It's carnival time !!

Our neck of the woods are quite well known for illuminated carnivals. The season starts in November each year at a town called Bridgewater, known as home of carnival and believed to be the birthplace of the oldest carnival in England. The season runs till mid /late November where many towns nearby all take turns to host the event on different days. This year there were 8 parades and last weekend it was the turn of my hometown.

The carnival is probably our town's biggest event every year and always attracts big crowds, Apparently we get visitors coming from a few hundred miles away every year. The last time I went was well over 15 years ago. A lot of locals tend to avoid the carnival as it gets so crowded, very difficult to park, and in typical mentality, because you're local you can always go next year. This year I decided to go because I had a prime non crowded warm viewing spot. More on that in a minute.

The carnival starts at 7pm, and I got into town at 5pm. The roads were due to be closed off before the start and I didn't want to park too far away. With quite a lot of time to spare, I went for a stroll around town to see what the atmosphere was like. There was already quite a crowd sitting by the side of the road right next to the sea to get the best view. It was only half past five, but it was already dark and cold. Plus, don't forget we're a seaside town, not exactly fun to be sitting outside for two hours. These were hard core carnival fans!

I was luckier and didn't have to stand in the cold as my niece @kathrynkw lived in town and the carnival passed right in front of her living room. This is my view from indoors. The crowds had already lined up the streets waiting way before the carnival was due to start at 7pm. In the end we didn't see anything till 7.30pm and we're located at the beginning of the route. The whole Parade takes about two hours so the poor souls at the end of the route had ages to wait.

Once the floats started to come through it was like a massive party but without the push and squash for me. We switched off the lights and opened up the windows to get the full atmosphere. The music came blasting through and it was truly electric. According to the schedule there were about 50 participants, mostly illuminated floats, but also individuals dressed up in carnival costumes, and some community groups such fire engines, and local cadets march. We were pretty much on eye level with the performers on the floats, and got a very good view of their moves, waving to them as they went by. All the floats were to be judged by the organisers and many of them were dancing very energetically along to the music cheered on by the onlookers.

@kathrykw's children were loving it as well, especially her older son. He kept on shouting "more music! more music" after a float had passed by and the next one hadn't arrived yet. It was so sweet. His baby sister was equally mesmerised by it. Normally she likes to stand in front of the window, and tonight must have been even more special for her. The lights, the music and all the moving parts on the floats must have been a lovely sensory experience for the the little baby. For me, watching the kids enjoying themselves was as, if not more joyable as watching the carnival itself.

The two hours passed by pretty quick and very soon the last float went past us and the crowds started to disperse. It was 10pm by the time everything finished, an hour later than scheduled. Half an hour was due to the delayed start, then during the procession one of the float broke down and it took a long time to remove it from the carnival. You know when you're watching streaming with bad internet, that's what it felt like, very frustrating. But overall it was still a fantastic evening.

Hats off to the performers and the organisers and everyone who were there to make this a safe and enjoyable evening.