So, as a happy homo (well, technically bisexual, just don't tell my mother or she'll think there's hope) I like to attend the pride festivals.
I know it should be a celebration of what has been achieved in the name of equality, and a recognition of the battles still to be won, but to be honest I use them to spot totty.
Stick that many gaybos in a big field and I am almost certain to find an attractive one. It's the same with clubbing and why I like gay clubs: there is a very high likelyhood that the attractive person will be a queer; and even if not they are likely to be much more tolerant of any amorous advances and therefore the risks of me getting punched are reduced. I wouldn't go on the gay scene looking for a lass, though again whilst there is a risk that a lady on the straight scene may be a lesbian, she is likely to understand why I may not have thought it.
So I treat the Pride events as a big party, a massive club where I can have fun and try my luck. And so I try to go to as many as possible
My usual year will involve Nottingham, London, Manchester and Brighton Prides as a minimum. The reasoning is simple: Nottingham aside, they are the biggest and best events in the country, and Nottingham is home turf.
However, this year there has been a trauma of epic equations to hit my social calendar.
I'm not going to Nottingham Pride. It clashes with one of my best mate's weddings, and he gets priority. No massive loss there really, you may say: how many 'new' people would I see that I wouldn't on the scene? Well, a few, but quite. A reasoned argument.
I'm not going to London Pride. It clashes with a friend's birthday barbeque. That of itself wouldn't necessarily be fatal: I could miss the barbeque, she wouldn't be too annoyed, it isn't as though it is a 'big' birthday like 30 or 40. But it'll be the first opportunity I will have had to see the whole group in ages. Combine that with the fact the I will be in London for the two weekends immediately prior and it would have meant three weekends in a row in which to impose myself on my friends to accommodate me. So, reluctantly, I think I have decided I won't be going to London Pride, despite this year it also being World Pride. Still not convinced, but there is good reason.
I also don't think I'll be going to Manchester Pride. My friend that I usually stay with has to go to a wedding. He's not over the moon about it, but his parents are away so he has to represent 'the family'. That and he has been bribed by having a holiday of his own paid for by them. So if I were to go I would need to accommodate myself. Again, not a massive issue, but unless I know anyone else there it'll be a weekend and a cost which I will struggle to justify.
And finally, I don't think I'm going to Brighton Pride this year. And for very similar reasons as for Manchester: I normally go camping with a group of friends, but after a series of washout years, with rising prices and poor facilities (a distinct lack of hot water for the entire weekend, each year that we have been down) they decided that they don't want to go. And I can understand it. Because of the increase in cost we decided not to go to the official event last year - that's how bad it got. And the campsite price seems to increase 50% year-on-year without any increase in facilities (in fact last year we noticed a distinct decrease in the provision of toilets). So the options again are: 1) that I go alone; 2) I convince them to go in the same manner; or 3) we find some way to get there and stay in comfortable and yet austere circumstances on a weekend when everyone knows they can charge a premium.
But I'm no stranger to doing things on my own, and have attended Brighton Pride previously, turning up later than the others after an epic ordeal involving eight trains in five hours.
It'll be a shame not to go this year though. Whilst I haven't been a stallwart of Nottingham Pride, I have attended every Manchester Pride for the last ten years, and London and Brighton Prides for seven years, so it would be a shame to break the tradition.
The traditions have been a bit random. I started with London Pride when my friend moved down there. Brighton started as quite a random, last minute decision of my friends to go down for a holiday and we've been going back ever since.
Manchester started one day when I was walking the dog. Me and my sister had been trying to think of fun things to do, and she found out about it whilst I was walking. She rang me (early days of mobiles) and I ran back and grabbed some aftershave and hairgel before the taxi turned up. The next couple of years we were more organised about it and booked hotel rooms, then she dropped out and my London friend stepped into the breach, and by then my Manchester friend had move to Manchester. So Manchester has a particular place in my heart.
We'll see.
I know it should be a celebration of what has been achieved in the name of equality, and a recognition of the battles still to be won, but to be honest I use them to spot totty.
Stick that many gaybos in a big field and I am almost certain to find an attractive one. It's the same with clubbing and why I like gay clubs: there is a very high likelyhood that the attractive person will be a queer; and even if not they are likely to be much more tolerant of any amorous advances and therefore the risks of me getting punched are reduced. I wouldn't go on the gay scene looking for a lass, though again whilst there is a risk that a lady on the straight scene may be a lesbian, she is likely to understand why I may not have thought it.
So I treat the Pride events as a big party, a massive club where I can have fun and try my luck. And so I try to go to as many as possible
My usual year will involve Nottingham, London, Manchester and Brighton Prides as a minimum. The reasoning is simple: Nottingham aside, they are the biggest and best events in the country, and Nottingham is home turf.
However, this year there has been a trauma of epic equations to hit my social calendar.
I'm not going to Nottingham Pride. It clashes with one of my best mate's weddings, and he gets priority. No massive loss there really, you may say: how many 'new' people would I see that I wouldn't on the scene? Well, a few, but quite. A reasoned argument.
I'm not going to London Pride. It clashes with a friend's birthday barbeque. That of itself wouldn't necessarily be fatal: I could miss the barbeque, she wouldn't be too annoyed, it isn't as though it is a 'big' birthday like 30 or 40. But it'll be the first opportunity I will have had to see the whole group in ages. Combine that with the fact the I will be in London for the two weekends immediately prior and it would have meant three weekends in a row in which to impose myself on my friends to accommodate me. So, reluctantly, I think I have decided I won't be going to London Pride, despite this year it also being World Pride. Still not convinced, but there is good reason.
I also don't think I'll be going to Manchester Pride. My friend that I usually stay with has to go to a wedding. He's not over the moon about it, but his parents are away so he has to represent 'the family'. That and he has been bribed by having a holiday of his own paid for by them. So if I were to go I would need to accommodate myself. Again, not a massive issue, but unless I know anyone else there it'll be a weekend and a cost which I will struggle to justify.
And finally, I don't think I'm going to Brighton Pride this year. And for very similar reasons as for Manchester: I normally go camping with a group of friends, but after a series of washout years, with rising prices and poor facilities (a distinct lack of hot water for the entire weekend, each year that we have been down) they decided that they don't want to go. And I can understand it. Because of the increase in cost we decided not to go to the official event last year - that's how bad it got. And the campsite price seems to increase 50% year-on-year without any increase in facilities (in fact last year we noticed a distinct decrease in the provision of toilets). So the options again are: 1) that I go alone; 2) I convince them to go in the same manner; or 3) we find some way to get there and stay in comfortable and yet austere circumstances on a weekend when everyone knows they can charge a premium.
But I'm no stranger to doing things on my own, and have attended Brighton Pride previously, turning up later than the others after an epic ordeal involving eight trains in five hours.
It'll be a shame not to go this year though. Whilst I haven't been a stallwart of Nottingham Pride, I have attended every Manchester Pride for the last ten years, and London and Brighton Prides for seven years, so it would be a shame to break the tradition.
The traditions have been a bit random. I started with London Pride when my friend moved down there. Brighton started as quite a random, last minute decision of my friends to go down for a holiday and we've been going back ever since.
Manchester started one day when I was walking the dog. Me and my sister had been trying to think of fun things to do, and she found out about it whilst I was walking. She rang me (early days of mobiles) and I ran back and grabbed some aftershave and hairgel before the taxi turned up. The next couple of years we were more organised about it and booked hotel rooms, then she dropped out and my London friend stepped into the breach, and by then my Manchester friend had move to Manchester. So Manchester has a particular place in my heart.
We'll see.
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