Kingston Carnival

There is a lot of difference between Kingston (upon Thames, the one I can ride my bicycle to) and Kingston, Jamaica. For one thing, there are five time zones between them, for another; there is an ocean between them.

But for all their differences, they have a lot of similarities as well. They both are uh... named "Kingston." Uh, they are both located on islands... I know that there must be something I am missing. Oh, yes. They both have a carnival.

You may remember my writing about Molesey Carnival a few weeks back. Kingston Carnival is much more like the one you might see in Jamaica. It has the garish costumes and the floats. But it is far less well promoted. Had I not been riding through Kingston on my ride when it was being held this weekend I would have had no idea it was going on. It's not like they could have promoted by, oh, I don't know, actually telling anybody about it or anything like that.

The crowd was a bit ad-hock in nature. I saw very few cameras. That may be because it was raining this morning and I didn't carry my cameras because of the rain; perhaps other people had the same idea. I really should get a waterproof camera bag for my little camera so I can go back to carrying one even when it is wet out.

The carnival was fun. I stayed for an hour but I had to get back to the house. I am meeting-up with friends this afternoon at the pub. They sounded a little worse-for-the wear from last night's party. Today it is a bit of the hair of the dog at the King's Arms so that tomorrow, we can get back to being respected and productive members of society.

I hope that wherever you are today, you've had a blast!

Don Bergquist - 03 September 2006 - Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, UK