Brighton Pride [London on Sea]

It was brighton pride this weekend. So a group of us travelled down on Friday night to make the most of the weekend. Allan, Jacs, Helen and I stayed at the Old Ship Hotel down on the seafront (and very nice it was too). We travelled down with Northy and whilst he went to Richie and Tara’s to settle in we checked in and got changed before meeting at a restaurant for more wine than food.
We then moved onto Dr Brightons for more drinks and meeting up with yet more people. It seemed like half of London was down already.
Saturday morning and we were up early for breakfast and to catch the start of the parade. It turns out (having compared photo’s) that Jan from work and I were stood really close but didn’t see each other.
After being shocked to see some mates int he parade (in the police section) we headed to the bar for some beers. I made a detour to boots for some essential medicine and then we all headed to Preston Park for festivities. This was when we realised all of London was in Brighton.
It was one of the hottest days of the year so far and with no breeze to speak of it became unbearably hot. I was abstaining from beers as I was still under the weather from the previous week.

Circus Circus was our stop en route to the park and from it with lots of opportunity for people watching as the crowds thronged to and from the park.
Many people were looking slightly worse for wear by 7pm when we headed to the hotel for a quick change and to a party at Andy Roo’s newly refurbished flat in Kemp Town.

After drinks and food we headed back into town along the promenade – the pier was open late too and it was busier down on the beach than we expected.

Sunday was a day of relaxing on the beach and then for a lazy long lunch at Due South before heading to the St James Street Party.

Lots of discussions about clubbing together and buying a house/flat down there again this trip! I’m sure we’ll have the same ones when we head up to Manchester Pride though too.

Gai Paris

I was in Paris at the weekend. Well Saturday night actually. It sounds like a romantic extravagant gesture. It wasn’t 😉

Essentially 4 friends have birthdays around the same time. I only knew one of the birthday boys and a few of the forty people going. Mark one of the birthday boys works for eurostar and so we got a very good deal on our trip. We had an entire coach to ourselves and it was just as well I can tell you. With only 1 girl that made 39 boyz ready for a night out.

Mike and I arrived at Waterloo with bubbly and wine raring to go. (okay so not exactly raring but ready). We met Matt and David and a few others before fighting our way through the crowds of desperate people trying to get last minute tickets due to a flash strike by BA staff at Heathrow. We briefly considered selling our tickets for an obscene profit and going into soho but soon we were checked in and spotting the others who we though might make up the party.

Starting early with beers, fizz and wine on the train. Lots of it ended up on people and the floor but a fair proportion ended up making us fairly merry by the time we arrived in Paris. Despite Mark egging us to join ‘The Mile Under Club’ (eurostars equivalent to the mile high club) and the fact that the baby change room had ample space to make joining fun and hassle free we managed to restrain ourselves. Well most of us did at any rate! Plus we only have 20 minutes of being in the tunnel and it simply is not enough time for some of us 😉

Mark truly was a star what with complimentary tickets to the lounges and pre buying metro tickets, we breezed through Gare du Nord and headed off into the balmy summer evening in Paris.

Lovely meal at a 4 star hotel (with more booze) before heading to the bars. Yet more booze and some cute french boyz later we headed off to le Depot for some dancing and some cruising. Boy was there some cruising! The rest of he night was a blur of music and naked flesh before we headed out into the quiet of a Sunday Paris morning. We arrived back at Gare du Nord almost 12 hours later we had arrived and made short work of the croissants and coffee in the lounge. Despite not having had any sleep the group managed to break only one glass and burn two slices of toast in the lounge.

The coach on the return journey was a lot more subdued than the way out. I think the baby change room got more use though 😉

So that was pretty much my weekend. Next weekend it’s Pride in the Park. So we’ll see how that goes! Then of course there is Brighton Pride, Manchester Pride, Edinburgh Festival and the list goes on. I love summer 😉

Pics to follow courtesy of David

Brighton Pride

pictures
Although I wasn’t feeling 100% having been into work on the friday and sent home I had already made plans to go to Brighton for the day. I had a friend staying and had arranged to meet people so I dutifully met up at clapham junction for the train journey down. The staff seemed fairly clued up there was an ‘event’ at brighton as they made plenty of announcements about how to get there where to change if necessary etc.
When we arrived it looked a bit dull and overcast but nothing too serious but by the time we arrived at Preston Park the heavens had opened and a lightning storm was in full flow. I was amazed at the number of people huddled under trees with umbrellas. Do people not realise how dangerous that is?
So we skipped the park and went straight to the pub to try and dry off a little. The hand dryers were in constant use!
A few drinks later and David and I had decided [well I had anyways] to ask Andy back to Streatham – he seemed keen and so that was settled.
The sun started to break through and alcohol had made us brave so we ventured into the park and joined in the festivities which was nice. The slide by the popstarz tent was cool so I went on it a few times. We had much more alcohol and then ventured back to the car [having met Andrew who had driven] and went to see the damage to his brighton abode. Followed by a trip to the marina for food.
A long journey home ensued but all in all a fun day! Lots of fun had by all in fact!