It’s the first of August and where we live it’s the biggest Pride Parade in the UK (160,000 people) and we’ve never seen a pride parade before, so off we went to snap a few shots, watch the fun and samba. But…
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED WHILE WAITING FOR THE PARADE…
There we were on the corner, across from the seafront. Camera in hand we were perfectly positioned to enjoy the parade and snap away. Here’s the all important shot that we didn’t realise would change our morning really fast! You see (and I mean look for yourself) across the street there are 2 crowd stewards behind a street post. As they were there, a police motorcyclist arrived to help with the parade advancing. We saw the steward cross and say something to the officer and he went over and looked up at the sign as well. (strange we thought…these highly sensitive minds were attentive)
The policeman came back to his bike, radioed the ‘sergeant that they’d found something (this is NOT good news). Dr T turned to me and said, we should move, something’s not right. Off we went down the road, after noticing a small wireless transmitter strapped to the signpost!
So a few hundred yards down the road, we stood as more motorcycle police arrived…we moved even further down and across the road so that we could make a hasty exit up the street if need be. Then everyone was being told to move back from the area and the parade was halted in it’s tracks. We just looked at one another…
…you know living in this beautiful country has made our North American it’s-too-far-away brains become more aware of the nearness of danger on the streets. We decided it wasn’t worth the risk (who would look after The Burnout Pups) and if we were far enough away from a possible blast, neither of us wanted to experience the horror of seeing injuries and rescues.
So, we decided (and this is where I love that we are decisive) off to enjoy a poached eggs on toast breakfast. If nothing came of this then we would be wimpish, but alive. If something happened, we were safely wimpish! Our first attempt at a large crowd event in the UK and we ‘almost’ experienced it…but wait
After breakfast we walked back down to the beach and saw the parade still waiting to begin. A few questions later and we found out a package had been found and the army bomb squad had come and blown it up. The significance of this is, we were standing in the crowd a few feet in front of this package when we noticed the device on the post across the street!
We don’t know what to think, or how to react. But…
As we walked home, along came the police closing the street because the parade has now been re-routed to come our way. All is not lost. We had front row position while the bands blasted fantastic club music.
We have snapshots, we had fun and best of all, we arrived home safe and sound. We can’t thank that parade steward enough for her outstanding call for help…and the poached eggs were delish as well.
The very things we have stayed away from (large crowd gatherings) for the exact reason (bomb threats) is now part of our reality. When we moved for adventure, this is not what we had envisioned, but there you have it. One morning in the life of The Burnout Queens! xx
