"The Mother of Invention!"

"Who thought of this carnival theme?" It really is a pig, and even the most fervent dresser-uppers were complaining from the day of announcement!Greyrocks was stumped. and the collective brain got stuck on the Jimmy Buffett song:

Einstein was a Surfer

but we didn't think there would be enough fans to make that worthwhile! 

When the carnival poster was published (late of course) the problem was clear to see:- the artwork showed stereotypical scientists/inventors dressed for another theme - including the ever-present Pirates!

We didn't see much of the marching troupes, but they did apparently get a flash of inspiration and turn out with gleaming cogs and wheels! Mere mortals produced a run on lab-coats, shortage of which led to a price-hike in the Chinese shop!

"Matron, heal thyself!"

After a long session with Professor Google, and determined to avoid insulting both women and male geeks, Ruth came up with Florence Nightingale:- both a statistician and pioneer of nursing practice! Unfortunately preparations faltered in the days before the Big Night when she was laid low by an unfortunate combination of streaming cold, strained back, stomach pain and a scratched cornea. The last of these reached crisis on the day itself, and being a weekend necessitated a visit to the private clinic for treatment. The eye-patch was thought by some to be an "obscure" reference. We did the usual and ate at the American to have some sort of seated view. This year the first two floats arrive almost too early, bearing the Queen and the Drag Queen. They were beautiful, but completely off-theme! The rest arrived much later, bearing drunken Mad Scientists and so on, but the most creative and humorous feature  was a "Trump wall" with US flag, graffiti and a whole load of drunken Mexicans! Right on! There were also some left-overs from St Patrick's Day and the Rugby World Cup!

Bob rose to the occasion with customary nonchalance by wearing hi Goan shirt - and when challenged said he was an Indian faith-healer, offering to lay his hands on certain people! Almost as sexist as the guy in the Rock dressed as a  surgeon in scrubs with the message
"I ain't a gynaecologist, but I'll have a look!"

Behind the bar Claire and Jules were Doctors Smith and Jones with Super Mario faces and hair!
Not a bad evening in the end! At least it didn't rain!

For the "Sardine" burning next evening we went to the Marquesina for the lobster we missed out on in Cabo Verde. Very nice, and we got some sense of the fireworks. Afterwards we looked at the charred remains of the giant fish on the town beach and realised things have changed in the years since we last followed the procession and had a proper view. The framework was about twice the size we remember! And then Carnival was over for 2017!