Brighton Pride 2nd Aug 2008
Went to Brighton Pride on Saturday as I mentioned I would and this is my experience...
Met green_dreads at Luton station and we travelled down to Luton together. Was sort of expecting the big crowds that we had to contend with on the train on the way down last year, but it didn't happen! There were spare seats all the way down! Think we set off a bit earlier than last year, though. Anyone remember gothyjdarkstar's sweets that were doing the circuit on the train last year? Well, this year, I took a bag of apples down!!
So, we got to Brighton and met up with my friend, Tina, who I only really ever get to see at Brighton Pride these days! We used to meet up for weekly pub crawls in London years ago.
Took a while to realise the theme this year, but sort of guessed that it was international as there were floats of people dressed in different costumes from around the world. This also included a float of Vikings!
The weather wasn't too bad (it didn't rain all day anyway, just some of it! It certainly wasn't the scorcher of last year!). Had a couple of snacks at Preston Park (a tofu burger early on, then later some chips with curry sauce). Overpriced as these things usually are, but very nice!
I took a grand total of one photo in Brighton that day and er... this is it!!
Yes, that's a picture of the back of the Brighton Dome!
Spent most of the day trying to get in touch with my sister, Jane, but I guess due to lots of people trying to text and phone lost friends all day, the network was totally buggered! Managed to get in touch with Jane eventually once we were away from the park, but by then she'd left the park and was at a friend's barbecue! She invited us over anyway. We got a bus to Holingbury, and it was only when we were nearly there that I realised which friend of Jane's it was. I met her (Hilary) at Jane's hen night in 2006. Jane said that she and Terry (her husband) would meet us off the bus, but for ages, we were phoning backwards and forwards to see where each other were! I was beginning to think that Jane and I had been on separate planes all day and were destined to be for the rest of the day apart from a link via our mobiles... then I saw them on the horizon!...
As it happened, most people who attended the barbecue had deserted them, so when we arrived, we livened up the party again! There were me, green_dreads, Jane, Terry, Hilary, her partner and her ex-husband, (apparently they're still very good friends! The new partner and ex seemed to get on OK too!), Billy the diabetic cat, Duvet the duvet cat (very fluffy - even more so than Nigel!) and Phoebe the fluffy dog!
I suggested that we got the 10:30 train back to Luton and it was just as well I did! Terry gave us a lift to the station and there was a massive queue to get on the trains. We were pointed very vaguely in the direction of our queue, which we did eventually manage to find! We missed the 10:30 train, but we got on the next train that took us as far as Three Bridges. After a very long wait, a Thameslink train took us to Luton. This was my 2nd time in Brighton this year and I still haven't got to the sea!
Here are some photos taken in Holingbury and at the barbecue:
Hilary and Jane
David (Hilary's ex), Hilary and Jane
Jane and Phoebe
Hilary, Jane and Phoebe
Met green_dreads at Luton station and we travelled down to Luton together. Was sort of expecting the big crowds that we had to contend with on the train on the way down last year, but it didn't happen! There were spare seats all the way down! Think we set off a bit earlier than last year, though. Anyone remember gothyjdarkstar's sweets that were doing the circuit on the train last year? Well, this year, I took a bag of apples down!!
So, we got to Brighton and met up with my friend, Tina, who I only really ever get to see at Brighton Pride these days! We used to meet up for weekly pub crawls in London years ago.
Took a while to realise the theme this year, but sort of guessed that it was international as there were floats of people dressed in different costumes from around the world. This also included a float of Vikings!
The weather wasn't too bad (it didn't rain all day anyway, just some of it! It certainly wasn't the scorcher of last year!). Had a couple of snacks at Preston Park (a tofu burger early on, then later some chips with curry sauce). Overpriced as these things usually are, but very nice!
I took a grand total of one photo in Brighton that day and er... this is it!!
Yes, that's a picture of the back of the Brighton Dome!
Spent most of the day trying to get in touch with my sister, Jane, but I guess due to lots of people trying to text and phone lost friends all day, the network was totally buggered! Managed to get in touch with Jane eventually once we were away from the park, but by then she'd left the park and was at a friend's barbecue! She invited us over anyway. We got a bus to Holingbury, and it was only when we were nearly there that I realised which friend of Jane's it was. I met her (Hilary) at Jane's hen night in 2006. Jane said that she and Terry (her husband) would meet us off the bus, but for ages, we were phoning backwards and forwards to see where each other were! I was beginning to think that Jane and I had been on separate planes all day and were destined to be for the rest of the day apart from a link via our mobiles... then I saw them on the horizon!...
As it happened, most people who attended the barbecue had deserted them, so when we arrived, we livened up the party again! There were me, green_dreads, Jane, Terry, Hilary, her partner and her ex-husband, (apparently they're still very good friends! The new partner and ex seemed to get on OK too!), Billy the diabetic cat, Duvet the duvet cat (very fluffy - even more so than Nigel!) and Phoebe the fluffy dog!
I suggested that we got the 10:30 train back to Luton and it was just as well I did! Terry gave us a lift to the station and there was a massive queue to get on the trains. We were pointed very vaguely in the direction of our queue, which we did eventually manage to find! We missed the 10:30 train, but we got on the next train that took us as far as Three Bridges. After a very long wait, a Thameslink train took us to Luton. This was my 2nd time in Brighton this year and I still haven't got to the sea!
Here are some photos taken in Holingbury and at the barbecue:
Hilary and Jane
David (Hilary's ex), Hilary and Jane
Jane and Phoebe
Hilary, Jane and Phoebe