0300

“Today, I was up writing a letter to the Council about a planning application and doing a drawing for the Environment Agency about some culverts. There are sleepless nights; sometimes we run 24 hours. There’s no second chance; people arrive when the gates open, so it all has to be done.”

0800

“I have seven teams of men ready to go, including gangs putting in concrete to improve a mile-long road and two bridges. We’ll be doing gates and fence preparation, laying 20 miles of pathway through the site and doing repairs to roads damaged during the winter when the farming is going on. Most people who come to work for us are locals, but we get regulars who live all over the world – Portugal; Andorra; one comes every year from Nepal. They love it and they create the atmosphere.”

1000

“Meet with the people who do the toilet-emptying. Water provision isn’t glamorous either, but it’s the biggest job we’ve got on the site by far. We have two reservoirs, both holding a million litres of water, and a five-mile ring-main that goes around the site. The taps total 800, there are 4,500 toilets, and 800 showers. This system is no different to a system in any other town.”

1200

“Lunch comes from the fridge in my office. Today’s going to be cheese and biscuits – and that’s it.”

1400

“Area organisers come in from Shangri-La, the Common and the Unfair Ground. There are about 100 managers onsite, handling everything from stages to security, with their own requirements. They want their field or operation to be as good as it can get.”

1600

“Out with Michael [Eavis, the Glastonbury Festival founder] and one of the area managers to set out the site. We’ll go out with a can of paint, spraying marks on the ground to say what’s going to happen where.

1900

“With the meeting over, it’s only a 12-hour day today. But sometimes there’s no beginning and end to a day. You can’t build a city this size without putting in the hours. Festival week, we don’t have bedtimes. You literally put your head on your desk when you can.”