Carnival Day.

Apart from one shower ealier in the morning the weather today has been pefect for the carnival.

We met at 11.00 down in the car park where the tractor pulled out the boat from the small field the club keeps its two surf boats in. (The two celtic longboats are kept in the boat park by the lifeboat station.) As it was quite windy it was decided to decorate the boat once we were up by the golf club at the other end of the village. 

Walking up alng the High Street I took photos of some of the houses that had also been decorated, some very elaborately.

The Friendship Inn had been turned into a set from Peaky Blinders and they had an amazing float. The photo I took of the float wasn't very good (I was using the phone camera ) but I'm sure there will some posted on FB that I can share.

Our float was quite last minute but we threw on a ton of tinsel and then just before the procession set off the wooden mast with its sail emblazoned with 'The Owl and the Pussycat' was lashed to one of the seats in the boat. Once I'd put on my costume and mask it was too awkward to take photos.

We processed back down the High Street shaking collecting tins at all the people watching. Peter got many nice comments for his owl costume and I made lots of children smile as I wiggled my curly tail at them. I enjoyed hamming it up (see what I did there?) pleading for 'pennies for the piggy?' from the children who were watching with their handfuls of change and exhorting adults to support local charities. And I thanked everyone in english and welsh. Nearly everyone was taking photos and videos and I was quite glad that I was covered up with my mask so that I could be a silly as I liked.

I hadn't realised that after the carnival there is great gathering on the playing field with a kiddies fun fair, some food stalls, a beer stand and dance music playing loudly. (It would make a fantastic venue for a small music festival.) I quickly marched home to offload our costumes before coming back to join Peter who was having a beer with a friend.

What I liked to see was that holidaymakers and carnival participants had brought chairs and picnics to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. I'll have to ask, maybe there is live music later on.

Peter's back and ankle were hurting after all that walking so he walked slowly home while I had a wander round soaking up the atmosphere and nibbling a piece of lemon drizzle cake bought from the community hub's stand. To cheer Peter up I brought him home a bun from the hog roast stall which included a big piece of crackling.

Arriving home I chatted to our neighbours who have come down to work on their house. Then I had a much needed rest sitting out with a coffee on the terrace.