The weather here at Ears To The House HQ has been mostly awful for weeks – indeed, only on this first week of September are we now getting to enjoy some much-wanted sunny skies. And we’re far from alone in getting a bad deck of cards from the weather – Nevada normally basks in temperatures of almost 40°C (104°F) during this time of year.

But this year, things haven’t gone so well. Hurricane Hilary brought rain to areas of the United States more used to parched August climates – as attendees at Burning Man were to find out. The festival – which takes place in the vast Black Rock Desert – has been an utter washout, to put it mildly.

As things stand, tens of thousands of people are literally stranded at the site, even though the festival officially ended today. Pretty much every single way out is covered in mud, rendering driving on them all but impossible – and for every tone-deaf celebrity like Diplo who managed to escape, thousands of others are sitting in place.

Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that they’re also, if you pardon our French, shitting in place. Sewage facilties at the festival are now full, meaning anyone needing to take a dump has to get, erm, creative with their methods – Ears To The House dare not speculate how much mess there will be on site by the time this is over.

Elsewhere, farce was replaced by tragedy, with the death on Friday night of an as-of-yet unidentified 40-year-old man. The exact cause of his untimely passing is currently unknown, but it’s understood not to be related to the appalling weather conditions.

Unsurprisingly, the press is filled with heady reviews such as this one, telling the world about how even the squalid conditions aren’t stopping people from having a party. Given that food on the site is running low, such articles don’t exactly appear well judged to us – but what do we know, eh?

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