Bodhi Bum

Hey all. Just a quick one to put of the pics from last week's Notting Hill Festival. It was a three day party over the bank holiday weekend here. The Carnival started on Sunday, but the big day was on holiday Monday. And when I say big, I mean BIG. Of course they say there wasn't as many people as last year due to the London bombings, but to be honest I can't really picture from being there how they possible could have crammed any more people in those streets.

It's traditionally been a street party, and is the largest street party in Europe. But there were so many people (over 1 million they said afterwards in the papers) that in order to fit everyone in the party was squeezed into the size of a small city. And there were still places in the parade route where I seriously looked around at the sea of wall to wall people (drunk and stoned people I might add as everyone had a Pint in one hand and a joint in the other) and realized that if 1 person started pushing, there would have been one of the stampedes that happened in Baghdad today where six hundred people were killed. This being primarily a Carribean party with the majority of the partyers being big black dudes, my skinny little white ass would have been the first one down and out.

But the party was a blast. The music was mostly Jamican dancehall and Caribbean mixes, but there was also different streets like the Spanish samba street, and the Electronica street with DJs. Now that's a funny site, for ninety percent of the time I'm bumping up and down to the Reggae and Dancehall, then I turn a corner and the sea of black turns to a sea of white. It was amazing the juxtaposition between the Carribean streets, and the one Electronica street with DJs. You even lose the sketchy guys trying to sell you ganga, replaced by the tripped out hippies offering you laughing gas balloons. I just stuck to my pints of 1664 to be safe. There were enough police there to arrest half of London.

But it turned out peaceful (only saw one fight between two drunk Jamaicans), and no one got blown up. So I'd say it was a success.