a video

Here's something new: I have uploaded a video. I don't actually have a video camera, but my digital has a low quality video option, and I used it to make a little video of the action outside. Unfortunately the sound isn't so great, but you can at least see some of the action.



It's not as crowded as it usually is, apparently. Near the barriers, in the full sun, I stood next to a wonderful and chatty 75 year old Jamaican woman (in the video you can see the card she was fanning herself with; I wish I'd gotten a picture of her). We watched the parade together and she filled me in on what was going on. I learned all about her trips to the Caribbean, her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her garden, her diabetes. She even talked a little about the recent integration of this neighborhood, which made me a little nervous. Clearly it made her uncomfortable too but before we changed the subject we agreed that living together in harmony was better than living apart, that we can all learn from each other.

Anyway, I'm not planning to go out again. The music comes in though; there's no escaping the bass...

(A post script: in researching the Parade I stumbled across this blog, which has some beautiful photos of it and of J'Ouvert. If you are interested in the parade I recommend checking it out.)