“No it’s not,” Ella is vehement. “It’s a march.”
Whatever it was, we ran into it after the bus that was meant to deliver us to some flower festival by the university came to an abrupt stop behind a line of stalled buses. It was May 1st, a Belgian holiday, and over breakfast coffee we had searched for information about Labor Day parades. We didn’t come up with anything. So it was onto the flower festival…until we were kicked off the bus.
As it turned out, the bus route was closed because at the end of the street what looked to be a parade was marching by.
People of all ages were dressed in red.
Conflicts were protested.
There were banners, signs, music, and dancing.
The main flow, the folks singing The Internationale and sporting the colorful crimson costumes—my brothers and sisters!—were proud to be of the Socialist persuasion.
Ella was right, it was a protest march that was celebrating Labor Day…
Minus some Phantom of the Warfare moments, without the anger and the rage it seemed like a parade.
Catching up with the partying marchers, I joined in on the festive protest. Hey, there were other old guys there, I was pumped!
If only I had been wearing a Lobo jersey I would have fit right in. As it was I raised my fist and sang along with the anti-war chorus.
Ella peeled off to grab some shots of street art and caught up with me at the conclusion of the march where I was milling about the beer tents getting high on the protest energy.
Whew! Labor Day! Right on!
A protest with beer tents? We could learn a few things about how to protest better in this country.
Mighta been a lot of weed smoking back in the day.But beer, bouncy houses, the community sticking around to enjoy connecting, yeah, we could protest better these days. Ah yes, and no police, except as traffic control.
We saw a Labor Day parade/protest also, in Burgos. And they were wearing red. Lots of loud chanting. (Meta: it took me a while to figure out where to put the “also” so it didn’t give the wrong impression)
Labor Day is a big holiday in Spain, just about everything but the bars and restaurants are closed. And the good restaurants were all booked up. The Camino Forum had an article about pilgrims having trouble because all the grocery stores were closed.
We had a heck of a time finding an open farmacia
“We also saw a Labor Day parade/protest, in Burgos.” Despite what they taught you in school, it is okay to have split infinitives. Just read both versions out load and see which you like better. More important is the comma. Without it it suggest Ella and Grubb saw the Burgos protest, as opposed to one in Belgium. If you were just talking your voice and stress and a slight pause would give the desired meaning. That is what the comma does. Makes the “in Burgos” a bit of an afterthought. Maybe a semicolon, en dash, or ellipses? Don’t you just love grammar.