Teuton air force, remember that) planned to make a speech in Berlin on that day, which would be broadcast by radio.
     Enter the uninvited guests, the nature of whom you might have guessed - three Mosquito bombers, sent from Perfidious Albion to literally crash the party by bombing the Berlin radio station due to make the broadcast.

Flies in the skies

     It took an hour for the broadcast to be restarted, by a Goering practically exploding with rage; firstly, that his speech had been delayed; secondly, that his boast about enemy aircraft never being able to fly over Berlin had gotten a bit punctured.

"Ekrixiphobia":  a fear of explosions.  Tee hee!

Finally -

I was Googling for an odd picture to grace the last post here for today, and came across what was a rather peculiar old photograph.  Art?

Hmmm!

     Could it be an unusually precise crash-landing?  Or had the aircraft simply been dropped by crane onto the ship?  

Something like this?

     Or did that stern door drop down to allow it to -
     - you see my point.  It looks very odd.  However, enlightenment later dawned thanks to another picture.  Art?

Illumination dawns

     The ship in question is the USS Ashland, a Landing Ship, Dock, that could open up the stern and flood it, to allow amphibious loading and off-loading to take place.  The well deck's stern door in the photo above has been lowered to allow the sea and seaplane to enter.  After the plane is secured, the door is raised and the water pumped out - see first picture!



*  Rhetorical question.  Don't answer it.
**  Not whole-heartedly, as I lack a heart.