Pride in Brighton & Hove - Could it have been a better weekend?
I think the only songs that could sum up how I feel right now would be “Perfect Day” or “I’ve had the time of my life”. I’ve never shed tears of joy before and can honestly say I cant remember this much happiness in one weekend since I was about ten years old.
After a week of my excitement building more and more Friday finally was here and having packed I took a Taxi to the Station and then caught a Train through London to Brighton. My train got in around 230 PM, giving me just enough time to check in at our city centre hotel, catch up with Jaffa Joe & Gizmo and make our way back to the Station to meet Gary coming in on the train after mine.
Arriving at the Station literally a minute after Gary called to say he had arrived I bumped into Neil Sexton, Jason Rosam (Gaydar Radio Breakfast show hosts) and Robin, the Station Manager. Everyone was excited and ready for the biggest free gay festival in Europe.
I took Gary to the hotel and we stopped in the high street for a few bags of shopping. Unfortunately I had forgotten to put a belt on with my shorts and they were a little loose. As I was walking and carrying two bags of shopping my shorts literally fell down, right in the middle of the high street.
Gary and I nearly wet our self laughing and quite literally we coined in the phrase, “I was just walking down the street when all of my clothes just fell off”. Dropping off our bags we were just in time to meet up with Alex, Mikey, Steven & Michael. As the group grew ever larger we headed out into the Sunshine and went for a few drinks of Magners Cider (OMG it really is to die for) at the Amsterdam Hotel terrace on the sea front. We wound our way back up and down St James Street stopping at various locations for a drink and then made our way via taxi to Steven’s flat near hove for a traditional champagne reception & cocktails.
With several drinks in us we had to head off to meet the Leather Queens, Mark & Richard, but having not eaten all day sat down for some Fish & Chips on the Promenade before meeting Mark & Richard in Doctor Brighton’s for a couple of drinks.
Here Gizmo caught up with us again and so we headed back to Jaffa Joes Flat about ten minutes walk. Joe had kindly offered to let Gizmo & Pojocarr (more regulars from the Gaydar Radio Chat room) to stay for Pride weekend. Gary and I agreed to go for a few hours but insisted on leaving by midnight, what with the huge main event the following day. Joe came back with us for a wee chat and we were soon dozing off despite the rooms soaring heat.
Saturday I woke up in a hot sweat as the sun poured through the windows at 9:00 AM. Gary & I dressed and made our way down to the Grand Hotel to meet up with Richard & Mark for our now traditional Champagne Brunch pre Pride. Incidentally running into Neil Sexton & Jason Rosam. The Break boys had bought all their radio mikes and gear down and it had been set up inside a bar just on the main Parade route. The only problem was the Landlord was not opening the doors and with only a quarter of an hour prior to being due on air their equipment (no pun intended) was locked inside the currently closed bar. Some Frantic telephone calls were being made while people tried to locate the owners. Funny enough in itself but even more so was the fact that Jason was more worried that his hair styling moose was in the bar too. (We love you Mouse or not Jason). Finally the bar man opened up and they were setting up ready for the big Parade at Ten.
We managed to sip our way through two very fine bottles of champagne before leaving the Grand at 11:00 and for the first time took a Taxi to Preston Park to watch it arrive rather than following the masses of people down from the seafront.
It was far more civilised and the fact that we managed to find an off licence that sold Magners, Gary & I were more than happy sipping Cider and making a small wander around the park to enjoy the space & tranquillity before the Madness pursued. Making our way back to the Parade route to watch the floats coming through. Unlike the London parade there were no gaps, just a continuous flow of floats & dancers. The theme this year was Carry on Pride and the floats were decked out brilliantly with many a Carry on Film being reinacted.
The lovely Barbara Windsor dressed in a Fabulous Blue top looked to be queen bee as she was the guest of honour on the Floats and looked like she was having just as much fun as the rest of the party goers. One of the things I like most about Brighton Pride is that its not just a gay event but rather a City Event. The whole city seems to come out and watch the Parade go by. As early as 0930AM there were people lining the Parade route taking up their vantage points for the procession. Families, Children, Men, Women all out to just have a good time regardless of colour, sexuality or creed. It has such a community spirit. Gary and I had to laugh when we stopped for a coffee and the young man serving us asked “When is the Gay Parade” (You think they thought we were gay? How very dare they! I suppose the fact that I was wearing a tee shirt that said “This man likes cock” was a bit of a give away.
As the Parade ended we bought another Magners and made our way in to Preston Park. Unlike the green open space we had seen an hour earlier it was now swarming with thousands of people having the most amazing time. Official figures say the final number was 150,000 people.
middle of the fun fair to sit for a while and have a drink and met up with my friends Emily & Gill. Emily’s now third pride & Gills Virgin experience. They couldn’t believe how much fun and how many people were out having a blast.
Having run into most of my dear friends from London we made our way to Wild Fruit, the main dance tent and were taken in by Mikey & Alex to find the rest of the Gang. Nigel, Shawn, Mikey, Richard, Mark, Richie, & John. Plus several thousand other people pumping and grinding to the dance tracks.
The Sun was beaming down and with little breeze the tent was getting hotter and hotter so we decided that we would find a spot to sit for a while. At that moment Gary found Jason who got us into the Wild Fruit VIP area. It was chilled, open space, private bar & private toilets ( I think the queue for the public toilets was around 40 minutes by the time the park filled). Once we were inside we bumped into even more familiar faces, Neil, Yannick, Robin, Steve (Beyond) & the lovely Jaffa Joe.
