Ratanga Junction is the perfect venue for MCQP. The city's annual costume party was a huge success if you consider the trouble people went to to interpret the Circus theme in costumes that were bewildering and amusing. I was among the first who arrived and after overcoming the disappointment that a myriad others also thought coming as The Big Top would be cleverly unique, I perched myself at the entrance stage to watch the arrivals. I think Ratanga should be the venue for all future parties too.
Despite there being more toilets than ever before I still had to queue endlessly for a cubicle while boys - usually in pairs, used the privee to adjust their makeup and attitude. We're all grown ups here despite letting our inner child out for the night. Sensibly, we were offered condoms with our toffees as we entered - a recognition that many of the frisky folk, who'd buffed and polished themselves wore (certainly in some cases but fewer than in previous years) outfits that made a roll in the hay their obvious intention. This is no longer a homosexual party. Sure, many Mos were there but, according to my dipstick research, there were as many or, more even, who were not. I remember this event being billed as Queer rather than Mo and if, indeed, it is a celebration of queerness - a rejection of the norm, surely more comfortable spaces should be available for taking drugs while those of us, who would like to shed the day's culinary excesses in the toilet can do so without a cooing, sniffing audience in earshot.
It was good to see founder Andre Vorster there as it was to see Henry Shields and his dogs. Peter Heyes, suspended for hours on a trapeze proved not only that he was a creative wizz but also very well hung.
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