In a shocking twist of fate, it was actually sunny on Sunday. Don’t panic – it only lasted for one day – but it was long enough for the Brighton Carnival to get out onto the streets. The organisers of this new event have stated that their vision is to create a carnival that “in the future rivals Notting Hill”, so it’s only a matter of time before William Hague turns up in a baseball cap. We need to make the most of it now.
The parade’s route took them from the Jubilee Library, down to the seafront and along to Hove Lawns, so I took up a prime vantage point next to a big yellow bin at the Gemini Beach Bar. If I’m going to have to wait, I want free music and thirst aid facilities at the very least.
Before long the carnival arrived, drowning out the live band at the beach bar with the drums of Estrondo and the Brighton School of Samba. I have to say, this may be a fledgling event, but some of the costumes on display rivalled anything Pride has to offer, and wouldn’t have looked out of place on the streets of Rio. Chinese dragons, Japanese geisha, belly-dancers, horses and a twelve-foot-tall Native American headdress made their way past me, surrounded by children, pirates and people from the Brighton Buddhist Centre. It was a spectacular display.
Having samba’d their way along the seafront, the procession continued on to Hove Lawns, where the carnival ended in a three-hour 'Peace Picnic' - an ironic title, as it was actually very noisy. You know you’re getting old when you encounter a three-piece punk band and find yourself complaining about the lack of melody.
But dodgy music aside, there was a lot on offer: organic food, hand-made jewellery, fair-trade cushion covers, henna tattoos… it was like a field at Glastonbury, but with no sign of Robbie Williams.
A ‘Speaker Forum’ held lectures from the likes of CND and The Women's International League For Peace & Freedom, while Amnesty International organised a exhibition entitled ‘Guantanamo: Portraits of Injustice’. To be honest though, the most popular attractions seemed to be the beer tent and the bouncy castle. World peace just doesn’t draw in the crowds like it used to.
I did, however, meet a nice young lady with a clipboard, who introduced herself as "one of the organisers of the Brighton Carnival", and proceeded to ask me a couple of questions about recycling. My favourite was the multiple choice one about what we should do with the rubbish from the Peace Picnic. One of the options was 'Leave it in the street'. I went for that, but she didn't take me seriously.
We had a good discussion about question number two though, which was "Where do you live?". I answered "Kemp Town", she replied "Kent Town?", I repeated "Kemp Town", she asked me to spell it, I described where it is, she said she'd never heard of it, I said it's very nice, and she finally admitted that "I don't really know Brighton". But still, at least it hasn't stopped her organising our carnival.
