Coconuts and Sushi
Yesterday a total of 5,567 people turned out in London’s Trafalgar Square to take part in the world’s largest coconut orchestra - and I was there!
Led by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam the orchestra clip-clopped along to “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” and set a new world record, beating the American total of only 1,789 people.
Rosie and I set off on the 3pm train from Bristol and arrived in London just before 5. Rosie and her mum had created white tunics with a red “St George” cross on the front. Rosie spent most of the journey tidying up the slightly frayed edges of the crosses with a pair of scissors. The tunics really did look amazing.
We grabbed a Krispy Kreme donut in Paddington, mmm raspberry glazed, before heading off on the tube to Trafalgar Square. Rosie had also managed to get some plastic swords from a party shop in Bristol and we were slightly worried about going past the Transport Police carrying shiny swords but in the end not an eyelid was batted.
We got to Charing Cross tube station at just after 5pm and climbed the stairs up to street level. A fair sized group of people were gathered in the square but it didn’t look like a record breaking number. After registering for the attempt we went and found a pub as we needed some dutch courage before changing into our Knights of the Round Table tunics. Jamie and Gabriele joined us, although Gabriele had to vanish off to work.
Time was ticking along so we quickly walked back to the square. By the time we returned the square was packed full of people. We had no idea how many but it must have been thousands. Rosie located Greg, who was standing on the edge of a fountain, and we squeezed through the croud to meet up with him, his brother Alex and some of their friends. The attempt began with a practice session explaining how to use the coconuts. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones came on stage to talk a little about the use of coconuts in the context of Monty Python before leading us in the world record attempt. We all clip-clopped along before it was announced by the editor in chief of the Guinness Book of World Records that we had smashed the American held record!
After the event Rosie, Jamie and I said good bye to Greg and Alex before going to find Rosie’s friends, Claire, Matt, James, and two others who i can’t remember the names of, on the other side of the square. We were getting pretty hungry by this point so it was suggested that we go and find an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant that Jamie knew. I have only had sushi a few times and I have always been fairly non plussed about it, however this place was great. Loads of different things on the traditional conveyor belt and it was all really nice. Claire and I did have a minor issue with some soya beans but the technical difficulty was quickly resolved.
Once the eating of the sushi was complete, and we did manage an impressive stack of plates, we walked briskly over to a cocktail bar called Thirst where I had a dry martini. Rosie and I could only stay for one drink as we needed to catch the 10.15 train back to Bristol. Jamie led the way back to the tube station and we were on our way home.
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