Before this weekend I didn't even know what a cavalcade was. And I bet you don't know what a cavalcade is, so don't worry - I will explain:
cavalcade
[kav-uh l-keyd, kav-uh l-keyd]
A procession.
And what a procession it was! Getting to Little Venice, all you could see was bunting for miles around and it felt like a summer fete just with a hell of a lot more boats.
More importantly, as the sun went down, the cavalcade began! It turned out that the cavalcade were 12 illuminated canal boats. With varying degrees of success I think it is fair to say. Some of the boats went all out, covered in fairy lights - one even had a lit up dove on the side. Ten points. Some of the others, well, I think they might have potentially missed the memo about the lights being an essential part of the cavalcade.
I learnt a bit of terminology - some of the smaller 20 foot canal boats did a pirouette in the canal, very impressive. Some of the bigger 60 foot canal boats had been through something like 25 locks throughout the country and took up to 3 weeks to get to the festival!
I can't wait to gatecrash some of the weirder and more wonderful festivals in London - it's what this city in the summer is all about!