August 2009
19 posts
Last day at Sziget, big sale on by Andi Szabo
Today is the last day at Sziget, the crowd has significantly weakened on the path in front of the tent and we don’t have as many visitors today. It has been expected, Sunday is the day for many people to go home and start the usual working week tomorrow. We will not finish today though, tomorrow morning the tent will have to be taken down, and our stuff needs to be delivered back to the...
DAYS 4 AND 5 AT SZIGET: TIRED BUT STILL STANDING:...
Our Sziget team is tired, especially Terez who has been there every day so far, but they’re still standing, enthusiastic and ready to help British visitors to the Embassy tent. Saturday was definitely UK Day on the Main Stage, with The Subways, Editors, Klaxons, Manic Street Preachers and Placebo, one after the other.
For those of you staying on in the wonderful city of Budapest after the...
Afternoon, full of tattoos
I think that by now half of Sziget people are running around with Union Jack tattoos on! It has been quite successful so far, with lots of interesting people visiting us. One of my colleagues is playing cso-cso, table football with some guys, and a yound bloke is so desperate to have afternoon tea with us that he has been sitting here for nearly three-quarter of an hour now, reading a magazine,...
Andi Szabo's very first blog from Sziget ever!
Hello Everyone! It is my second day at Sziget, but the first one in the British Embassy’s marquee. It is impressive, I can tell, even though I have to admit I haven’t much to do with it. I have never started Szigeting so early in the past 15 years. I have to start with my experiences on zero day. I just dopped in here, decided to come at the very last minute and suddenly found myself ...
DAY 3 AT SZIGET: DAMP BUT NOT DISHEARTENED: BY...
As you can see from my colleagues’ blogs, Friday was a wet morning at Sziget. But things improved in the afternoon and the weekend forecast is for sun. It will be hot, hot, hot - so if you’re visiting use sun screen and drink lots of water.
Visiting the temporary police post for a press conference with the foreign police in the morning was a reassuring reminder of how much hard work...
Real policemen's blog from Sziget Festival 2009
Still day 3
As usual, in our experience, a shower or two fails to dampen the festival spirit so everyone continues to enjoy the diverse nature of the event. This morning the local press descended on the police post and we were able to pass on our thanks for the help we have received from our Hungarian colleagues. During the first 3 days we should report on the good behaviour of the Brits....
It's raining men
Day 3
It’s a little muddy around the the tent this morning, as it’s rained most of the morning. But the puddle in front of the tent hasn’t put people off from playing table football, and visiting us. Our French visitors seemed to be well impressed with our UK flags - the fact that they’re upsidedown doesn’t seem to be a problem for them! The quiz is going well,...
DAY 2 AT SZIGET: GETTING INTO ITS STRIDE: BY GREG...
Some more great performances by British artists yesterday - the Ting Tings, Bloc Party and Fatboy Slim were all on the Main Stage.
Visits to the Embassy tent peaked and troughed, but at times we were very busy. Interest in ZARE continues (including from the media) and lots of visitors were keen to try our Green Quiz (many valuable prizes to be won!).
Our police (two Tims, from Somerset and...
Day 2 at Sziget 2009
Thursday 13th August
Today the team was Terez (Consular Section), Melinda (Management Section) and Erzsi (UKTI). It has been another busy day. Our most popular attraction has been the Table Football, a small reminder that the sport was invented in England! There has also been lots of interest in Music Against Racism (ZARE) with many people signing up to support the campaign in return for a...
DAY 1: THE SZIGET SHOW GOES ON: GREG DOREY,...
One of the local broadsheets here suggested yesterday that the British bands are taking over the Main Stage at Sziget this week. And it’s true! Following the amazing performance by the UK All-Stars Love Music Hate Racism group on Tuesday, we saw great performances last night by Snow Patrol (a personal favourite) and Lily Allen. Spending a week here is a powerful reminder of how dominant...
Day 1 at UK@Sziget by Georgina Szilagyi, Head of...
After a hard day’s night of Day Zero the ZARE day (Music Against Racism) we opened the British Embassy tent today on “Civil Sziget”. This is the part of the Sziget Festival where non profit organisations are represented. The main aim of our presence here is to give consular advice to British nationals visiting the Festival.We were pleased to hear that many of those Brits visiting...
DAY ZERO AT THE SZIGET FESTIVAL: MUSIC AGAINST...
I’m recovering today from what was a very successful launch of our “Zene a Rasszizmus Ellen” (ZARE) initiative at Hungary’s superb Sziget Festival. Colleagues from the British Embassy (with help from the US Embassy and the newly-appointed ZARE National Coordinator, Szubjektiv Ertekek Alapitvany) ran a tent next to the Main Stage for most of the day, trading ZARE branded...
Building up the Embassy tent
By Steven Fisher
Sunday, 10th August
Small group of volunteers arrives at Sziget Island. The concert goers are drifting in and setting up their tents. The whole place is a building site - so much activity. We are no different. We find our site and put up the Embassy’s tent. Then we unload a lorry load of equipment, posters, leaflets, etc. It’s nice for us pen-pushing types to do...
July 2009
1 post
UK@Sziget
The British Embassy Budapest will be represented in the Sziget Festival - the biggest cultural festival in Central Europe between 12-17 August 2009.
You can find us at the Civil Sziget where we will set up an Embassy Tent named “UK@Sziget” providing consular advice and showcasing the British Embassy’s priority areas such as climate change, human rights, development policy and...
