It's Carnival Time!

Tomorrow (or possibly today by the time I write this) is a big day in Brighton's calendar as it's the Gay Pride festival parade.

For those who don't know it or for the narrow-minded, this may conjure up visions of camp men and crop-haired females marching down the street and daring people to challenge them. Nothing could be further from the truth! It's an extravaganza of amazing floats, blaring music and wildly eccentric people having a bloody good time and celebrating the fact that they are allowed so to do. The streets are thronged by spectators who cheer and applaud, spurring on the float occupants to even more extravagance and fun.

The Parade culminates in Preston Park where there awaits an enormous number of stalls, bars, music tents and a fairground. We generally go to the park and watch the arrival. Part of the Carnival Parade tradition is one float which always gives away 1000s of gladioli so we'll make sure we get ours!

The stalls are a veritable cornucopia of treasures ranging from the Gay Police Association van, stalls selling amazingly funny (and extremely rude) clothes and tee shirts, weird jewellery, stalls promoting equality or highlighting inequality and a great many selling , how can I say this, toys and pleasure articles.

The whole point of the day is that there is nothing tawdry. You see plenty of guys as girls, same sex lovers strolling and just simply outrageously wacky people but the beauty is, nobody feels out of place and everybody accepts each other as what they are. Paradoxically, it's also a real family day with plenty of children there to join in the fun.

I remember taking my daughter when she was about 13 and she had a great time although, I admit, I had to steer her away from some stalls. There's never any trouble and the liberation of live and let live is palpable.

Full report to follow.

In the evening it's yet another musicfest when all the local bands play from about 6 until 10 at a park near us. Lark in the Park, as it's called, is just as much fun in its way because everybody seems to know everyone else and so it's a big social event as well as an evening of good music. All the guys playing look on it as the high point of their musical year so they're all really buzzing and the finale is a big firework display. OK, so it's not quite Woodstock but there's usually several hundred there and a jolly good time had by all.