When? Sunday morning. 10 AM.
Where? Vancouver
Why? Pride Parade
Who? Nikkie and me
How? Sky Train
Yes, I know I hate sky train ... I have many reasons to hate sky train. The latest one was meeting a shopping cart during rush hour, taking up enough space for 4-5 standers (depending on size.) Which meant blocking off half of one exit/entrance door (depending on whether you're coming or going, and to tell the truth half the time I know not which one I am attempting) and having only the width of one person getting to and from it. Which meant backpacks and purses and God knows what else vying for the space your head is in while passersby pass by. At least I managed to get a senior's booster seat .... however, I digress ....
It was a great weather day for the parade, a bit cloudy and not hot at all - at least until we got to the beach after the parade was over. The pictures below aren't in order - I wasn't as careful as I should have been when I loaded them up, and the beginning ones ended up at the end, and the end ones ended up at the beginning. But if you weren't there, you probably wouldn't even know unless I mentioned it. Oh.
The parade did begin with the
Vancouver Police Motorcycle Drill Team . Last year we were standing a bit too much away to see all the cool stuff they did - and this year we went too far down the street and also ended up standing a bit too far away. Oh well. C'est la vie and all that jazz.
Two hours of colour and joy followed, even though it was slightly marred by the Chinese woman sitting on a camp chair in front of me, who kept moving it backwards so it would land on my poor feet. This would be the summer I finally persuaded my toes to wear flip flops.
And now to meet the stars of the Parade - which included political parties and gals (?) with big hair ...
... and big smiles and fancy dresses ...
... to almost no dress at all ....
... bubbles ...
... tall people with flowers on their heads ...
Anglicans? Yes indeedy. Church of England. We've come a long way, baby!
Fin - a Canuck's mascot.
Of course you can play. Why shouldn't you?
Tina Turner showed up with her two body guards. Somehow I remember her looking a bit prettier than this ...
Not sure who this cool cat was ...
Here come the Trojan people! And they certainly weren't discrimination - everyone from ~10 year old boys standing beside us to the old Chinese couple sitting in front of us got their share of condoms ...
Sonic radio float was hidden in a big bunch of grapes? Balloons? Maybe they are blueberries ... and everyone was hoping to have a berry good time...
The cat people were really into their kitty groove ....
A rainbow of ladies ... maybe ... who knows for sure?
Happy to say JR FM sent Gloria (their new Dodge Ram) to the parade. Last year there was no sign of them - I though that was pretty sad.
Dikes on Bikes - so much fun!
I have no idea who this white thing is supposed to be, but he/she/it was pretty full of air - and seemed to be deflating by the second.
The
Knights of Malta were out in full regalia ... but there didn't seem to be enough of them to carry all the provincial flags. Newfoundland's was sort of hidden away.
Pretty ..... dress ....
The three Grand Marshalls of the parade were:
Brandon Timmerman is an extraordinary youth who founded a Pride
organization in Brockville, Ontario – a conservative small town with a
population of 22,000, surrounded by military towns – at the age of 16.
Brandon is the face of the next generation of the Pride Movement, youth
empowered and inspired by the legacy of Pride to create meaningful
change in their Communities.
Zdravko Cimbaljevic is the founding father of Montenegro’s modern LGBTQ
movement. After he came out, local papers commemorated the occasion by
announcing Zdravko as the “first out gay man” in Montenegro. Zdravko has
since founded and served as executive director of the LGBT Forum
Progress promoting LGBT rights in Montenegro.
and
The moms of PFLAG Vancouver were selected as Grand Marshals because
their unwavering support for their queer children, inspired over a
decade of service supporting one of the greatest allies of our
community: our parents. Susan Harman, Karin Lind, and Aideen McKenna are
three of PFLAG Vancouver’s amazing moms who have contributed over a
decade of service to the parents, family, and friends of Vancouver’s
LGBTQ Community.
I hope he enjoys his masturbation lubrication cream, as he almost jumped out of his chair to get some .... he wasn't long shoving it out of sight when he realized what it was, though!
Dr Peter - still remembered and honored in the community.
Guess he forgot the rest of his drawers ... but his balloons are pretty.
I like their street signs ...
and a little OOMPAH PAH
with a big buzz ...
ah .... a pipe band - and no cutouts in the kilts either, thank goodness ...
I don't know what this is, where it was, or how I got the pic .... but whatever it may be, here it is!
From an old police car ....
... to the super new ones ... who wouldn't want to be a cop and drive a machine like this? Huh?
Or even this? Let's hope you never see this one parked in your neighbourhood.
Caught the tail end of a lion dance ...
Check out the cool shoes!
Sunday September 22 is the Aids walk .... in case you're wondering ...
I was so excited to see Lily Tomlin that I didn't realize Cher was her companion until I uploaded the pictures. Duh.
Soft kitty, Warm kitty, little ball of fur
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty .... purr purr purr ...
I was hoping to fly back east in September, but after seeing the West Jet plane .... I'm staying right here. On the ground. Where I belong.
Little blue pill, anyone?
And Howard didn't want to go to the parade .... No, he doesn't have a fetish .. but he likes boobs.
Medicinal, my foot. I don't think all the people smoking around this float had arthritis ....
Quite a few cheeky fellows in this parade ...
The Green Party - well done!
Just clowning around, I guess.
And here is the United Church. Really. Change is good indeed, donkey (Shrek's coming up shortly.)
I think you're fabulous too - especially since you are reading my blog!
Here comes the dragon ...
And here are two little flower children ...
I don't think so, but thanks for the invite.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips would certainly hurt me ...
Just hang in there, buddy ....
Way to go!!!!
Got to love the Raging Grannies ...
Starbucks, anyone? I don't like their coffee much, but their bathrooms have come in handy at times!
A good old
Penny Farthing -
Yeah, me too.
Holy Float, Batman!
Cool what a bit of paint can do .... I bet they're glad it wasn't raining ...
And in keeping with the theme of rainbows and bubbles .... a kidney.
Marilyn Monroe!
When the tail end of the parade passed by, Nikkie and I headed to Sunset Beach for the festival ... and lunch. It was getting pretty darn hot by then, but we forced ourselves (or I forced Nikkie) to stand in line at the
Beavertail food truck, because they sold fries ... and POUTINE, which unfortunately looked tastier than it was. Lack of seasoning on fries and gravy .... but I ate most of it anyway.
Nikkie enjoyed her standard fare - catsup with a side order of fries ...
We walked on the beach for a little while, enjoying the view of beautiful English bay.
And thought we'd wander through the festival for a bit - but it was so crowded ... and hot .... and noisy ....
... we decided to walk the seawall to BC Place, where we could hop on a sky train and head for home.
Met a memorial to Terry Fox on the way ...
After a thousand miles or so, we did reach the sky train, and managed to get a seat after a while. Steve picked us up at the sky train station, as I was pretty sure my feet and legs would not manage another step, let alone the hill between King George Boulevard and our house of 133rd Street.
And look what was waiting for me at the end of the line - a husband with a Jigg's Dinner, that he cooked (all by himself, he pointed out bitterly) outdoors on his Coleman Stove.
And was it good? It was bloody delicious, that's what it was. Especially the
pease pudding. In fact, I think there's some left in the fridge ....and it's not even 9 days old yet ....
The three Grand Marshalls of the parade were:
An
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