Day 3 - A Surprise Street Fair for the Ages

The match on Saturday and the night time celebrations wore me out a bit, so I was planning to spend Sunday relaxing and enjoying the sunshine from a small cafe in London.  However,  things didn't go according to plan.  I was informed that the Notting Hill Carnival, an annual celebration of Carribean culture was taking place on Sunday and it was an event I shouldn't miss.  I figured it couldn't hurt to make my way up the road to at least have a look. 

Around 2pm I jumped on the tube (subway) and headed to Notting Hill and when I walked out of the station I was immediately entrenched in the crowds of people eating, drinking, singing, and dancing.  It was a MASSIVE block party in the streets of one of London's most famous suburbs.  It reminded me of Manhattan Beach's 6-man volleyball tournament on major steroids.  The police issued a statement saying they anticipated more than a million people in the streets of Notting Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods, and I think the number easily exceeded that amount.  Every street you looked down or walked up were packed with a sea of people.  Young and old, local and foreign, there were people of all types dancing, hugging and partying in the streets.  There were even "floats," but not like Rose Parade floats with serious design and decor; these floats were just big trucks with a DJ and a guy with a microphone and about 16 speakers on the back.  The trucks drove around and occasionaly stopped and people followed and danced behind them.  It wasn't the most eloquent of parades, but that was the last thing on people's minds. 

The scene as you exited the tube station.

 

Endless sea of people in the streets.

 

People enjoying Carnival.

 

Calypso marching band parading through the streets of Notting Hill.

 

Drummer boy.

 

Dancing painted people.

 

More parade float decor.

 

A Jamaican parade float.

Each of the 'floats' were well-equipped with a concert-size sound system blaring reggae, dance, and all sorts of music.

Since there weren't enough 'floats' to fill all the streets, some areas just had stacks of speakers set up playing music.

People taking a break in the park.

Youngins getting in on the Carnival vibe

 Lots of colors.

 

 

Every restaurant, bar and shop were selling tall-boy beers - mainly Red Stripe - from their front steps for $3 and with the drinking age in London being 18 you can imagine what the scene was like.  Cops were completely laid back and let the fine youth of the UK go about boozing and chanting in the streets.  It was a blast to say the least.  

 

Simple menu options.

 

Hooray beer!

 

Red Stripe tall boys were being sold on every corner for 2 pounds, which is about $3.

UK youth with a Budweiser.

 

I'm pretty sure I freaked this girl out when I asked to take a photo with her and chanted U-S-A! U-S-A! 

 

 

Toward the end of the day I decided to leave the streets and jump into a bar called The Earl of Portobello.

Making friends - Liz and Bernie were a couple Aussies living in London.

The DJ was repping the Cincinnati Reds...ain't That Shit Cray!

 

 

The dancing and drinking was fun, but the food was the star of the event.  I tried to sample as much as possible.  I had jerk chicken, jerk pork, some sort of meat patty, a bunch of fried dumpling things, grilled corn, a few rum punch concoctions and some sort of Indian curry meat dish the locals called Mutton - apparently Mutton is a lamb stew over rice, but I only learned that just now after I Googled it.  It's like a beef stroganoff, but with rice.  It tastes a lot better than it looks. 

The jerk chicken stand I stopped by was run by a family-owned Jamaican catering company...these are the two sons who were manning the grill.

 

This is mom and the two aunts, they took the orders and managed the cash box as well as served the rice, peas and salad.

 

The grill in action...

 

Jerk chicken...

 

Just about finished.

Eating time...Jerk chicken with rice and "peas" (peas = beans), and a fried dumpling.

Spacious curb-side seating - Good eats!

Mutton - An Indian stroganoff-type dish with lamb

 

To end the evening I enjoyed some jerk pork with rice & peas and a mini salad.

 

This young man was whipping up some delicious grilled corn so I got one of those also.

 Grilled corn smothered in butter.

 

 

In total, I spent about eight hours at this street Carnival affair so this was basically my entire Sunday. It could have been enough for a whole weekend.

On Monday morning I take the 4hr train ride from London to Glasgow, Scotland where I'll be for four days diving into the history and culture of the Scots...oh, and I'm going to Celtic Football Club's match on Wednesday. Go Celts!