What a mind blowing experience. To be in one place with so many people and then that the majority of them were gay! Here is the story of our day at Pride!
It all started on a beautiful morning in Hove. I looked out the window and it felt a bit like kid Christmas. The anticipation of the days events made me wake up early. I took a pic out our back window cos it was so lovely.
The sky was clear and the neighbourhood still sleepy and quiet.
We stoked up with a bit of breaky - smoothie and raisin toast with butter. Slapped on some sunscreen and headed off to the Parade.
The parade runs a little under 3 miles from the water front in Brighton up towards Preston Park. A 63 acre park which was decked out with fair rides and food and merchandise stalls.
http://tourism.brighton.co.uk/attractions/attractiondet.asp?Attraction=19&attractiontype=Parks+%26+Gardens
Getting to the parade was a bit of a mission for us. We tried to catch a bus only to discover that due to the parade they wouldn't be going close enough for us. But, we had our trusty bikes! Lucky. Pedal power and we were at the Viaduct on Preston Street in plenty of time to sip our NZ wine before the first parade participants arrived.
The theme for the parade was "Musicals". We were delighted to see 18 Dorothy's from the Wizard of Oz marching and dancing down the street.
Of course there were the Fire Service and Police Service too. There has to be a fire truck only this time it was trussed up in pastel pink and blue balloons!
According to the Argus, Brightons local newspaper around 120,000 people visited Preston Park where the parade finished. You can see a few thousand people in my pic above making their way up Preston Street.
Once through the gates and past the protesting Christians it was simply a matter of finding a green space to relax on. We were visited by hawkers selling vodka jelly and chocolate treats. Queues for the toilets were insane which forced most of us to go "bush" during our drinking session.
As the sun started to slip away and headaches from the heat increased we retreated to town and the stony shore. This was packed too. The water was almost warm enough to swim in after several days of sunshine.
The lights of Brighton pier were sparkling brighter than usual I think. Making my first big Pride celebration very beautiful.
