Lowri Griffiths on surviving Europe’s biggest street party with an empty overdraft and a full heart
Right, so I want to preface this by saying I love Carnival. I’ve loved it since I was small, dragged along by my mum in a rain mac because “you never know with August weather,” and I love it now as a fully grown adult who apparently still cannot budget for a single Bank Holiday weekend to save her life.
The Plan Versus The Reality
The plan was simple: twenty quid, cash only, no cards, absolutely no exceptions. The reality was that I stood in front of a jerk chicken stall on Ladbroke Grove within about forty minutes of arriving and made a decision that can only be described as emotional rather than financial. It smelled incredible. I have no other defence.
Steel Bands, Sound Systems, And My Poor Feet
Once you’re actually in it, in the crowd, with the steel bands going one direction and a sound system thumping bass from somewhere else entirely, you stop thinking about the twenty pounds you promised yourself and start thinking about how you are going to dance in trainers that seemed sensible this morning and are now actively betraying you. I danced anyway. Everyone dances anyway. That’s rather the whole point.
The Bit Where I Ran Into Half My Old Flatmates
What genuinely gets me every year is how Carnival turns into this accidental reunion. I bumped into two people I hadn’t seen since a flat share fell apart back in 2019, and we just picked the conversation back up like no time had passed, standing in the middle of Golborne Road with masqueraders in full costume dancing past us. There’s something about the whole weekend that flattens time a bit.
The Damage
By Monday evening I had spent considerably more than twenty pounds, my feet were in open rebellion, and I’d somehow acquired a flag on a stick that I do not remember purchasing. Worth it. Genuinely, completely worth it, and I will make exactly the same doomed budget next year and break it in exactly the same spot.
What I’d Actually Tell You To Do
If you’re going and you actually want to keep some money in your account, eat before you get there, bring cash you’re willing to lose entirely, and accept early that you will buy at least one thing from a stall purely because of how it smells. This is not a battle you’re going to win. Just enjoy it.
