It was around 11am yesterday that Glastonbury pilgrims looked to the sky. This time, it wasn't a rain cloud.
The thick plume of smoke that rose from the horizon was not - as was variously suggested - either a storm, a tornado, or a "massive spliff", but smoke from a blaze at a scrapyard in the nearby village of Pylle.
For once, Glastonbury was saved by the weather: a strong south-westerly breeze blew the toxic fumes away from the festival, which officially starts today.
The wind avoided the need for an evacuation of the site, but did lead to the closure of the A37, blocking the main route to the site for several hours leaving thousands stranded in traffic. But by the evening the majority of the population of Britain's largest music festival were on site, transforming the Somerset fields into the appearance of a medieval army camp, flags and ribbons rising out of a multicoloured carpet of tents.
The troops came laden with sleeping bags, tents, barbecues, wheelbarrows, dartboards, guitars, sofas and fridges - and, for many, an expectation that they should be rewarded for their loyalty.
This year for the first time since the early 1990s Glastonbury has struggled to sell tickets, though a remaining 800 tickets out of 137,500 were expected to be sold by this morning.
Michael Eavis, the farmer who founded the festival in 1970 and has run it since, has claimed in recent weeks that the slow pace of sales - and their availability over HMV counters - would yield a younger, more edgy crowd.
The view on the ground yesterday was that he was right: the usual montage of rockers, ravers, hippies, couples, families and men in their 30s had turned up. But there were more people like 20-year-old Zoe Fuller, a barmaid from Bristol who bought her ticket on Wednesday, resigned from her job "by text message", and turned up without a tent. "I've only got my flip flops and a bag," she said, opening a small holdall to reveal a packet of tobacco and a pillow.
Glastonbury's liberalised ticket policy also let in the likes of Moley, a 20-year-old from Birmingham with furry boots who, as some kind of rebellion against "the try-hards", is roaming the festival at night stealing flags, then giving them out during the day. "I'm the Robin Hood of festivals," he said.
Although some have blamed tomorrow's headliner Jay-Z for the slump in interest of this year's event, Eavis says three consecutive years of mud were responsible. The Met Office was yesterday forecasting "much better weather than in recent years, with occasionally light showers interrupting what will generally be a dry, sunny weekend".
But the legacy of mud has lived on: at least one in 10 festivalgoers was wearing wellies. Staring at all the green boots, Emily Eavis, who co-runs the event with her father, said: "You just forget you can have a Glastonbury without a cagoule. They don't quite believe they can get their sandals out."
Today's lineup
· On the Pyramid Stage Kings of Leon head the lineup preceded by Editors, the Fratellis and the Feeling
· Over on the Other Stage - Panic At The Disco and We Are Scientists
· Wakefield indie three-piece the Cribs head the lineup on the John Peel Stage, along with the Kills and the Ting Tings
· Jimmy Cliff leads the Jazz World Stage with Fun Lovin' Criminals and Sinéad O'Connor is at the Acoustic Stage
· Fatboy Slim heads up the Dance Village on the East Stage while Utah Saints can be found on G Stage
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