Meanwhile, back in London.....
Today was the Notting Hill Carnival (adult day ... yesterday was kid day).
Half a million people crammed into several blocks that were cordoned off for the party.
It celebrates Caribbean history, as far as I could figure out. Half of the day was pure fun spectacle. Seeing old women in bikinis was smile inducing. If you were a block away the music put a smile on your face.
If you walked directly past the music or it rode past you it made you recall the scene in Mr. Holland's Opus when his son loses his hearing from being too close to the horn section at a parade.
Then when the half million people got cramped into some tight spaces, claustrophobia doesn't begin to describe it. I shuffled along for 20 minutes in one spot to get to an opening two building lengths away. You could see how the stampede at the Who concert began.
I hung around our place this morning for an hour debating on going. The pros were that it was something I normally would never do and the party looked amazing. The cons were exactly what I thought. People - Noise. And the fact that two people were stabbed and 96 arrested yesterday ... on kid day ... should have tipped the scales.
All in all, I think I'm glad I went....
Note: more than 7000 police officers were on duty for the event. Two thoughts; there must be many a bad guy who has planned a caper on the other side of London on Notting Hill Carnival, and second, you could have sent 5000 of those police home if you just hired one Mike Fletcher to control things.
better pictures than mine on this link:
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