Breaking records......

I live in a city famous for its Christmas Pageant, it's old fashioned fantasy and has an extensive history. More to the point, it marks the arrival of Santa. I never went as a child but I participated as a teenager through school. We used to watch it in black and white on TV. So for me, the first time I ever went, I was in it! However, having children ignited the passion for attendance. This year I was lucky enough to attend as part of a corporate facility.
It certainly made up for every year this past decade and a half that I've marked out the family territory at 6am, sitting in the freezing mornings with nothing more than a folding chair, picnic rug, thermos of tea and a newspaper under the shadow of the CBD only to end up sunburnt by the end of the parade. All worth it though to see the happiness as the children draw on the road in chalk and wave back at silly clowns and of course, the big man in red! (Equally special for us as this is the route to L's school, where we seek out the longevity of his artwork as he's convinced he can still see his name and drawings on the road.)
For a few years now the organisers have attempted to come up with promotional ideas to break a Guinness Book of Records record. (What? Being one of the best and most historic street parades in the world is not good enough for them? LOL!) For a couple of years they tried the longest mexican wave....to no avail. I think it was too hard to keep it moving and count the participants. However, this year the attempt was the biggest crowd wearing red noses for 10 minutes and with a theme of 'discover the clown within' there were red noses a-plenty. We had to beat a soccer match in Portugal of 15,000. Guess what? We did it....16920! Yey! I'm one, so is R, so is L, so is J, so is S, so is L, so is A, so is little L.....and about 16,912 other Adelaideans!