Feathers & Costumes

The Notting Hill Carnical has come and gone; leaving tons of rubbish in it's wake. Last night the partying and the music was heard all the way to my room with an astounding clarity into the small hours - and I live at least five minutes walk from the very very outskirts of the festival area.

Walking through town this weekend (or just trying to get to your front door), the most extraordinary random sights awaits you. My quiet little street had been temporarily turned into a stable; police horses and dung galore. The streets - even here in Queensway - are lined with litter in such an arresting amount it feels almost surreal. You could literally swim in it. I'm not kidding.

Sunday night I spent walking and socializing in Notting Hill with work colleagues; trying to navigate my way through literally mountains of dead chicken parts mixed with interesting unidentifiable masses of goo and horse shit (pardon my French). Finally we ended up having an improvised party in the middle of a street still in use by random vehicles; there were no place else to stand.

The carnival in itself was a welcome diversion but not too impressive. I imagined an overflow of feathers and costumes and glitter and dancing; and these things did certainly exist, but in a much smaller scale than anticipated. Some groups idea of dressing up for the carnival train seemed to be plainly wearing the same colored ridiculous and heavily advertisement-filled t-shirts. However, there were some notable exceptions; like one little boy dressed up as a butterfly (or something to that extent) happily posing for pictures in an adorable and confident way.

And these things; messy and noisy and trashy as they may well be (notable is the fact that seemingly all shops in Notting Hill and its surroundings had all their shop fronts and windows boarded up by plywood well in advance to avoid having their shops mugged/plundered/randomly destroyed) - is why I love London. How cool is it to walk into a massive and happily singing/dancing carnival train just five minutes walk from your front door? In my mind, very cool.