As soon as I returned from Munich, I was volunteering at the Notting Hill Carnival as part of Team Macmillan's float. I have never been to the carnival before and I've heard mixed reviews. Luckily it was Sunday where we were to attend, which is the less raucous (dangerous) of the two days.
The day started at 10am where we dressed the float and got the sound system going. The DJ started with the carnival beats, which are great. What we couldn't foresee at this time was how often we'd be hearing these songs...with not knowing the words at the beginning I would at the end.
The 'walk' was easily slipped into as soon as realisation kicked that it's more of a shuffle of varying speeds. The float companions were La Trinity, a band from Trinidad who had very different moves to me. They know their comfort zone and they stick to it. Yes this is bending over and shaking what they have got. Fair play...
hours and hours later when we arrived in the main Carnival area I had not spotted a rum punch or jerk chicken stall, plenty of Red Stripe and hamburgers but that's not what it's about, so I freed myself from the float and headed off in search of food.
This is when the appreciation really set in from being in the middle of the action to where the people are. It is a surreal thing seeing all the gorgeous shops of Notting Hill all boarded up. If I go next year I'll probably do the Monday when people are in full regalia, as I must say I love a bit of Carnival beat!
The day started at 10am where we dressed the float and got the sound system going. The DJ started with the carnival beats, which are great. What we couldn't foresee at this time was how often we'd be hearing these songs...with not knowing the words at the beginning I would at the end.
The 'walk' was easily slipped into as soon as realisation kicked that it's more of a shuffle of varying speeds. The float companions were La Trinity, a band from Trinidad who had very different moves to me. They know their comfort zone and they stick to it. Yes this is bending over and shaking what they have got. Fair play...
hours and hours later when we arrived in the main Carnival area I had not spotted a rum punch or jerk chicken stall, plenty of Red Stripe and hamburgers but that's not what it's about, so I freed myself from the float and headed off in search of food.
This is when the appreciation really set in from being in the middle of the action to where the people are. It is a surreal thing seeing all the gorgeous shops of Notting Hill all boarded up. If I go next year I'll probably do the Monday when people are in full regalia, as I must say I love a bit of Carnival beat!
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| Small police presence... |
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| Rum, Rum as fast as you can |
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