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Aug. 20th, 2006 09:00 amWe were guests at Eastleigh Carnival last night. There was a special dais set up by the side of the street for us VIPs - we sat next to Charles and Claudia from the Isle of Wight, and had Richard from Havant and Sue from Winchester in front of us. Just before the parade, teenage girls came round selling us all bags of 2p pieces to throw at the floats.
At the start of the parade were the Romsey Carnival group dressed in arrowed prison uniforms (one with a ball and chain), with a warder who, when they stopped in front of us, led them in an old Barron Knights chant given local colour:
Warder : Where are you all coming from?
Prisoners : WINCHESTER PRISON ON THE RUN!
W : What were you in Winchester for?
P : WE BORROWED A SAFE FROM THE BANK NEXT DOOR!
W : How did you work out your route?
P : WE FOLLOWED THE ARROWS ON OUR SUITS!
W : And why do you all talk this way?
P : 'CAUSE WE'RE FROM ROMSEY! IN'T WE? EH!
Then they formed a circle and danced round and round while the band played a tune. After one dance, they called on people to come off the street and join their circle. A couple of the VIPs started moving off the dais to join in, so my mother dragged me down there, one or two other mayors joined in, and we formed a huge circle and danced round and round for a couple of minutes.
Back on the dais, next came the Carnival Queen, then it wasn't long before a Scout marching band appeared. "Let's see who can hoy a penny down the big trumpet," I said. "You're wicked," laughed Sue. There wasn't a trumpet in the end. The floats included a 70s disco, a medieval castle, and one with people in all sorts of costumes from a pirate to a cowboy. I admired the kids on the 70s float for keeping up their disco dancing unruffled by the hail of 2p pieces that came flying at them from all directions. A lot of the floats had a bucket on, not that many people succeeded in throwing their pennies into them - Sue lamented a couple of near misses before finally getting one in near the end, while Charles was fiercely proud of his one shot on target out of several.
We had a military band near the end. My mother said, a little too loudly I thought, "NO THROWING PENNIES DOWN THE TRUMPET." It felt like being back on a school outing. Her voice obviously carries authority though, as no-one tried :) The band stopped in front of us, and played the Macarena, while the cheerleaders just ahead of them did the dance. Next they played the Birdy Song! Among the people who joined in with the cheerleaders doing the 'a little bit of...' dance were Peter, the Mayor of Eastleigh, and his Mayoress!!
After the carnival we all went back to the Mayor of Eastleigh's Parlour for a buffet. There were various bridge rolls, including Brie and black grape (yum, I had two), and some delicious cheese straws. We chatted to the Carnival Queen and Princesses, then talked to Sue, who had her granddaughter (about 9 or 10, I'd guess) with her - Sue said the young lass is a very promising footballer! She plays in midfield for one of Winchester City's girls' teams. I wished her the very best of luck and told her to keep up the good work. My mother did a lot of plugging for her medieval night, asking the other mayors and chairmen if they'd be coming, and trying to persuade them to dress up in medieval costume! A couple were game, but Richard didn't fancy dressing up, though in the end my mother wore him down - he agreed to come as a medieval baron provided they found him a 'buxom wench'!
As we were chatting to John and Margaret from Rushmoor and one of the carnival organisers, a flunky banged his gavel, then when he'd got everyone's attention Peter announced that Southampton had drawn 2-2. Varying reactions from people in the room, and my mother called out "Portsmouth won 3-0!" Peter relayed that news, whereupon I shouted "How did Havant & Waterlooville do?" Peter said he was sorry but he didn't know. Then someone chimed in that Eastleigh had lost 3-1. "Awww," said my mother. Less of this showing sympathy for our rivals, thank you, madam.
Back home, I surfed onto the HWFC web site to learn Hawks had lost 1-0 at Newport County. So twice in 24 hours, a person/team I support got shafted by the Welsh. Pah.
Watched Match of the Day, but felt my eyes droop during the second half, so reluctantly abandoned my plan to stay up and watch the film of Rising Damp on BBC2, and hit the hay.
At the start of the parade were the Romsey Carnival group dressed in arrowed prison uniforms (one with a ball and chain), with a warder who, when they stopped in front of us, led them in an old Barron Knights chant given local colour:
Warder : Where are you all coming from?
Prisoners : WINCHESTER PRISON ON THE RUN!
W : What were you in Winchester for?
P : WE BORROWED A SAFE FROM THE BANK NEXT DOOR!
W : How did you work out your route?
P : WE FOLLOWED THE ARROWS ON OUR SUITS!
W : And why do you all talk this way?
P : 'CAUSE WE'RE FROM ROMSEY! IN'T WE? EH!
Then they formed a circle and danced round and round while the band played a tune. After one dance, they called on people to come off the street and join their circle. A couple of the VIPs started moving off the dais to join in, so my mother dragged me down there, one or two other mayors joined in, and we formed a huge circle and danced round and round for a couple of minutes.
Back on the dais, next came the Carnival Queen, then it wasn't long before a Scout marching band appeared. "Let's see who can hoy a penny down the big trumpet," I said. "You're wicked," laughed Sue. There wasn't a trumpet in the end. The floats included a 70s disco, a medieval castle, and one with people in all sorts of costumes from a pirate to a cowboy. I admired the kids on the 70s float for keeping up their disco dancing unruffled by the hail of 2p pieces that came flying at them from all directions. A lot of the floats had a bucket on, not that many people succeeded in throwing their pennies into them - Sue lamented a couple of near misses before finally getting one in near the end, while Charles was fiercely proud of his one shot on target out of several.
We had a military band near the end. My mother said, a little too loudly I thought, "NO THROWING PENNIES DOWN THE TRUMPET." It felt like being back on a school outing. Her voice obviously carries authority though, as no-one tried :) The band stopped in front of us, and played the Macarena, while the cheerleaders just ahead of them did the dance. Next they played the Birdy Song! Among the people who joined in with the cheerleaders doing the 'a little bit of...' dance were Peter, the Mayor of Eastleigh, and his Mayoress!!
After the carnival we all went back to the Mayor of Eastleigh's Parlour for a buffet. There were various bridge rolls, including Brie and black grape (yum, I had two), and some delicious cheese straws. We chatted to the Carnival Queen and Princesses, then talked to Sue, who had her granddaughter (about 9 or 10, I'd guess) with her - Sue said the young lass is a very promising footballer! She plays in midfield for one of Winchester City's girls' teams. I wished her the very best of luck and told her to keep up the good work. My mother did a lot of plugging for her medieval night, asking the other mayors and chairmen if they'd be coming, and trying to persuade them to dress up in medieval costume! A couple were game, but Richard didn't fancy dressing up, though in the end my mother wore him down - he agreed to come as a medieval baron provided they found him a 'buxom wench'!
As we were chatting to John and Margaret from Rushmoor and one of the carnival organisers, a flunky banged his gavel, then when he'd got everyone's attention Peter announced that Southampton had drawn 2-2. Varying reactions from people in the room, and my mother called out "Portsmouth won 3-0!" Peter relayed that news, whereupon I shouted "How did Havant & Waterlooville do?" Peter said he was sorry but he didn't know. Then someone chimed in that Eastleigh had lost 3-1. "Awww," said my mother. Less of this showing sympathy for our rivals, thank you, madam.
Back home, I surfed onto the HWFC web site to learn Hawks had lost 1-0 at Newport County. So twice in 24 hours, a person/team I support got shafted by the Welsh. Pah.
Watched Match of the Day, but felt my eyes droop during the second half, so reluctantly abandoned my plan to stay up and watch the film of Rising Damp on BBC2, and hit the hay.
