Gatecrashing the Mardi Gras Parade

On the day of the 35th annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian, Transsexual/ Transvestite/ Intersex Mardi Gras Parade, anything goes- so when I wandered into the city with a plastic flamingo tucked under each arm, nobody so much as blinked.

There were the usual stunning costumes to be seen, with the wearers needing incredible strength and stamina to gracefully walk the Oxford Street parade route without collapsing or tripping. Before the parade commenced, they were in 'screensaver' mode; they didn't seem to register the swarms of people snapping photos and in fact merely looked through the crowd as if it didn't exist. A couple decided to disrobe as far as their underwear, to give themselves some relief while they could from the sheer weight of the head-pieces and gowns.

Instead of using one of the beautiful costumes for today's blip, I've opted for someone I was chatting with while ducking down a side street. At first I thought he was one of the marchers and when he asked for directions, I pointed him towards the marshalling area.

But it turned out he was a gatecrasher, come in all his finery to storm the barricades and fling himself into the parade with gusto. He was pretty confident that nobody would mind him joining in (I'm pretty sure someone would have objected, if only because his colour scheme might have clashed with their carefully chosen theme).

However, good luck to him, and I really hope he made it. The last glimpse I had of him, he was clomping off to the barricades in red ankle wellies, angel wings, rainbow umbrella and what can only be described as a small, very colourful loincloth/underpants combination.

It looked really itchy.

Engelbert and Humperdinck (the flamingos) were naturally thrilled to be attending the mardi gras parade. Having brought them into the city, I cautioned them to be careful as the streets can get a little wild later on in the evening.

My warning fell on deaf ears though, as it was not long before Humperdinck was boisterously deflowered by a woman in a red sequin frock. One hopes Engelbert fared better.

Once I'd reminded them that they had to be home for curfew, I eventually left the flamingos to their own devices. When last seen, WonderWoman and Catwoman were in a fight to the death, with the flamingos as their weapons of choice.