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I love a parade
Aug. 1st, 2005 04:06 pmI had forgotten how much i do like parades. I can't remember the last time i went to one. Oh yes i do. I went to the winter parade of lights with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wyndancyr and i8myfish and wyn's sister last december where we froze our collective tootsies! Before that though, it's been years and years and there's no excuse other than i just never could be arsed to get myself in gear early enough in the day. I almost bottled out again this morning but i made myself get ready and go. Of course the busses are all off schedule because of the rerouting for the parade. I forgot things and had to go back to the apartment twice and i think i may have missed the bus. I called a cab. No excuses, right?
I found a place to stand where i could lean on the pole of a fence and later moved closer and leaned on someone's truck. Loads of people too. The parade started in Halifax, came over the bridge and then into downtown Dartmouth. I was at the bridge plaza and though the parade started at 10 this morning, it didn't get to the Dartmouth side until about 10:45 and it was over an hour long. It was brilliant though i don't think there are as many marching bands as there were in parades in my childhood memories. They had lots of neat things, from youth and church groups to a few clowns to the Shriners as always. There were charity groups represented, a few politicians, quite a few radio stations blasting from cars and vans painted to advertise the individual stations, there were a couple of pipe and drum bands and a few marching bands. There were majorettes! I didn't think they did that anymore but there are still a few troops of girls from grown up right down to wee ones twirling batons and wearing bright and sparkly outfits. The leader of one pack looked a bit long in the tooth but bless her for wearing that outfit when most women with a bit of extra weight like she had would have hidden it under jeans and a long baggy tshirt. Power to the curvaceous, i say!
There were antique cars and antique fire trucks which were pretty cool and a Bricklin (photo just fornaturalbornkaos!) which was a gull wing sports car manufactured for a couple of years in the 1970's in New Brunswick. Short lived due to a few different problems, surviving Bricklins are rare indeed. There were the NeeNaws (photo for teqkiller) and a Smartcar and a Nerd Mobile which was very cool. My favourite was probably the mock jail for the Crimestoppers group but the nicest thing in the parade was a float carrying WWII war veterans with a sign commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Holland and the crowd gave them the loudest round of applause of any of the floats. More photos here.
Afterwards, i made my way to downtown Dartmouth via the Dartmouth commons and to Tim Horton's. I had to wee and of course so did everyone else. I had a tea and a bagel and waited for the line to dissipate. Down to the waterfront, couldn't decide whether to stay or not. Though i would go to Halifax to take in the Mayor's tea party and so i hopped on the ferry and made my way up to the main street where the busses were. Only i missed the busses that went up to the Gardens. I waited. And waited. And remembered that the busses were all off schedule because of the bridge closures and that they were on a Sunday schedule to boot. Stuffit. I'm going back home because i'd have to stand there waiting another 20 minutes. Yeah i could probalby have walked up to where i wanted to go by that time but my feet were sore. Crossed over the road to catch a bus going back to Dartmouth and no sooner was i on one than a number 80 came heading in the original direction i wanted and it would have taken me where i wanted to go to. Stuffit again.
Back to Dartmouth, and again, busses off schedule, NONE of the busses waited for the connection busses coming from Halifax when all they would have had to do was wait less than 5 minutes. we saw them all pull out as we approached the terminal. I had to get some groceries anyway and i took a taxi home since i'd have to wait a half hour or so for the bus. Grrr...
Home now and the sky is clouding over. Am thinking of going to the evening bridge walk and fireworks if the weather holds off but i have a feeling it's going to rain.
On the other hand Breyer's Vanilla ice cream with orange sherbert is EXCELLENT. Time for tea i think.
wyndancyr and i8myfish and wyn's sister last december where we froze our collective tootsies! Before that though, it's been years and years and there's no excuse other than i just never could be arsed to get myself in gear early enough in the day. I almost bottled out again this morning but i made myself get ready and go. Of course the busses are all off schedule because of the rerouting for the parade. I forgot things and had to go back to the apartment twice and i think i may have missed the bus. I called a cab. No excuses, right?I found a place to stand where i could lean on the pole of a fence and later moved closer and leaned on someone's truck. Loads of people too. The parade started in Halifax, came over the bridge and then into downtown Dartmouth. I was at the bridge plaza and though the parade started at 10 this morning, it didn't get to the Dartmouth side until about 10:45 and it was over an hour long. It was brilliant though i don't think there are as many marching bands as there were in parades in my childhood memories. They had lots of neat things, from youth and church groups to a few clowns to the Shriners as always. There were charity groups represented, a few politicians, quite a few radio stations blasting from cars and vans painted to advertise the individual stations, there were a couple of pipe and drum bands and a few marching bands. There were majorettes! I didn't think they did that anymore but there are still a few troops of girls from grown up right down to wee ones twirling batons and wearing bright and sparkly outfits. The leader of one pack looked a bit long in the tooth but bless her for wearing that outfit when most women with a bit of extra weight like she had would have hidden it under jeans and a long baggy tshirt. Power to the curvaceous, i say!
There were antique cars and antique fire trucks which were pretty cool and a Bricklin (photo just for
naturalbornkaos!) which was a gull wing sports car manufactured for a couple of years in the 1970's in New Brunswick. Short lived due to a few different problems, surviving Bricklins are rare indeed. There were the NeeNaws (photo for teqkiller) and a Smartcar and a Nerd Mobile which was very cool. My favourite was probably the mock jail for the Crimestoppers group but the nicest thing in the parade was a float carrying WWII war veterans with a sign commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Holland and the crowd gave them the loudest round of applause of any of the floats. More photos here. Afterwards, i made my way to downtown Dartmouth via the Dartmouth commons and to Tim Horton's. I had to wee and of course so did everyone else. I had a tea and a bagel and waited for the line to dissipate. Down to the waterfront, couldn't decide whether to stay or not. Though i would go to Halifax to take in the Mayor's tea party and so i hopped on the ferry and made my way up to the main street where the busses were. Only i missed the busses that went up to the Gardens. I waited. And waited. And remembered that the busses were all off schedule because of the bridge closures and that they were on a Sunday schedule to boot. Stuffit. I'm going back home because i'd have to stand there waiting another 20 minutes. Yeah i could probalby have walked up to where i wanted to go by that time but my feet were sore. Crossed over the road to catch a bus going back to Dartmouth and no sooner was i on one than a number 80 came heading in the original direction i wanted and it would have taken me where i wanted to go to. Stuffit again.
Back to Dartmouth, and again, busses off schedule, NONE of the busses waited for the connection busses coming from Halifax when all they would have had to do was wait less than 5 minutes. we saw them all pull out as we approached the terminal. I had to get some groceries anyway and i took a taxi home since i'd have to wait a half hour or so for the bus. Grrr...
Home now and the sky is clouding over. Am thinking of going to the evening bridge walk and fireworks if the weather holds off but i have a feeling it's going to rain.
On the other hand Breyer's Vanilla ice cream with orange sherbert is EXCELLENT. Time for tea i think.
