Mustard on the Hedge

I meant to write this post yesterday but I was too shattered after my weekend, Oh what a weekend I had! A group of us headed over to Manchester for the18th annual Manchester Pride- one of the largest Pride events in Europe and to sum up the weekend in a word….wow!

We arrived on the Saturday morning and, following a shower in the hotel which was a little too invigorating (almost lost a nipple down the drain due to the insane water pressure), we took ourselves off in the direction of “the Village”- the Canal Street area which is the epicentre of gay life in Manchester. The Pride festivities all take place in almost a four block radius around the centre of Canal Street.

I officially love Canal Street….one long row of gay clubs and pubs boardering a sleepy canal. People can go in to a bar and get drinks and then sit outside and soak up the atmosphere and people-watch the hours away.

The Pride Parade took over the city for two hours as thousands thronged to get a glimpse of buttocks coated in glitter, 87 floats and too many gharish costumes to count. A record breaking number of homosexual police officers took part in the parade- 300 of them- apparently a record for a parade of this kind. Check out some of the parade here:

I’ve been to other Pride festivals where men far out number the women but not in Manchester. I’ve never seen so many hot lesbians in one location- girls everywhere should consider a pilgrimage. There is a different vibe around Manchester Pride as compared to Dublin or Sydney Pride which I attended recently. Manchester doesn’t have the outlandish, circus, camp-tastic people that Sydney Mardi-Gras has. In fact it is actually more like attending a music festival, except a festival at which all the attendees are gay.

Everyone was so chilled…basking in the sun in their wife-beaters with a pint of beer! It was so refreshing to see couples of all ages, colours, shapes and sizes being affectionate in public. There were also a large number of same-sex couple with their kids walking around enjoying themselves which you rarely see in Ireland.

The fashion at Pride was amazing. I’ve concluded that there is a lesbian uniform and a gay uniform…but more on the latest in homo-fashions in my next post. I’ll also write about the clubs and pubs we dipped our toes into. Coffee is required now…In the meantime check out some pictures from the weekend and if any of you attended a pride festival recently let me know your thoughts on it…did it live up to expectations?