Protests, rugby, carnivals and gigs

Huge congratulations to Dave Gordon and everyone who was involved in organising the re-birth of the Launceston Carnival on Saturday. A number of people queried whether, given the choice, a dark evening in October was the right time for a carnival, but, with the rain holding off, it most certainly was.

The streets of town were packed and there were a good number of floats and walking paraders. Well done to the Rugby Club's under 16s who pulled a van the whole way, including up St Thomas' Road.

I hope that the pubs picked up a decent amount of trade from the Carnival. It was a great initiative to have a local real ale in many of them and there were at least two great gigs on.

Earlier in the day there as the Launceston leg of the Keep Cornwall Whole protest march along the line of the Tamar. A group of around 30 people were present for speeches from MP Dan Rogerson, Mayor Paul O'Brien and Saltash Mayor Adam Killeya on the need to avoid a parliamentary constituency that includes bits of Devon and Cornwall.

Sandwiched in between was a rugby match. A pity that the crowd was so low (just over 500 turned out) as the game was an 11 try thriller. It's a rare occurence when a team can win by 8 tries to 3 and yet the outcome be up in the air for so long. The All Blacks led 31-3 at half time and eventually won by 46-24 but only after a terrible 20 minutes brought Sedgley Park back to within a converted try of the home team.