Lazy Days

Festival '25

– Friday

Date Taken – 25th July

Recipe Used:

We have another festival to cook at!

This one is special in one unique way. This is not a festival in London, in fact it was local to me! Only a 45 minute walk away!

We head to Priory Park in my ends of Southend-On-Sea for Lazy Days Festival, a completely independent festival that spanned over three days, hence why we’re only covering Friday here. (I skipped Saturday, you’ll see why in an upcoming post.)

I was blessed with a Weekend/VIP pass to the festival, but not for the pit which I found odd but you know me. I COOK REGARDLESS.

The vibes of each day were unique which I found very interesting in terms of how the festival was constructed. Friday went from 5-11pm, I call it “Party Day” because the majority of music throughout the night was painting the evening as an outdoor club night.

You’ll get a sense of that the deeper we get into this post. But we start off more chill, watching the people come in and getting a feel for the place.

The Sun & clouds were providing nice backdrop but I knew it wasn’t going to be for long, so I wanted to make the most of it.

My first highlight was this family. I saw them dancing from afar and took a few shots, only for the kick to come around me and take a tumble. I took a shot of the father picking him up and ended up with a few more.

Another highlight around the same time was this gaggle of women clearly a few drinks in, enjoying the open space.

It was at this point where the drinks were really flowing and DJs including Mistajam were getting everyone moving.

As you’ve probably gathered, I wasn’t about the music as much as I am with festival posts. I was asked to cover the surroundings and honestly it was refreshing focusing on the people for a change!

The unexpected perk of going to a local festival is seeing people that I know! In the first batch of photos, one of the kids I got with their father was a kid I taught at their school! I saw them on Sunday and I talked to his mum & dad briefly.

Another instance – continuing on – was seeing a couple friends from High School! Meet Taylor and Seth, the latter I didn’t get a picture of but he did me a solid and took a picture of me with Taylor.

When I tell you he looks dramatically different from High School!

Well I’ll be a son of a bitch! Look who else is here!

Mary & Nick

Nick (who has featured before) & partner Mary is here as well! He bought be an IPA that tasted wack, immediately reminding me why I never drink anything that isn’t a spirit/mixer. Mary’s friends come next, dancing with a man who wins “Fit of the Day”.

The Sun was beginning to die out at this point, but the people were still living it up on a beautiful Summer evening.

I thought at this point that I should walk around once more before the music acts come through proper.

And upon walking back I saw this group of Black girls getting shots of each other and I decided to capture them in their element.

And at the same time there were more opportunities presenting themselves.

We finish with a personal box ticked. 2011 Charlie was a big fan of Katy B & her debut album on a mission (also talked about it on "Diggin' In The Digits" if you want my thoughts on it!) and now I can say I've seen her live. Whilst it was only a 30 minute set, it was enough.