Normally I do several circuits of the park and really see everything but with such a nice group of people just having a good time meeting up and enjoying themselves it seemed the perfect place to spend the rest of the afternoon. They even had a private VIP dance area (a raised platform within the Wild Fruit Tent). The heat was incredible but the music compensated and once more we burnt off all that we had consumed in the day (Fabulous).
I have no idea what happened to the time, it seemed one minute we were watching the parade and then it was 8:00PM and the park was closing. Time really does fly when you are having fun.
We made our way out of the park and back down London Road stopping over in Jaffa Joe’s flat for a cocktail or two and caught up with even more faces from the Gaydar Radio Chat room, Ant_uk, Pojocarr to name but a few. The place was so full of people. The stop made sure that we were not rushing through the crowds of people to
We had intended to go to Audio (Nightclub & Bar) but by the time we got there at 11:00PM they said it was full and to come back at 11:30. We decided to go back to Trevor’s Hotel Room and just chill out. Everyone just once again enjoying good company and having a good time. I did get to share a Hot tub with the very sexy RJ even though we couldn’t get the bubbles to work. Somehow once more the time just flew. One minute it was 11:30PM and then the sun was up. The beach was packed all night long as people made there own parties and just enjoyed themselves. Leaving the Hotel around 7:00am we made our way back to RJ & Michaels Hotel room and fantastically the bar was open already (another couple of Magners wouldn’t go amiss eh?). We stayed in their hotel just chilling and chatting (RJ & Michael are so funny) and then as it was getting ever so hot made our way down to the beach and found a spot at the Honey Bar by 1045. Somehow the time just flew and before we knew it it was gone 6PM.
to squeeze in some kind of food (We so should have eaten at Jaffa’s on Ship Street – Best Jerk Chicken I have ever tasted). A few more drinks in the hazy sunshine and the we all started to notice that we were beginning to tingle. We put on more sunscreen. As the alcohol & heat started to kick in we started to laugh and laugh at more and more of the funny things that had been said over the weekend. Fifi’s classic “got any KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK” that you just have to hear and you will laugh and of course “And then my clothes just fell off”.
As more and more people joined us and the party grew to about 20 in total everyone was saying it by the end of the day. We were just in fits of laughter.
Around 5 PM RJ was looking very red and had fallen asleep in his chair (None of us had been to bed yet). We moved him to the beach to lie down in the shade but obviously the combination of lack of sleep and a few alcoholic beverages caused him to dehydrate. The poor boy got disoriented when he woke up and ended up wandering off and found his way to the Candy Bar (Brighton’s Lesbian Bar) (Also in London’s Soho). He eventually came back to his normal lovely self and realised not only was he in a Lesbian bar but had a stamp on his arm saying PAID! He has no recollection of even getting to the bar which was a good 15 minutes walk further down from the beach.
We said goodbye to the Gaydar Posse and made our way to Ship Street to meet Joe again. Time for a few more drinks at Audio on the outside roof terrace. The weather had just been perfect and it seemed to be getting hotter as the day went on. We had to be outside to even be able to breath. Sadly Gary & Steve had to get back to London and left around 10PM for work commitments Monday, but Joe & I ventured on. Having never made it to Wild Fruit the Club and after enjoying the Wild Fruit Tent at Brighton Pride for years I have always wanted to go. As you can imagine, with so many people in the city it was absolutely rammed. 3 rooms on multiple levels, an Amazing PA singing 3 dance songs live & dozens and dozens of Beautifull Boys. Inside we managed to catch up with Cadice, Raksha, Kenton & Richard. Half of the Gaydar Chat room boys were there and Shaun and Mikey, Alex & Mikey, Steven & Michael. There were so many people but still enough room to dance. Sadly the air-conditioning was on the blink and the heat was getting unbearable. Within two hours my fingers looked like I had been swimming and all prune like. Having had no sleep since waking at 9AM on Saturday Morning at 2AM I said my goodbye to everyone and made my way outside for some air and to rest my aching legs. (well via the Oasis for a swim and cool down). Finally getting to sleep at just after 5AM Monday morning.
One was not amused when the Hotel Fire Alarm blasted for 10 seconds at 0900AM. The sun was once again beaming into the Hotel room and it was stifling.
Checked out at 10:00AM and walked back down to Jaffa Joes flat for a final goodbye at the end of a Perfect weekend before meeting up with Alex (Patsie) and Mikey to make our trip back on the train.
Everyone who came and shared in the magical weekend a huge THANK YOU. I can honestly say I am a very blessed person. There was a lot of love this weekend and I very luckily got to share it with some very dear friends. Some I have never even met before but know I will see again soon. A huge Thank You too to all of the Lovely Boys at Gaydar & Gaydar Radio. As a regular listener you get used to having them come into your home everyday via the radio, you really do begin to feel you know them. You would never think that you could make some of your best friends in a chat room. You give us so much boys, thank you all. The Perfect Weekend in Perfect company. Hope to see you all soon. Love Neil – Ambassador Vauxhallcowboy X
Thanks for visiting - if you have any comments, please feel free to comment at neil@vauxhallcowboy.com
No comments:
Post a Comment