Entering Hell

When I told the girls, well Lily actually, who the Grand Marshall was for the Christmas parade, she looked at me with a blank face. Usually the Falls manages to wrangle a pretty big name in the world of kids, lord knows how, but this year Lily was clueless. I Googled her image and then Lily was able to figure out who she was and was a little more interested in seeing her. I continued reading about the parade and finished by saying, .......Coco Jones will be performing her new songs on Centre stage at 6pm. blah blah blah and that was that. Fast forward to last night.

She drove past in her little car waving at the crowd and everybody was very happy to see her. I didn't have a clue who she was. Lily was thrilled that she looked directly at her as it made for one great photo op. Even Rosie was giddy but then again Rosie just goes with the flow.

After we had eaten Lily reminded me that Coco Jones was performing. I looked at her like she had fallen out of her tree and said, "oh, you want to see her, Ok. We walked over to the stage and we were about 3 people from the front but had about 20 minutes until "go" time. I explained that if they wanted to watch we needed to stay put. They stayed put. Lily decided she needed to get right to the front. I put Rosie on my shoulders and stayed where I was.

In no time at all it was bedlam. There were a trillion billion little girls and a few boys everywhere. Some of these mums will do anything to get their kidlets up close and personal and they consider trampling people to death perfectly acceptable, hence Rosie being on my shoulders. There were cops and security everywhere and one of the security officers was 2ft from me a ft from Lily and he was the size of a brick sh*t house but apparently that is not at all intimidating to most people. When he told people t move back they just said no. What's wrong with people?

For the record I need to state: I have never ever liked crowds, I have never ever liked loud noise and I don't like being HOT. ( menopause should be a total trip) Even as a teenager I detested those things so I didn't do concerts and I still don't like them now.

At 6.pm sharp I heard a wave of high and I mean the kind of noise that under normal circumstances only a dog could hear them, screams and then, Coco Jones was introduced and the noise started all over again. Dear God girls can scream in the most blood curdling pitches. The crowd started to push themselves towards the stage. It wasn't that bad but seriously WTH? I kept a very beady eye on Lily as she isn't the biggest kid in the world and I wanted to be sure she wasn't getting flattened. Once the song was over she handed out posters and OMG it was a free for all. I could tell that Lily had been handed one and was very happy for her. I also knew or at least I guessed that CoCo Jones had high fived her a few times.

The madness continued for what seemed like an eternity. People were pushing and shoving and getting really ridiculous and at one point the security guards shoved everyone way way back and I ended up way way way back. Whatever, it didn't matter. Rosie was still able to see and she bopping about on my shoulders. The posters that were being handed out turned into T-shirts and a fight broke out. Yes, a fight. A teenager is singing for free to a group of kids and gives out free stuff and 2 people start fighting over a shirt. Oh my life. Thankfully Lily told me that she couldn't see it. Jones asked them nicely to stop and to share. How sad that people behave this way.

After what seemed like an eternity of being in this hell I heard the words I was longing to hear, BYE BYE. And with that  most of the crowd took off in hot pursuit and I walked forward 2 steps and found Lily who was just dazed and in awe, "of being touched so many times by a real singer Mum". I asked her if she got a poster and she told me she was handed one but the kid next to her snatched it out of her hand and when Lily tried to retrieve it she bent her arm back so far that Lily just let it go. OMG are you for real? Crazy!

Lily loved it, she had a great time. She said when everyone pushed she braced herself with her arms and didn't get squashed at all. She loved being so close to her and loved the the whole experience. I must say this young girl is one heck of a singer, she is a Disney singer so she is a crowd pleaser and fun for the kids. Well at least for now until things go south LOL.

It was so hard to get any photos cos Rosie was on my shoulders.

Coco Jones

She is so pretty