Bank Holiday Weekend 26-28 August 06 (Part 2)

Hey all,

As you have seen, we haven't been able to upload photos for some time now. It appears that everywhere that we have a connection, the damn computers seem to block our uploading of photos. But I think that will have to head to a certain cafe where I know that they work. But it is about 1/2 hour away on the tube, but £1 for as long as you like in one session is a bargain! Can't wait to show some of our pictures of this day the Notting Hill Carnival.

Monday
Notting Hill Carnival

This was an awesome display of sight and sounds, celebrating the cultural diversity of London. In the 2 days there was over 1 million spectators to see this awesome street carnival. Brooke made it down our way as we have an excellent bus link to Notting Hill, which is about 5 minutes from the London City Centre. The weather was a bit of a mixed bag with it raining before we left, but then after we left the sun was shining, so this makes for some interesting decisions on what to where. Go there and it was people traffic ahoy! There where people everywhere, and police everywhere also. It looks like we came at just the right time, as the street carnival was just starting as we got there. It is a bit like Carnivale in Rio De Jineiro, Brazil.

First they had the Brazillian dancers and stuff cruizing along, got some great pictures there. We decided to head further down to check out the rest of the action.

Stumbled into the food strip. What an amazing place, full of exotic smells from around the world and air thick with smoke from the charcoal bbq's, cooking up an array of beautiful food at great prices. Cam ordered a Goat curry from a Jamican stand, very tasty indeed. And the meat just fell off the bones! Would love some more of this! Nat and Brooke played it safe with a noodle dish from the Asian food stand.

Feeling pretty content and fed up, we hit the streets again to watch more of the carnival. This went on for several hours. We struggled to find a good vantage point, but managed to squeeze into a spot for some good photos. Some amazing costumes that must of taken hours to create.
Then the portable sound systems were following. These were 8ton trucks loaded with a dj, dancers and awesome sound systems. Some of these were so loud, you could feel your internal organs moving from the rumble of the bass lines!

We headed off after checking some of the 40+ static sound systems setup around the place also. Much like a small dj tent, they had various dj's and mc's performing some awesome sets.

It was then time to head home after a long day standing up. This proved to be a mission in itself with 500,000 wanting to go home also. We walked up to near where our bus was running. But this had been diverted so we needed to get to the city first. After the first 6 fulol busses passed we finally got on a bus, and into the city. Then transfer onto another bus our legendary 189 for the ride home. What would normally be a 15-20 minute ride from Notting Hill home took us over an hour. But well worth the effort. Needless to say we slept well that night!

Can't wait to show you some of Cam's photos, but in the mean time if you would like to see some more about this Carnival you can check out all the action at: http://www.mynottinghill.co.uk/nottinghilltv/carnival1.htm

All the best,

Cam & Nat

ps - If you have any photos of your recent trips out, parties etc we would love to see them! We are missing you guys, and would love to see what been happening in the little smoke!

pps - Definately need to get the photos up of this day asap!!!