Carneval on the bus.

I'm back in London for a day before I move on to other destinations. After reading European blogs that were all complaining about the freezing weather last week, I was quite worried before coming. Last night I told SQB "I'm already freezing in Ghana (it was chilly last night, no?), how will I survive abroad???"

Well, we were met by a sunny London, chilly at first, early in the morning, but as the day went along it got to about 20 degrees! It was great seeing people out and about in tank tops and supershort shorts, halterneck dresses and sunglasses. I quickly got rid of my jumper, scarf and tights and could suddenly blend in, no longer looking like the latest immigrant in town!

We took a bus from the end of the world, sorry, Gravesend, to Bluewater. The busride was peaceful and quiet and we enjoyed the scenery as we rode along. But once we got to Greenhithe station, a group of people got on the bus, a loud and happy crowd. After a few seconds of eavesdropping, it was clear to me that they were Brazilian adn definitely new in town. Their loud chatter was anything other than disturbing or offensive, rather their elated discourse set the rhythm of samba on the bus, the beautiful drawl of their Portugese, a much nicer version than what is spoken in Portugal, was like music to my ears and all I could do was smile. The happiness and excitement surrounding them quickly spread to the rest of the bus, actually, I think I even felt a few more sunrays across my face.

As I told Virgo when we got off the bus, it was like a small wave of Rio carneval washed over our bus for those few minutes.