Notting Hill Carnival

It's Carnival time in Notting Hill again.  Hide the children and board up your homes.

Actually, the business along the route really do board up their shops.  But not William Hill!  Gambling will not be slowed down by the Notting Hill Carnival!

The parade was loud and colourful.  The rain not only did not dampen these exhibitionists spirits, it seemed to give them another gear to access.

Much flesh was exposed in the making of this Carnival.  Not all of it welcome.

Olive Oil made an appearance.

Wait, is that woman on the left Mother Entwistle?

I did not have any complaints about this outfit.

Loved this drum band.  They sounded fantastic and were smiling and dancing like .... happy....dancing ...drummers.....

Drum!  Dance! Be Happy!

I was the most bundled up person in Notting Hill.

I like the guy on the left wearing a glad bag for both hat and jacket.

Two of my favourites.  They passed me several times so you will see them multiple times.  (That's the story I told Jen.  Back me up.)

Oh, there she is again.

She is such a camera hog.  Excuse you miss, I'm trying to take pictures of other people.

Like this dude.

This one scared me.  She saw my camera pointed at her and launched into this little dance.  I thought she was a Spiderman villain, about to do villainy things to me.  I suppose if this is suppose to be some sort of piano she would repeat a high C over and over until I went mad.

Hello Sir.  You have my vote.  Now please keep walking.

These two mates watched from the first floor balcony.  (Remember, in the UK the first floor is the second floor)

They scared me a bit.  They look like they were scouting their next victim.

Adorable little girl watching from her flat.

It's amazing that they kept their groove on for so long.

This is getting ridiculous.  Please step aside Miss so I can photograph those faceless spectators in their rain slickers.

This old dude broke protocol and stepped in with the parade to do his little jig.

Good wings on her.

This woman opted to go another way, with the black trash bag.  She may have missed the email on which costume to bring.

Bond villain.

I have nothing to say.  Anything more I can add will only incriminate me.

I got a lovely smile from this wildly dressed lady.

I wish I got a closer picture of her.  She had a great scar on her stomach.

I was going to say that the onlookers were wildly dressed, but I think this is  everyday wear for her.

These two, however, better not dress like this on any other day.

I'm glad I only spent a couple of hours there.  Good thing, because the day before there were 269 arrests.  

There were many drunks needing attention.

And the boys used the street as their toilet.

No parade is complete without a gaggle of Jesus worshippers telling us all how bad we are.

Goodbye Notting Hill Carnival.  I took in two of these while we lived here.

Check.  Put that in the books.