London Pride?

So call me bitter, call me old, whatever, but Pride this weekend here in London was so disappointing. Don't get me wrong I had a fun time seeing my friends and spending the day outside and all but there were a few fundamental flaws that marred the event.

Minuses

- Location location location... It was at Hackney Marsh... it took ages to get to the remote location and the 45 min trek to the train station at the end of the day was soooo dull!

-Over commercialized... I shit you not I was given a toothpaste sample and several offers to try out a mini bowl of chocolate frosties... I'm still trying to figure that one out...

-Space... There was so much space and all the tents were so far away from one and other that it was really impersonal

-Carnival rides? Was it just me or were there more carnival rides and such than actual things to do?

Pluses

- It didn't rain! And it was actually sunny for a wee while!

- Got some great pics with my digital camera of my friends

- Met a really nice old straight man at this strange little pub that we ended up at after the 45 min exit march to the train station... since he was a regular at this place he helped Hazel get served at the overcrowded bar.

-Met a lovely boy from Newcastle who was lovely and we had a nice old friendly chat with him. The best part about this was meeting him and just chatting was exactly what I think the spirit of pride should be about... meeting interesting people and having a fun day embracing our diversity.

So I guess all in all it wasn't so bad but it makes me think back to pride in Ottawa where we did nothing but complain about how few people there were. But I can now confirm that there is much more of a sense of community and spirit in Ottawa than I found here in the mega city of London (even if the ottawa pride parade only lasts 20 mins)... so I guess that proves that more people don't necessarily mean more fun.