Stourport Carnival a fun day out.

Miss me? Nah anyway normal service is resumed.

So the carnival - a bit late on the reporting front, but hey better late then never. I took a wander down to Areley Kings to get some photos before they set off (friends heading back told me I'd missed the judging not that I cared) and then some more off them setting off. Great fun squeezing the floats through the exit. So in no particular order we had a marching band, apparently arranged in order of height; the fire trucks; a mini-tractor, with a display of tooling; another mini- tractor with flowers; some old police cars; the church float; a Disney character float; a Pirates of the Caribbean float; the Drop the Beat float; the kiddies Cats float; a Viking dinghy; the lifeguards; and of course the Carnival Queen and attendants.

I got some nice pictures of the Queen, the Princess and the Rosebud. The Queen gave me a smile and a pose, the Princess had a big grin on her face and was was happily waving, the Rosebud seemed a little fractious. i followed the procession down from Areley Kings, jumped ahead at the bridge where they met the walkers and got held up by an ambulance trying to get past (then a Doctor's car trying to turn out of York Street to the bridge); then I had a rest on Vale Road. They all caught up then they had a rest too, an unplanned one I believe as none of the participants seemed to know why they'd stopped. Anyway refreshments were grabbed and consumed before they set off again.

They turned off Vale Road to get to Lombard Street and I met them coming the other way and walked against the flow; then I headed back down Vale Road and High Street while they negotiated Lion Hill and York Street and then met them at New Street and headed onto the field.

Caught the end of The Lady and the Sax (not my thing) and then took some pictures of the crowning of the Queen etc. Now people there's a traditional reason why the person doing the crowning stands behind the crownee and that's because we're interested in them and not the back of the crowner. Taking the crown from the previous holder - standing on the left, crowning the new one - stand on the right. As a result I was moving back and forth and always managed to be on the wrong bloody side.

Grabbed a hot-dog, noted the filthy nails of the guy serving me and got another from the other stall found myself a place to sit next to the field and waited for the next act.

Debbie Davenport and the bird display, falcons and owls flying around one at a time; one owl called Darwin was much more interested in the crowd then Debbie's lure and ended up perched on top of the previously mentioned purveyor of hot-dogs, then flew off into the trees. As a result we got several minutes of Debbie calling him before she finally gave up and got out the next bird.

I got some reasonable shots, most of the peregrine being a blur. A difficulty was that as the birds were flying so fast I wanted a focus lock before I needed it and so focused on Debbie - who then moved towards or away from me just as the birds came in. Ah well.

Next up was the Crystal Cheerleaders who appeared to be a bunch of eight year olds. I'm sure it's fun for their parents, but it leaves me cold and a little shuddery so I headed off for some real food. Watched GK Pyrotechnics (think that was the name) back their van into Harold Davies Drive and come to a halt with the timely help of its street sign.

Back for the river parade and due to the work on the bridge they could only come through one at a time, that was as soon as the River King got back and moored. I had a nasty feeling it would moor directly in front of me at its normal dropping off point, but I assume it used the other tie-off next to the fairground (presumably annoying the throngs who were gathered there). The boats were fun and I enjoyed the tank, the announcer was a bit of a pain as we were closer to the boats then she was we got to see them first then she'd announce that one just as the next was in our view; likewise on the return she'd ask why the banks and the bridge weren't cheering the incoming boats the answer being because we couldn't see them what with those honking great trees in the way. The underside of the bridge itself was lit up with lights, I'm guessing as a navigational aid what with the scaffolding still in place, but as the point was to see the light display of the boats, not a great aid.

Anyway another wander through the amusements staying close as the guide said the fireworks were being set off from the field. Wandering - wandering - bang, huh? Obscured by trees from my position I headed back to the field (apparently there was a count-down, which I missed due to all the music from the amusements). Found myself on the wrong side of the field and headed to the river bank and mixed with the crowd who were crammed into the only vantage point not obscured by trees (still not sure where they were letting the fireworks off from). Anyway managed to get some decent shots.

All in all for the day I only managed to take about 700 photos, heh. So I'm going through them and trying to sort them by float etc. Oh and a hello to the guy with the sharp hat if he's reading.