CAPTIVE IN COVENTRY
Reports from behind the lines in the Coventry 'Green-Zone'
Day 1 - Wednesday
Day 2 - Thursday
Day 3 - Friday
Greetings from behind the lines.
SATURDAY AUG 14:
After the initial shock wore off, we realized that it was going
to be the same kind of day as yesterday except the sun was
shining and everyone seemed a lot happier. Except I'm sure the
poor dudes on I-91 down near St. J who got turned around. But
these people had made it. They were among the chosen. And it turned
out that a lot of them had perservered by jumping off the interstate
and walking the rest of the way. Ned called later in the day to say
he took a ride on the Interstate, and there were cars abandoned all over
the place. Phishheads on the move past us talked about leaving their
cars at Parking Areas and not expecting them to get towed. Others
joked about leaving rental cars behind because, hey, who cares, it's
not mine. Others parked in what they thought were hidden out of the
way places and hoped for the best. The general feeling I got was
'there's no way they can tow all of our cars'. The power of mass action
I guess. Nevertheless, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people
come Tuesday when they don't have a clue as to where their vehicle
has been towed.
Meanwhile The Parade Just Kept On Coming
These 2 dudes from Pennsylvania came up to us and wanted to
get their bearings straight (geographical bearings not cosmic)
They had 6 copies of very detailed topographic maps
of the Black River valley which were very marked up with notes
and various scriblings. They had obviously been studying the
maps for weeks trying to determne the best subrosa route to
the airport. They thought they were on Hi Acres Road (closed
by the State Police, a Green-Line road.) just north of us which has
a pretty direct route to the back of the airport. But in fact
they were right here on dead end Wheelock Rd.
We told them they could follow the river down from here
for about a mile and then hang a right and climb up the
banks and they'd be pretty close to the airport but it
gets pretty swampy down there and who knows if they've
fenced off that end of the site or not? They were a bit
bemused at their predicament, but they willingly fell
into line with their fellow Phishheads and joined the
collective march down the pavement towards Airport Rd.
One thing that was bugging me was how disappointed people
were when they saw the mile marker sign we had affixed
to the No Parking sign that was protecting RT. 5 from
unwanted vehicles.
I detected a slight sense of hostility as they scowled
and implied that we were lying about the true distance
to the airport. It turns out that half of them thought the
concert site was IN Coventry. When they got on RT. 5 in
Orleans the roadsign says 'Coventry 5 Miles". So they assumed
they had 5 miles to get to the concert. Then they pass
through downtown Coventry and don't see anything. And
half a mile later they see a sign telling them they still
have 5 1/2 miles to go. Pretty discouraging I guess if
you've been travelling for 49 hours straight to be hit
with that kind of bad karma.
The McDonald's Liberation Front
Phishy Companheirões From Brazil
Meanwhile Emma and Olivia made a killing in lemonade, bagels
and cream cheese.
Mixing A New Batch
Olivia even made deliveries...
Of course not always to the customers specifications
but they did their best
Cellphones continued to require the higher terrain
of the meadow.
And the authorities were out in force today
now that we were part of a semi-official disaster
This dude is a bicycle repair freak. His passion is
fixing up old bikes. He loves them "because they are
so simple". He found this one on the side of the road,
remounted the chain which had jumped off the gearwheel
and took off for the airport on one tire and a bent rim.
The peace scarecrows continue to impress just about all
the Phishheads although they are starting to get a bit silly
about it.
Saturday Evening
