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Bright colours. Soft fabrics. Funny dancing. No, we’re not on the set of the latest Bollywood movie, we’ve joined 600,000 fellow partygoers at London’s Notting Hill Carnival – the largest street party in Europe, and second only in the world to Rio.

Held over the three-day weekend at the end of August since 1966, the Notting Hill Carnival was started by Caribbean immigrants to London and overcame massive race riots in the 1970s to become a unifying event for the British capital’s incredibly diverse population.

A huge police presence failed to drown the party spirit, as hundreds of Mas costumed dancers soca’d their way around the west London suburbs. I think I know why Carnival lasts just three days: the sound systems must cause some serious seismic resonations. The volume was truly of tectonic proportions.

Queen’s Park, Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill haven’t traditionally been known as the most salubrious districts of London, but the vivid colours of the feathered headdresses and the brightness of the wonderful costumes on display really livened up this grey suburb!

As I travel around the world, people I meet have got a very funny idea about us Brits. They think we’re very reserved and quiet and well-mannered and polite. They think we don’t know how to party. Well, this party was an explosion of colour, of smiles, of unbridled expressiveness. There was a lot of fun. There was a lot of laughter. There was a lot of rum.

Packed wall-to-wall, I was absolutely amazed. This, my first time to Carnival, was a day filled with smells of jerk chicken and jambalaya and banana fritters, filled with sounds to keep your feet tapping, filled with sights that made your eyes pop.

I will never forget my first Carnival. Through all the manic chaos of the streets packed with people, through all the clashes between rivaling sound systems and steel bands, there was one thing that prevailed. Harmony.

I can’t wait until next year – wherever I am in the world, I’ll be coming back for this fantastic street festival… And, I think, I’ll be wearing a costume! Any ideas?

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