This was my town’s first carnival for many years and its first eco-carnival ever, so I thought I’d go along to see what was happening. It was a beautiful day with a mixture of bright sun and a welcome cool breeze. This year, the organisers decided we should consider the impacts on the planet that the usual, large motorised carnival floats seen in the previous years have had. It was a small gathering, very low-key, not a grand affair like some carnivals I’ve seen, but the emphasis on the planet means a lot to me, so I was determined to go and support those taking part. They have all worked incredibly hard.
Taking photos from a wheelchair always presents its challenges. Most people are very considerate, but some don’t seem to notice me and stand directly in front of me and in my line of sight. Most annoying, but hey, life is too short to cause a fuss other than a polite, excuse me.
We have a great group of Extinction Rebellion members in my town. They have a good following here. They may not be very popular with some, but, in my eyes, they do more to attempt to save the planet than our government does, and I’m behind them all the way. Our government talk the talk but definitely don’t walk the walk. I’ll get off my soapbox now! That’s my political career over 🙃!!
After the eco-carnival, there were still lots of people milling about as various activities were going on in and around the centre – face painting, information stands, food, drinks and ice cream available etc. I grabbed a sandwich in M&S and bumped into two of the store staff who helped me with my punctures earlier this week – see my post Travelling in Style. I stopped to thank them again and knew I was in safe hands there on the off chance of it ever happening again. I drove over to the nearby park and sat and people-watched as well as admiring the plants on the riverbank and the nearby swan who looked like it was a professional contortionist!
Finally, after most people had started to leave the town centre and head for home, I briefly called into Tesco for some fruit and veg and made my way along the river to my house. Peanut, my cat, wasn’t impressed that I’d left her alone for the afternoon, but nevertheless, she was pleased to see me. Here she is in her come-and-play-with-me mode.
For more adorable photos and adventures with Peanut, see my post It’s a Cat’s Life.
Thank you for reading. Love Ellie xx 🌞
Essentially Ellie 
Wow! Looks like you had a great day. Awesome pictures. I love small fun gatherings like that. The riverbank flowers were beautiful, such a nice place to rest for a bit. Peanut is just adorable. It’s nice to see they missed you ☺️ I love snuggling in with my pets and watch a cheesy movie when it’s raining outside.
Thanks, J. I had a wonderful day. I so enjoyed it. I live on a road that is very close to the river – there are sorts of wildflowers and even some little creatures, too. I’m fortunate and never take my beautiful surroundings for granted. Unlike your pets, Peanut isn’t that partial to a snuggle, although she does like being stroked. It’s a shame, but I still love her dearly, and when she does come up for a cuddle (which isn’t often), I feel very honoured. Xx 🌞
I love this narrative of your day, Ellie, and following along with the photos gives me a wonderful sense of coming along with you. What a delight! And I chuckle at the part about Peanut. I know that look : )
Thank you, Stacey. I’m glad you enjoyed my excursion. It was great fun. I had to leave Peanut again this morning to go for an early blood test. She wasn’t best pleased with me, as you can imagine. Xx 🌞🐾💛
We’ve been having some perfect weather here as well. I think carnival may be another one of those words with a different meaning in the states. Our carnivals need rides and games and fried dough. Gettysburg always has one this weekend but apparently many of the carnival companies went out of business during covid and the town couldn’t hire anyone to bring in the rides. Your town looks really nice. Are you able to share where you live?
Thanks, Jeff. I’ve no idea where I found time to write this post – I’m so behind with everything else! Your carnivals are what we call funfairs. What on Earth is fried dough? I can only guess it may be what we call doughnuts unless I’m thinking of something else. What a shame your carnival companies went bust during Covid. Many of ours did, too. Yesterday’s event was mostly arranged by one amazing and determined woman called Edith. She was a star and everyone gave her a round of applause at the end for all her huge efforts. My town is actually now a city but only in the last few years. I can’t think of it as a city although it is quite a size now and they’re still throwing up flats and apartments everywhere. Soon, they’ll be no green space left! I object to that. My ‘town’ as I call it is called Chelmsford, Essex in the UK. It’s the county town of Essex. 🌞
Love the swan.
So glad you had a good time.
Thanks, Granny. It was a truly lovely day. I will email you in a while. Xx 🌞💞
Love the blogs!!
This carnival seems like fun. You have shared it beautifully. Also, love the pic.
Thanks, Devang. It was great fun. I enjoyed taking photos of things I’ll never forget. I can see you’ve just shared a post. I will get to it sometime today, if I can. It sounds interesting from the first couple of lines. Take care. Ellie 🌞
You too take care. Keep sharing
My blog is about another blog
Exceptionally lovely. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Selma. It was a fun day out xx 🌞
Beautiful post, Ellie!
Thank you, Mousumi. A different sort of post for me to share this week. It was great fun xx 🌞
Very engaging indeed!
Wow! That looks fun! Glad that you had fun in the carnival, Ellie. It’s good to get out and enjoy the festivities. Love the post and the pictures. Thanks for sharing, Ellie💕💫
Thanks, Deeksha. It was fun, and I had a wonderful day there. The weather was perfect, too. I don’t always get out that often, so this was a real treat, and I’m so glad I went. Thank you for liking the photos, too. Xx 🌞💞
Looks exciting and your photos are magnificent. Thanks for sharing, Ellie, and have a great day/night and remain safe.
