Since I was in central London anyway, I went and watched the London New Years Day Parade yesterday. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for marching bands, and there were lots of them:
Parp! Cool.
The parade consisted of about 50 American High School marching bands, interspersed with displays from all the London boroughs, vintage cars and other assorted randomness. I liked the contrast between the highly polished, energetic bands and cheerleaders, who were usually followed by, say, the London Borough of Hackney’s entry, which consisted of a grubby minibus with some balloons tied to it whilst four bored looking teenagers in unmatching fancy dress trailed along behind.
Ealing, my home borough, totally had the best entry. Loads of carnival style dancing and the only proper loud sound system I saw/heard all day:
That’s what I call dressing up.
Posted by bigsky 
