At the Night Carnival
I had meant to write up the night carnival yesterday, but after an excellent start (first visit to gym, joining a new library) I felt horribley queasy, and had to lie down. Better now, but I think I'll be very careful what I eat for a while.
Anyway, the carnival. I've only actually managed to see the full procession a couple of times, as usually I'm there with people who want to leave early, but this year we did the whole day from start to finish. After the beach-fossicking and the pub, it was about 8.30 and dark, so we got some more food (tasty but greasy tempura veg, in one huge lump), and went to watch the parade. Another time, I would have brought the food to eat with me, and bagged a place earlier, but the crowd was still only a couple of people deep, so everyone got a good view.
The parade seems to get bigger every time I see it, and this year's took at least an hour to pass, so that the fireworks were starting before it had quite finished (we were watching very near the end of the route). There were several teams from the Notting Hill Carnival, loads of samba schools, a bit pasty British for tropical cavortings, but giving it a good try, and since it was a warmer night than the last time they didn't look as goose-pimpled as they usually do. In among them were one morris side, a bunch of bhangra drummers, and various other miscellaneous, including a lot of samba-dancing sailors, and what must have been the Tate Modern crew with a selection of inexplicable day-glo objects on sticks. Lauren remarked that the morris men wore more clothes than most of the samba dancers put together but I think that, in the main, English people should keep their clothes on. A lot of the performers, especially the really elaborate, huge carnival costumes on frames were accompanied by sound-trucks and people carrying spotlights on poles, but some (like one really beautiful peacock) were lit up themselves, and some day-glo teams had black lights as well. Most of the sound-trucks were pretty dull, but some were dressed up, and one team had a pair of huge stripy Dr Seuss-type horns mounted on wheels. I was sorry not to see the parade of small children with lanterns on poles they had the last time, but there were several floats consisting of frames of wire covered with coloured tissue paper and lit up from inside, including an elephant and a beautifully wonky pirate ship, also a Gollum, which we saw being dismantled and loaded into a van. I loved the twirling ladies in huge poofy dresses (some of them on castors), the dayglo horsemen of the apocalypse, the team entirely (and spectacularly) dressed in recycled materials and the drumming.
I should warn you, there are loads of pictures, and I've put them in larger than yesterday, because they came out quite dark. I'll post five here, under a cut, and the rest in a seperate entry.
Anyway, the carnival. I've only actually managed to see the full procession a couple of times, as usually I'm there with people who want to leave early, but this year we did the whole day from start to finish. After the beach-fossicking and the pub, it was about 8.30 and dark, so we got some more food (tasty but greasy tempura veg, in one huge lump), and went to watch the parade. Another time, I would have brought the food to eat with me, and bagged a place earlier, but the crowd was still only a couple of people deep, so everyone got a good view.
The parade seems to get bigger every time I see it, and this year's took at least an hour to pass, so that the fireworks were starting before it had quite finished (we were watching very near the end of the route). There were several teams from the Notting Hill Carnival, loads of samba schools, a bit pasty British for tropical cavortings, but giving it a good try, and since it was a warmer night than the last time they didn't look as goose-pimpled as they usually do. In among them were one morris side, a bunch of bhangra drummers, and various other miscellaneous, including a lot of samba-dancing sailors, and what must have been the Tate Modern crew with a selection of inexplicable day-glo objects on sticks. Lauren remarked that the morris men wore more clothes than most of the samba dancers put together but I think that, in the main, English people should keep their clothes on. A lot of the performers, especially the really elaborate, huge carnival costumes on frames were accompanied by sound-trucks and people carrying spotlights on poles, but some (like one really beautiful peacock) were lit up themselves, and some day-glo teams had black lights as well. Most of the sound-trucks were pretty dull, but some were dressed up, and one team had a pair of huge stripy Dr Seuss-type horns mounted on wheels. I was sorry not to see the parade of small children with lanterns on poles they had the last time, but there were several floats consisting of frames of wire covered with coloured tissue paper and lit up from inside, including an elephant and a beautifully wonky pirate ship, also a Gollum, which we saw being dismantled and loaded into a van. I loved the twirling ladies in huge poofy dresses (some of them on castors), the dayglo horsemen of the apocalypse, the team entirely (and spectacularly) dressed in recycled materials and the drumming.
I should warn you, there are loads of pictures, and I've put them in larger than yesterday, because they came out quite dark. I'll post five here, under a cut, and the rest in a seperate entry.