Still recuperating from The Long Way Home and hungry to continue the summer of exploring, I travelled up to Liverpool to support my friend, Andrea, who was samba dancing in the Brazilica carnival.

Now up to this point my only experience of a carnival-like event was the Lord Mayor’s Parade in Norwich. A collection of tinsel decorated floats, sponsored by local radio stations and manned unenthusiastically by ‘Narrritch’ locals shaking buckets.

Along with Sue, Kelly, Richard, Paul and Nick, I was about to be amazed at the amount of energy and fun everyone had put into performing at Brazilica. The bright and vibrant fusion of hypnotic samba band rhythms and colourful costumes of the samba dancers was a treat. I loved how it just kept going and as we followed the procession towards the city centre the crowds and atmosphere just grew more lively.

Andrea did so well. It was…