Riverside Festival

On Saturday evening I went to the Riverside Festival in Nottingham, on the banks of the River Trent. Probably 75% of the city's population were crammed into an area the size of a school playing field, intent on spending their hard earned (or signed for) pounds on a variety of rides and street food.

The evening ended with a firework display to dazzle the masses, and was a great way to see how the city fathers have chosen to spend the council tax this year. Here are some snaps of the evening, along with artistic blur to enhance the war/documentary photography feel...

This stall was massively popular - inebriated parents inserted their offspring into huge inflated plastic balls, then launched them across a miniature lake...and roared with laughter as their brats slowly suffocated and staggered and flopped their way to seasickness. This is evidently the culmination of thousands of years of cultural evolution...truly we have come a long way from gladiators in the arena and so on.

This unfortunate fellow was shot in the arm as he enjoyed a ride; one of the hazards of the job when you live in Nottingham...

The gun shop had a stall which was a popular draw...

Fireworks! It was like an artillery bombardment, but more colourful, less deadly and hugely entertaining. So nothing like an artillery bombardment at all.

Alix and Cara had a go on some of the rides...

...walked around some of the stalls...

...and went on some more rides.

So there you go. If you were eagerly anticipating photos of my expedition with Clay to Lunt Roman Fort, then bad luck. I'll stick some pics of that up soon. Or never. Or something.