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Nerves, swerves and feathered curves- August 1998 Finally after much anticipation carnival weekend arrived amidst a wall of August sunshine. My ex-client, spaceman Luke, who used to work at Prudential, met me at his house alongside the carnival route. How we would sit and smile from behind our coffee cups at meetings, as the latest insurance starategies were discussed by our 'superiors'.
I never realised what more than one million people looked like in such a small area. I walked over the brow of the hill on Ladbroke Grove, to see a sea of revellers stretched into the distance, and the waves of balloons and arms rippling towards the horizon. |
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The carnival spreads over a maze of intertwining streets, lined with five storey Edwardian terrace houses. From the windows, balconies and rooftops of each of these houses hang out the limbs of the residents, with their flags and scattering ticker tape down on the crowd. The main procession route is on the right hand side of the road, and the dancing throng jostles upon the left. Of course once your in the sea of people, there is no turning back, you just get swept away, and it is far easy to make progress if you are dancing or swaying to the music, than if you are trying to just walk down the street!
Down the side streets, away from the moving carnival folk, were stationary sound systems. Huge speakers vibrating from the backs of lorries, with djs rapping over the bassline while dancing on top of the lorry. The usual brigades of feathered glittery dancers paraded along in their giant costumes. My nose was greeted with the smell of cocoa and I looked to see a troup of people carrying large barrels of melted chocolate, and smearig it on the public with big sticks, they were all covered head to toe in gooey chocolate, melting in the sun, then baking into a dry extra layer of skin. |
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I managed to battle my way to Luke’s house, where he introduced me to his one eyed sausage dog, wolf like other canine and tortoise slumbering in the garden while the sound of the carnival spilled into his back yard. I also met his dotty grandma, who seemed to be just a little senile, I did of course get to see the famly album and hear the tales of every generation of her family! Luke and I got stuck into the booze he had received from a number of Prudential suppliers (including BHWG) as leaving gifts. Before very long, we were very merry, and once two of his other friends (a couple of loud dodgy black youths) showed up, we were out in the carnival, beers in hand and dancing hips on. ...........By the time we left Lukes house the carnival was beginning to wind down. The music was still pounding and people dancing, but it wasn’t as crowded as it had been. All along the streets were vendors selling carnival whistles and Caribbean food at crazy prices. Even the residents were cashing in setting up stalls by their front gates and selling home made patties at crazy prices. Some were even selling the use of their bathrooms at a pound to spend a penny, with make shift signs swinging from their front doors. Little old ladies and dodgy geezers were also making profits, with supermarket trolleys laden with beer they had bought from off licenses, and selling it to passers by. The police seem to cast a blind eye to everything at carnival time! We ended up at a stationary lorry and stage, set up in the middle of a high rise housing estate, where drum ‘n’bass and rap trip hip hop (or whatever!) was spewing out at a gazillion decibels. Beer laden we jived and danced in the jewelled evening sunshine, not a standard Sunday afternoon in London. As the stages shut down, and the sun slipped away, handing the reigns to her ebony counterpart, the crowds began to disperse down the side streets. Now a little drunk, we awaited outside a takeaway greasy spoon (with special ‘carnival prices’ stuck up over the normal menu). Luke began climbing the drainpipe beside the 20 storey flats outside, he made it to about the first floor, when the pipe emitted a ceramicy cracking sound, and the lower section split away from the upper, and drifted away from the wall, Luke clinging on for dear life, while incessantly laughing, and receiving rapturous cheers and clappage from the folk below. I reached out and caught him as he let go, and we all ran off before anyone (who would care) noticed. |
Lukes Homepage |
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