Rain on my parade

Don’t bring around a cloud to rain on my parade

Saturday I get up and go for a bimble into Georgetown, which is a pleasant half hour walk. It’s not as hot as the previous couple of days and even I, with my shocking sense of direction, manage to get there without having to resort to checking Google maps every five minutes. Yes, it’s one straight road from where I am staying but that is beside the point. I do a spot of shopping – four new t-shirts. I like American clothes, I’m only a medium and could possibly squeeze into a small if I didn’t want to breathe.

I head down to see the Chesapeake & Ohio canal and watch the world go by for a while. I pick up some lunch on my way back and have a quiet afternoon ahead of attending DC Pride. I’ve never been a big pride parade person, having only done the London event once in the twelve years I’ve lived there. A friend from back home has put me in touch with a friend of his, Cary, who lives in Washington so I don’t have to spend the evening alone. Simon has to go to work, chaperoning the school prom.

Just as I am headed out some dark clouds roll over and I get hit with some large splodges of warm rain. I immediately think of Barbra in Funny Girl. It’s a clearing up shower though and soon stops. I meet Cary on the parade route & we head to a small bar called Stoney’s, which whilst not a gay bar, is full of gays. It’s the birthday of one of Cary’s friends and he has the upstairs bar reserved for his birthday celebrations. We head upstairs and I am made immediately welcome by Marc, the birthday boy. It’s a great spot to watch the parade from and my camera, with its good zoom lens, doubles as a pair of binoculars for getting a good look at the totty down below. I do some mingling, and get chatting to a guy for a while, explaining my trip when he asks if I am on vacation. The guy I spend most time chatting to happens to be the only straight man at the party. Chatting to a straight man at a gay birthday party on the day of gay pride. This is what we call Sod’s Law. Perhaps my gaydar isn't quite calibrating to the US settings yet?

The United States of Gay-merica

After the parade we head to JR’s, a bar on the main gay street (17th Street NW if you are headed there). I show them my (provisional) driving licence as ID. The woman on the door says that she can’t accept it. Cary and his friends (Shawn & Mike) have already gone in & been given wristbands. They come back out. I explain that I can run back and get my passport which is the only ID they will accept. We decide to try another bar but Cary manages to slip off his wristband and I manage to get it onto my wrist without breaking it. We head back to JR’s and get in. A couple of drinks later we head off, stopping by a liquor store to get some beers and make for the roof terrace of Shawn’s apartment building. The views from the top are stunning and there is a cool breeze. We sit chatting (and drinking) for a couple of hours and in the space of one evening I have made three new friends. I head home around 1am, knowing that I shouldn’t have too late a night as I need to be up (and not hungover) in the morning to catch a bus.

Sunday morning arrives and my time in the capital is at an end. I say goodbye to Simon, thanking him for his kind hospitality and head to get the Megabus that will take me to my next destination, Philadelphia – city of cream cheese!


“Don’t bring a around a cloud to rain on my parade” 
Lyrics from Don't Rain on my Parade from the musical Funny Girl