I love snarky local blogs. Unfortunately, the one for my little mountain county seems mostly devoted these days to attacking one county commissioner candidate, so I will spare you that.<\/p>\n
But thanks to a Facebook friend, I was introduced to Normal for Glastonbury,<\/em><\/a> which contains such nuggets as these about the most esoteric town in England, contributed by its readers:<\/p>\n Lisa: \u2018Get off my fucking leyline!\u2019 a hedge monkey once shouted at the custodian of the White Spring.<\/p>\n Sophie: \u201cYesterday, whilst on the top floor of the bus returning to Glastonbury from Bristol I overheard two young men, talking excitedly about visiting Glastonbury for the first time. One French guy explained that he had a calling to go to Glastonbury because people there believe in dragons, as he did himself and in fact he always travels with his dragon. When the other man asked where his dragon was the French man explained that his dragon was riding on the roof of the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n Vijay \u201d I have a boyfriend in the seventh dimension\u201d<\/p>\n Sam: \u201cI was stood outside St Dunstan\u2019s house on the pavement. Woman walks up and, looking concerned asks \u201cCan you tell me where something normal is?\u201d. I paused and asked whatever did she mean \u2018normal\u2019? She said \u201cSomething like .. well \u2013 an Italian restaurant\u201d. I pointed across the street to point out we had (at that time) two \u2013 there and there. She looked relieved, thanked me and walk away. It left me wondering .. why is an Italian restaurant in Glastonbury \u2018normal\u2019 and what had led to her concern?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That comment about getting off the ley line((Is ley line one word or two?)) reminded me of another blog, one devoted to conversations overheard in the too-hip university city of Boulder, Colorado, once famous for its population of Buddhist converts.((Sedona, Arizona might be a better parallel for Glastonbury, however.)) (They’re still there, but Ch\u00f6gyam Trungpa Rinpoche<\/a> is long gone.) Mirroring a more hipster\/New Agey-vibe, it’s called Stay Out of My Namaste Space.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Some samples:<\/p>\n “I do yoga at the Y. They do a poor people\u2019s scholarship which is great \u2018cause I look poor on paper.”<\/p>\n “I was thinking about it today and I haven\u2019t been in Europe in 2 whole years.”<\/p>\n “The Universe has blessed me with the opportunity to be unconnected from my smartphone.”<\/p>\n \u201cI swear to God, I was the only person on this earth who thought Iceland was cool before everyone else did. I\u2019ve literally been obsessing over Iceland for twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n “We ended up naming him Jeffrey. I wanted to name him Stannis but my psychic didn\u2019t think that was a good idea.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Who’s delivering the snark in your town?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love snarky local blogs. Unfortunately, the one for my little mountain county seems mostly devoted these days to attacking one county commissioner candidate, so I will spare you that. But thanks to a Facebook friend, I was introduced to Normal for Glastonbury, which contains such nuggets as these about the most esoteric town in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,21,89,200,106,179],"class_list":["post-8041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado","tag-england","tag-esotericism","tag-humor","tag-iceland","tag-new-age"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-25H","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10707,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10707","url_meta":{"origin":8041,"position":0},"title":"All the Books Set in Glastonbury","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From\u00a0 Vicki Steward's\u00a0 blog Normal For Glastonbury: Life in the Oddest Town in England, a list of all the novels set in Glastonbury. There some Phil Rickman titles there that I had missed, possibly because they were categorized as YA and published under a different name. Marion Zimmer Bradley, of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, destroyed at the orders of Henry VIII ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/640px-Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/640px-Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/640px-Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13693,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13693","url_meta":{"origin":8041,"position":1},"title":"20 Years of British Paganism: Free Zoom Lecture with Glastonbury-based Writer Liz Williams","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"UPDATE: This event has been postponed. I do not know why -- I just got the email from \"The Zoom Team.\" I will post when it is re-scheduled. Sad. Liz Williams is a science fiction and fantasy writer living in Glastonbury, England, where she is co-director of a witchcraft supply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Britain\"","block_context":{"text":"Britain","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=britain"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/liz-williams.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/liz-williams.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/liz-williams.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/liz-williams.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/liz-williams.webp?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/liz-williams.webp?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1093,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1093","url_meta":{"origin":8041,"position":2},"title":"Learning on the Ground","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is what online \"learning\" cannot do.A writer from the Guardian accompanies some British secondary students on a field trip to Glastonbury. (I happen to know the teacher.)The object, for Jamison, is not to deconstruct the stories and myths of Glastonbury. \"The point is for them to experience the story,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"education\"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=education"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6377,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6377","url_meta":{"origin":8041,"position":3},"title":"There, That’s Done, Almost. Also John Cowper Powys","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Where did the week go? It seems like setting up the AAR sessions \u2014 two solo for Contemporary Pagan Studies, two co-sponsored, and one \"quad\" (four sponsors) \u2014 that plus a little snow, some fire department maintenance work, and some chainsaw issues that don't belong here totally exhausted all my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/db\/Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900.jpg\/640px-Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/db\/Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900.jpg\/640px-Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900.jpg 1x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/db\/Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900.jpg\/640px-Glastonbury_Abbey_ruins_c1900.jpg 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4862,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4862","url_meta":{"origin":8041,"position":4},"title":"Secret Doings in Glastonbury","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Santa showed up with a bottle of Glenlivet and Phil Rickman's novel The Bones of Avalon. It's a sort of typical Rickman-ish set-up \u2014 there are places on the land where certain hidden earth-forces are concentrated and influence the inhabitants in not necessarily good ways, especially when they are awakened\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/a\/aa\/Glastonburyabbey.jpg\/200px-Glastonburyabbey.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1232,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1232","url_meta":{"origin":8041,"position":5},"title":"Gallimaufry with Snow","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Snow has been falling all day, and I am working on a lengthy book review, so here are some links:\u2022 Sannion has the best idea for a New Testament zombie novel, and everyone wants him to write it. Already, I would not look at the book of Acts the same\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chasclifton.com\/graphics\/shrineinsnow.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8041"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8049,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8041\/revisions\/8049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}