When I was first told about the Notting Hill Carnival, I have to say I was quite excited about getting the opportunity to attend.\u00a0 However, I really had no idea what to expect.\u00a0 I was told it was the second biggest street festival in Europe, so naturally I thought it would be intense.\u00a0 When we arrived in the morning it seemed pretty dead.\u00a0 The rubbish in the streets told me the prior day must have been quite a good time.\u00a0 I am glad that one of my first discoveries was a 2 litre bottle of Strongbow cider; something I did not expect to see at all.\u00a0 Nonetheless, my initial reaction was one of disappointment.\u00a0 We just walked about looking for a place to sit in order to watch the inevitable parades.<\/p>\n
Despite the disappointing morning, the carnival came to life as noon approached.\u00a0 The first thing we saw was a very diverse parade.\u00a0 The participants ranged from a person dressed in what appeared to be a wedding dress with attached skeletons and machine guns to dinosaurs, a snake\/bird creature and Corona girls.\u00a0 It appeared like everyone was having a good time, but I was still expecting more people.\u00a0 Luckily, the crowds did begin to grow once we started walking around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
One aspect of the carnival which really interested me was the political graffiti.\u00a0 It seemed that almost all of it, from what I saw, was “leftist” in nature.\u00a0 Two in particular caught my eye.\u00a0 One was a banner of sorts with Che Guevara in the middle.\u00a0 Spray painted on the red background was “Who the f*ck is this” with the response “Surely not Che?”\u00a0 I thought this was very interesting and entertaining.\u00a0 The other piece of graffiti I enjoyed was just a quote spray painted on wood which said “In a democracy dissent is an act of faith.”\u00a0 Overall, I am glad I was able to spot the graffiti I did see and be able to capture it through a lens before it was washed away.\n\t\t