Oh the hair!

I uploaded some Tea Party pictures from sunny Saturday to a Flickr set today. Sadly I missed out on getting pictures of the parade due to me forgetting my battery from my camera at home, but I managed to borrow another camera for the rest of the day.

I spent large parts of Saturday and Sunday working at Rotary Oak Bay’s cotton candy and popcorn booth, so I didn’t get a huge amount of time for photographs. Still, enjoy!

The one bike rack in Willows Park, packed

Managed to finally get to the Tea Party today, after being quite busy yesterday. Even though I arrived after 3 and after the airshow, there were still tonnes of people there. I did see large numbers streaming up Estevan Rd to their parked cars on Musgrave and nearly all the streets between there and the water. But then again, I don’t blame them for driving. The bike parking situation at Willows Park is quite abysmal, even on non-busy days. There is exactly one bike rack there, as can be seen to the left. It was full. This meant that bikes spilled out and where parked everywhere.

When I arrived, I ended up having to raft my bike up with a very nice gentlemen by the name of Terry who was similarily looking for a spot. We ended up parked near the toilets, right near the giant mess of bikes seen below. You can see the rest on in my 2009 Tea Party flickr set but there was one other picture that amused me. That was this one of two bikes locked to an Oak Bay Works flashing sign.

Hopefully for next year, there will be more bike parking. Maybe if we get organized soon enough, Safer Cycling Oak Bay and/or the Community Association could get the portable racks that Chain Chain Chain have. It would be nice if Shooting Star Amusements could provide bike parking as well, just like they provided the lone bench seen below.

Bikes locked to Oak Bay Works sign

Shooting Star Amusement's portable bench

Mass of bikes locked to rail

• Ronald McDonald House had a Hummer H2 pulling a small trailer. How very American
• Apparently candy is still thrown in Oak Bay. Contrast that with the Victoria Day parade in downtown, which has no thrown or even handed out candy
• Random groups I saw marching today: Liberal Party, La Leche League (who promote breast feeding), somebody talking about homeless (I couldn’t read their banner) and the Cadillac club (which I mention because they had a Cimarron, not even considered a Cadillac by some)

There were a couple of groups I was suprised to see here and not at the Victoria Day Parade:

• There were the usual old fire engines, including Saanich Historical Society’s restored 1950s North Pender Fire Dept engine.
• The Royal Victoria Yacht Club festooned one of their kayak trailers with various signal flags. Quite spectacular.
• Victoria has a branch of the Zonta Club, which “advances the status of  women worldwide”

I had forgotten just how long this parade was. And just like the Victoria Day Parade, it started to rain just as the parade drew to a close.