I am not a hugger. At best I find it intrusive and at worst it makes my skin crawl. However over the bloodstock weekend I hugged, I hugged and I hugged. I hugged people that I consider life-long friends, I hugged people I have only ever seen at a distance and I hugged complete strangers. And it wasn’t just me, everyone was hugging. It was like some well-behaved orgy, where everyone kept their clothes on. Bloodstock was emotional and a celebration, but it was also normal. By about band three it felt no different to other years at Catton Park and the idea of not being able to be near people seemed preposterous. Though the one evident difference was the length. Five days of unrepentant Metal at the start sounded like manor from heaven but by the end it felt like you were jogging through custard to get to the finishing line. In fact, I was expecting silver blankets and a medal as I exited the site, like I had finished some endurance event. However, we need to start at the beginning….