waterside ceremony
What is an English waterside ceremony?
Lots of people wearing gender-defined colourful, often impractical, clothes and hats travel to a small Oxfordshire town to shout at teams of very muscular young adults rowing boats rather fast on a straight-stretch of the River Thames. Pedestrians weave between cars* jammed in the roads while police people politely suggest, then instruct, that the pedestrians stay on the pavements. Not to mention the barrels of Pimms flowing, gallons of champagne popping, and glasses of Brakspear sinking in Public Houses, car parks, and by the riverside. 
It was the annual Henley Royal Regatta.
* I took the 850 arriva bus from Reading to High Wycombe, hopped off at Henley, and a jolly pleasant ride it was too.
July 16th, 2008
Good grief, you went to the Henley Regatta by choice??? I happened upon it by accident, hoping for a nice walk along the Thames unimpeded by people in garish blazers drinking Pimms. I think it wouldn’t be so bad if you were expecting them though, and it is so downright peculiar so as to be interesting.
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