Shake your thang...

Yesterday we had our towns local carnival. Before you get excited picturing awesome events like the Notting Hill Carnival, or Luton , I'll just let you know that it's only been going for a couple of years, so it still has that sort of slap-dash, mish-mash small town feel to it; you know, most of the costumes are obviously home-made, the kids don't quite know the dance routines, there were big gaps in the procession and then there'd be a gaggle of dancers running to catch up! Hilarious!

I think this was James' Giant Peach...

The local disabled disco had a float; I used to teach disabled adults and I know that many of my students go to this disco and they all love it!

Joe came with us wearing his Halti which means he doesn't run around like a headless chicken. He hardly ever wears a lead, so when he does, he really pulls against it. He's a strong bugger, so a halti puts the ball back in our court :-) He loves being out and about with lots of people.

The king and queen of the carnival were a couple of Indian children from the local Punjab society

Then there were these amazing costumes, I loved these elephants

Joe was very interested in the giraffes, which had very long swinging necks that the dancers kept swinging over to children watching.

After the procession, there were lots of dance acts and bands on the stage in the park; some from Luton, Leicester, Nottingham and various neighbouring cities.

A friends band were playing; they play a kind of Irish Bluegrass fusion, with a guitar and a banjo. Everybody was invited to sing along to the Wild Rover (made famous by the Pogues) and Joe obliged by spontaneously howling along. Everyone laughed and looked at him, but he didn't care, he was singing his heart out! He just loves to sing; he'll sing along to ringtones, football chants and to anyone that's singing in the same area as he is. Our last dog Rommel would never sing!

There's nothing like sitting in the park, drinking a bottle of cold cider in the sunshine and listening to live entertainment. The rain even held off till we got home :-)