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Sunday, August 06, 2006

Brighton Pride 2006Well I'm not the only gay in Kemp Town Village, come to think of it I'm not a gay at all, but that didn't stop me enjoying Brighton Pride yesterday. Although judging by this photo, I was slightly overdressed. To be honest, I was only trying to take a picture of the Pav Tav, home of the 9 fish fingers in a bap, to prove that it does exist two years after first mentioning it. The mincing men in pants just happened to be passing.

Twin PeaksAnyhoo, the theme of this year's Pride was 'Carry On', hence this giant sculpture of Barbara Windsor, complete with professional lookalike (she's the one in blue) who frankly looked more like Pat Butcher than Peggy Mitchell. I also saw a Kenneth Williams, a Hattie Jacques, and the entire last scene from 'Carry On Up the Khyber' being acted out on the back of a Tesco lorry. It was quite entertaining.

The actual parade left Madeira Drive at 11am, which is a bit of a shame, as Lisa and I didn't get there until ten past. But it meant we were able to run alongside the Gay Camping & Caravan Club, overtake the Southern FM travel reporter dressed as a cowgirl, mingle with a couple of Romans from 'Carry on Cleo', and try to get interviewed by the BBC. Naturally we failed, but for a while we were technically part of the parade. And we were only trying to cross the road.

Carry On Using CondomsHaving made it as far as the pier, seen a couple of blokes in bondage gear, and jumped over some vomit, we cut inland towards the Royal Pavilion and took a position in North Street to view the parade in its entirety. There was a lot of Carry On style wit on display, with numerous references to camping, cruising, and taking it up the Khyber. Amnesty International's float went with "Carry On Loving", the Terence Higgins Trust had "Carry On Using Condoms",Carry On Recycling Bad Puns while Brighton and Hove City Council won the prize for most unimaginative entry by submitting a dustcart bearing the legend "Carry On Recycling". Honestly, some people should be shot for lacking a sense of humour.

In addition to that, we met the first, second and third in Mr Gay Brighton 2006 (frankly the guy in third place was robbed), and the winners of Drag Idol 2006, 'Mercedes Bends & The Benders'. They seemed like nice boys. Which is more than can be said for the bloke who walked back and forth along North Street sticking two fingers up at the floats and complaining about "the faggots". Not meaty enough for him, I expect.

One person we didn't spot however was our fellow pub quiz regular 'L', who despite being a yearly fixture at Brighton Pride, Back Seat Driverdidn't seem to be marching yesterday, and wasn't answering his mobile.

I thought this was him for a moment, but sadly no. I do know he was attending a champagne breakfast in the morning though, to celebrate this year's event, so he's probably still lying in a kitchen somewhere surrounded by empty bottles of Moet. There's always next year.

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