Thanks very much, Tangie. It was a wonderful day and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Even the weather was good. Hope your day or night is going well, also. I’m sorry I’m so behind with keeping up with your posts lately. I’m just ridiculously busy at the moment with all the work that’s going on at my house. I’ve hardly had time to breathe. I am reading them but just haven’t had time to leave comments. I’m just a bit overwhelmed at the minute. I really will try to catch up again very soon. So sorry. Love Ellie xx 🌞💖❣
Ellie, I understand. I am in the same situation finding time to read and comment. I will eventually catch up, if that is possible. I have much going on and have stopped posting on weekends. Blessings and Love, Tangie
Thank you so much for being so understanding, Tangie. Naturally, I understand that you are also under a lot of pressure. Please, don’t put yourself under any additional pressure by trying to keep up with everyone. I, too, know how difficult this is when you have so much else going on in your life. Just take it easy if you can. Just know that, even if I am unable to leave comments each time, I am reading and liking and thinking of you often. I do hope things settle down for you very soon. WIth my love, Ellie xx 🌞🌹💛
Just the encouragement and confirmation I needed, thank you.
Me too, Tangie. Thanks for understanding me, also. Xx 🌞
Aww the flamingos were so cute 😍
Thanks, Butterfly. I thought so, too. X 🌞❣
What a beautiful post, Ellie! I love the gorgeous pictures and happy, festive vibe which you’ve captured so well! 💝👌✨💫💖
Thank you, Harshi. It was a wonderful day and the weather was perfect for it, too. I shall definitely be going again next year. Xx 🥰🌼🌷💛
What a beautiful cat! I looked at the photo of the balloon creature and thought ‘OOOH FLAMING- Oh. No? Maybe? No. Maybe?’ and then laughed at the caption underneath since you obviously had the same thoughts! Mysterious pink balloon creature will haunt me now…
(I have typed this whole comment with a cat lying on my forearms, might as well call it a workout)
Hi Quinn. Thank you very much for stopping to read my post. I’m glad I’m not alone in wondering about the pink balloon monsters! I’m glad you like my cat, Peanut. She’s adorable and like my best friend. Cats are such good company, aren’t they? It’s good to meet another cat lover. I popped over briefly to your blog and saw the photo of you with your gorgeous cat, too. I like your ‘workout’ comment – that’s funny. I will stop by your blog again a bit later to take a proper read and am looking forward to it. Thanks again, Quinn. Ellie x 🌞🐾😺
Wow, this looks like so much fun!
Hi Peach. Thank you so much for stopping by at my blog and this post. It’s much appreciated. It was indeed a lot of fun there. We had great weather for it too. I’m already looking forward to next year’s event. I will call at your blog again when I have a little more time tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing what you are writing about. Take care. Ellie x 😊
Thank you Ellie! That is very sweet of you 🤗
I absolutely agree with you, Ellie! Extinction Rebellion are really important! And it looks as though you had a great day out.
It was such a wonderful day and the weather was good, too. I’m right behind Extinction Rebellion and have been a behind the scenes member for several years. I’m a bit out of the loop at the moment but hope to be back in full force soon. I did actually go on one of the big protests in London back in 2019. It was a real challenge going in George, who was my wheelchair at the time. I had to go into a café to ask if I could charge his batteries as they’d gone flat. Fortunately, for the price of a coffee and a sandwich, they agreed. I was very lucky not to have been arrested as the unhappy police were all over the place looking for us. Although I have a lot of respect for our police officers, they were pretty mean to us back then! After all, we were just nuisances with nothing better to do other than trying to save the planet 😉!
I’ve now got another new wheelchair called Alfie. He got two punctures in one day a couple of weeks ago. I wrote about it on my blog at the time. I’ve now had solid tyres put on him as they were pneumatic ones previously. Fingers crossed that the front wheels don’t puncture now – *me, knocking on wood*. 😊
Well done for joining in the protests. It certainly can’t have been easy for you, and the new government bill restricting protests even further won’t make it any easier in the future. Now I’m just hoping against hope that the next Tory leader isn’t one of those who’ve vowed to roll back the Green Agenda even further.
Thanks, Mick. It wasn’t easy that day, as you say. The most challenging part of the day was actually coping with the trains. The overground is quite good as the station peeps get ramps out for you to allight the trains. The underground was a whole other ball game, though! It was a nightmare. Most of the stations were unmanned. Many of the lifts were out of order or there was no alternative apart from escalators! I could have done with a pair of wings on the back of George, a bit like those on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Remember that? I could really travel in style then, couldn’t I!? What d’you reckon 😁!?
Wings would certainly help. Did you get any help on the escalators? I would have found that pretty frightening if that had been me.
Escalators were totally out of the question as George (and Alfie now) weigh about two hundredweight making it impossible for him to be carried up the stairs. At one point I sailed from one end of the Jubilee line to the other trying to find an accessible platform to get off the train. The total journey to Westminster from Chelmsford took me three and a half hours! It only takes 40 mins to get to London usually (on the overground). I’m glad it wasn’t a day as hot as it is this week. As it happened, it poured with rain and everybody got absolutely drenched. We all came home looking like drowned rats.
As for the new policing bill, I think it’s appalling – it goes against a person’s rights to publicly express their feelings and opinions. We’ve protested about that as the law was coming into force but we lost, as you know. I could go on about that forever, but I won’t. Thanks for being so supportive of my/our actions, Mick. Much appreciated.
God, that sounds like a nightmare! And everything is supposedly becoming more accessible? I thought we were moving beyond all that. Long way to go, still, then.
Yes, that bill’s a nightmare. And the really worrying thing is the awful garbage being spouted by some of the Tory party leadership contenders. It’s not looking good.