Sunday, July 02, 2006

Europride 2006

Yesterday was a very busy day indeed. After getting up mega early (for a Saturday!) I got myself a haircut, had a Jim bought McDonald's breakfast (thank you hun!) and headed into town. Of course Greenwich station had a higher than normal proportion of gay travellers. Gay pride days bring us all out of the woodwork. As is a tradition I set up my normal position by platforms 5 and 6 at Charing Cross to await Sam America. I love just standing there and watching the world go by. On a normal gay pride day Charing Cross is awash with all sorts of interesting and unusual characters. Thanks to the England-Portugal match it was even crazier than normal.

Sam called and told me how she'd accidentally go the wrong way and was currently in Trafalgar square so I went and met up with her before we went and found her mate Joe. We had a drink in a bar somewhere off Trafalgar Square and Joe disappeared off to work. Sam and I headed to Regent Street and got a prime position to watch the parade.

I spent most of the time there with a huge smile on my face and clapping my heart out. It was as always a brilliant parade. I have to admit my heart swelled with pride when the Navy and Police contingents marched past. As always the police got the biggest round of applause. Gods Bless 'em.


I was pleased to note I got a few shouts of "Hey cutie" and "Hey gorgeous" from some of the floats. And not a few waves. Glad to know I've still got it!!



The only downer was the occasional homphobic shouts from groups of passing footie supporters. Not really experienced homophobia at a pride event before (beyond the "Jesus Loves" type anyway). It wasn't very nice.


I loved the pink Union Jack... a flag to be proud of!

After the parade Sam and I grabbed some McDonald's for lunch... it was only as I munched into my Big Mac did I realise it was my second of the day. He he... Sam made me feeling better by saying it was a holiday so we could do what we wanted.

After lunch we wandered down to Trafalgar Square for a bit of the rally. I stuffed my pockets with pamphlets and free stuff. This is always my fave part of pride... the crazy reading material...

Had a drink in Trafalgar Square before heading off to catch the football (JOY!). Now we headed to G.A.Y bar to see it there but every other person decided the same thing so we made a detour to the Walkabout... it too was full. Sam became flustered about missing it but by luck we slipped into Ku Bar and watched the first half there packed in like sardines. Whoever said gay men don't like football was an idiot. After that uncomfortable experience we headed to Planet Hollywood to see the second half, where we had a lot more space.

By extra time we were tired of standing and hungry so we watched England get sent packing while munching a meal in the restaurant. Jim I've mortgaged the flat so I could pay for that meal, I hope you don't mind.

After the defeat London cleared out of most of the footie fans (shame half naked straight men looking terrified in the face of half a million queers was a turn on!) and we headed to Leicester Square to catch some of the cabaret (I LOVE PRIDE CABARET SHOWS). It seemed like all the other gayers were appearing from their various football watching bolt holes and the square soon filled up.

We caught the Dame Edna experience which was hilarious. Loved it.


We wandered up to Soho which was crazy and sat outside Starbuck's for a while having a chat and watching the gorgeous men and the wonderful drag queens wander past. We moved on to Holborn in search of Joe and ended up drinking in the Shakespeare's Head. Realising Joe's work (Footloose) was actually in Covent Garden we wandered down there. Covent Garden is wonderful at night. Met up with him and few other people from the staff at the theatre and had a drink at a nearby bar. It was at this point I grew too tired to carry on and called it an evening. All in all a very pleasant day, marred only by Jim's absence.

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2 comments:

  1. You're 6'9? Or did you mean 69, heh.

    I've never been to a Gay Pride Parade, I bet they must be a blast. Don't pay any attention to those close-minded, ignorant jerks who think you want to know what's on their minds. They're a bunch of idiots.

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  2. 6'9" ! My goodness - you must get a great view.

    Glad you had a good time :)

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