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Hi guys,

I'm back from a fantastic long weekend down in Somerset to see Bridgwater Carnival 2007 (ignore the fact that 'Neeza the Gitty Geeza' had me upset for most of it! See updates on my 'Somerset here I come' post (next one down).. I shall be shortly popping over to Pauline's blog for a few ideas!!!)
Me and Little'un still enjoyed it!

Above are some photos of the parade, TAKEN BY LITTLE'UN while I was busy with my video camera. Unfortunately, the batteries ran out after only eight photos (I had forgot to bring my spares, I had left them in my weekend bag!)...Bugger!!!

The Gremlins float this year was 'Vampires' it was really impressive, although I don't think anything could top their 'Ghost Ship' entry of last year. That will go down in history as the best ever! Most of the crowd were still talking about it this weekend.

There were 150 entries in the parade and it lasted around three to four hours, I used to think our local carnival was not too bad (Ha!) and the Disney parade fabulous but they BOTH pale in comparison to what we saw this weekend. Not only were our mouths and eyes wide open in amazement, but also in laughter, as there were a few that were really funny.
The heat from all the bulbs on the floats was tremendous and kept everyone lovely and warm.

Little'un was dancing all night to the music as each float passed and she was 'over the moon' when Pudsy Bear came over and gave her a big hug!

Pudsy Bear (pictured), just in case anyone doesn't know, is the symbol of 'Children In Need' an annual charity event that raises millions.

The parade then went on to various other towns over the following couple of days and the lights from all the floats could be seen illuminating the skyline, waaay in the distance, across the river from the little village where my Brother lives.
Bridgwater Carnival is something I would suggest everyone MUST go and see.
I can now understand why people from all over the world come to it.
Once it was all over, we then had plenty of time to stroll across town to where the 'Squibbing' takes place.

The 'Squibbing' I am told, is an amazing thing to watch. The main street of Bridgwater is lined on both sides of the road with people holding long poles above their heads with fireworks on the end. It starts at one end of the street and each pair light their fireworks immediately after the previous pair therefore sending a stream of cascading fireworks from one end of the street to the other. Unfortunately, this weekend, the wind picked up quite strongly and the extremely hot sparks were blowing into and all over the crowd on our side of the street causing everyone to huddle together bent over to cover themselves from getting burnt.

Everyone's coats ended up with lots of small singe marks and holes, we received the odd minor burn between us from the sparks and my Sister in Laws hat actually caught fire, thankfully the man standing beside her, noticed and patted it out.

What an end to the evening!!!!!

We will certainly never forget this weekend!!!!

Click on the very first vid clip box in the column on the left for snippets of what we saw.

Cindy from - http://adayinthelifeofcindy.blogspot.com/ just pointed out to me that being American, she doesn't know where Somerset is. Sorry folks, it never occurred to me to explain where Somerset is. Here is a map........