The annual street festival in London's Regent Street this year had a spanish theme. Apparently close to 400,000 people came to find out what it was all about.
We (me & a friend - Dinesh) had been interested in the festival following some pretty good marketing from few other friends, when we met on Friday for the London - Caracus: Caracus - Londres event in Trafalgar square. The festival ran from 12 till 8, so we made plans to be there at 12 and have a good time. But on the day, which was a sunday, the Onam sadya in Borehamwood also came up and we had to now juggle both. We did not want to miss either events. So, I called up Andres and told him we are going to be late and to expect us around 4pm. Soon after the sadya, Dinesh & me headed back to Central London.
By the time we got there it was around 4:30pm. Regents street from Oxford Circus till Piccadilly Circus was where the festival was taking place. We went about from the Oxford Circus end, slowly working our way through the thousands that had got there (primarily Spaniards, I thought). A lot of tents adorned the street each representing a different region in spain. Some tents where serving free tapas - cheese, sweets, olives et al. I really wanted to have a Sangria - it being a comparitively warm day, but unfortunately by the time we got there all the stalls had run out of Sangria and all we could get was San Miguel and wine. Keeping with the festive spirit, we settled for a pint.
The performances continued thru the evening with different dance forms, music and the human Castellar towers.
Half way thru the street, we came across our friends, who were waiting for the results of a lucky dip to be called. Despite there high expectations and the higher probablity of striking lucky (1 in 10,000 compared to the UK national lottery which has a winning probabilty of 1 in 13 million), none of them did. 'So dissapointed were they that they did'nt wanna stick around any longer(...especially Rosa).
With nothing more to see, we headed to Leicester Square, spent few minutes watching the street side portrait artists busy in their work. What they do with pencil lead is pure magic! Makes me wonder why they don't make the millions some others do, although these look more beautiful to me than the so called 'modern art'. I must admit I am no fan nor do I understand modern art and so it could be just ignorance talking!
Round the square and back once again to Regents street, we queued up for some chocolates behind atleast 50 people. After around 5 minutes on a the queue and no progress, a lady from the stall came right behind us, put a chair down and sat on it. We got the clue; they don't think they can serve any more customers. She told us the authorities want all stalls to stop serving food and drinks by 7:30 pm even if there are people waiting to be served. We didn't give up hope it was only 7 and 30 mins is more than enough; or is it? Soon we find ourselves still behind around 40 people and 10 mins from being shooed away. Time for some executive decisions...after analysing the hard facts we decided to walk away.
Walk away we did but not for long, landing in another stall and ended up holding and then drinking a glass of Cava (at £4.50). Another stall...and some pushing and shoving...and we both have a free red rose to adorn our flats. What a day! Another weekend gone...back to work tomorrow! 5 days later...another weekend...which festival next?
We (me & a friend - Dinesh) had been interested in the festival following some pretty good marketing from few other friends, when we met on Friday for the London - Caracus: Caracus - Londres event in Trafalgar square. The festival ran from 12 till 8, so we made plans to be there at 12 and have a good time. But on the day, which was a sunday, the Onam sadya in Borehamwood also came up and we had to now juggle both. We did not want to miss either events. So, I called up Andres and told him we are going to be late and to expect us around 4pm. Soon after the sadya, Dinesh & me headed back to Central London.
By the time we got there it was around 4:30pm. Regents street from Oxford Circus till Piccadilly Circus was where the festival was taking place. We went about from the Oxford Circus end, slowly working our way through the thousands that had got there (primarily Spaniards, I thought). A lot of tents adorned the street each representing a different region in spain. Some tents where serving free tapas - cheese, sweets, olives et al. I really wanted to have a Sangria - it being a comparitively warm day, but unfortunately by the time we got there all the stalls had run out of Sangria and all we could get was San Miguel and wine. Keeping with the festive spirit, we settled for a pint.
The performances continued thru the evening with different dance forms, music and the human Castellar towers.
Half way thru the street, we came across our friends, who were waiting for the results of a lucky dip to be called. Despite there high expectations and the higher probablity of striking lucky (1 in 10,000 compared to the UK national lottery which has a winning probabilty of 1 in 13 million), none of them did. 'So dissapointed were they that they did'nt wanna stick around any longer(...especially Rosa).
With nothing more to see, we headed to Leicester Square, spent few minutes watching the street side portrait artists busy in their work. What they do with pencil lead is pure magic! Makes me wonder why they don't make the millions some others do, although these look more beautiful to me than the so called 'modern art'. I must admit I am no fan nor do I understand modern art and so it could be just ignorance talking!
Round the square and back once again to Regents street, we queued up for some chocolates behind atleast 50 people. After around 5 minutes on a the queue and no progress, a lady from the stall came right behind us, put a chair down and sat on it. We got the clue; they don't think they can serve any more customers. She told us the authorities want all stalls to stop serving food and drinks by 7:30 pm even if there are people waiting to be served. We didn't give up hope it was only 7 and 30 mins is more than enough; or is it? Soon we find ourselves still behind around 40 people and 10 mins from being shooed away. Time for some executive decisions...after analysing the hard facts we decided to walk away.
Walk away we did but not for long, landing in another stall and ended up holding and then drinking a glass of Cava (at £4.50). Another stall...and some pushing and shoving...and we both have a free red rose to adorn our flats. What a day! Another weekend gone...back to work tomorrow! 5 days later...another weekend...which festival next?
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