Carnival sighting

[SimonWater]

Today, I visited my aunt and uncle, who live in a part of Germany where carnival is celebrated quite a lot each year.
A lot of (carnival) clubs have carnival floats and will decorate them differently every year.
Together, they form a parade that goes through the streets, some with their floats, some on foot.
Although a lot of liquid, mostly beer or sparkling wine, is consumed, I‘ve never had an interesting sighting so far.
Until today.
In this parade, there are several music groups but it‘s not like a band or something; they have different instruments like drums, trumpets and transverse flutes, there are no singers and they wear uniforms.
These music groups are called Tambourcorps or Spielmannszug but I couldn‘t find an English translation apart from „marching band“. I don‘t know if that makes sense or even exists, though.
When they came near us, one of them broke out of the formation and came almost running towards us, a frantic look on his face.
He was a friend of my uncle.
I thought he was just going to say hello or something and didn’t really pay close attention until he hurriedly blurted out: „Can I use your toilet? We‘ve been waiting for the parade to start for over forty minutes and were drinking too much beer. I‘m bursting!“
My aunt answered: „Of course, I‘ll show you the way.“
He took off the massive drum he carried and thrust it into my surprised uncle‘s hands and then sprinted off towards the house, my aunt following.
In hindsight I wish I had been faster to react, I could have been the one who showed him to the toilet and maybe I could have stayed in the corridor (I would have had to show him back outside later, of course) and listened to how urgent his piss was.
Sadly, I was so surprised that I didn’t react at all.

It led me to imagine: What if he didn't know my uncle or anyone else he passed and would have had to hold it?
Would he have made it or would he have wet his white, snug uniform trousers?

[Lee]

Wow! How old was he?

I envisage saying “Yes, of course. Can you hold on a minute and I’ll show you where it is?” and watch his reaction!

[SimonWater]

Wow! How old was he?

I envisage saying “Yes, of course. Can you hold on a minute and I’ll show you where it is?” and watch his reaction!

He's about forty something, I don't know exactly.
I guess any delay, even only a minute, would have been too much!
I can imagine him marching with his drum, having to stay within the formation and play his part of the music while being absolutely desperate.
And sometimes they have to stop for a few minutes because the parade doesn't move forward fast enough at the front.
Thinking about it I can almost sense his panic

[Lee]

Wow! How old was he?

I envisage saying “Yes, of course. Can you hold on a minute and I’ll show you where it is?” and watch his reaction!

He's about forty something, I don't know exactly.
I guess any delay, even only a minute, would have been too much!
I can imagine him marching with his drum, having to stay within the formation and play his part of the music while being absolutely desperate.
And sometimes they have to stop for a few minutes because the parade doesn't move forward fast enough at the front.
Thinking about it I can almost sense his panic

Sounds like a potential story…!!

I sometimes wonder about these military lads at formal events.

[SimonWater]

A story about that scenario would definitely be intriguing

[Brian]

[...] It led me to imagine: What if he didn't know my uncle or anyone else he passed and would have had to hold it?
Would he have made it or would he have wet his white, snug uniform trousers?

It doesn't sound like he would have made it, does it?

Breaking out of formation in front of everyone like that must have been a real last resort. What a situation to be in!

[Wombat48]

Definetely would make a good story!

[Fred]

I sometimes wonder about these military lads at formal events.

I have a vague memory of a story about military men in a parade, but where I do not know. For a group of military to march in a parade, often they are trucked in from some distant location, so it may be a number of hours since they last had access to a toilet even before the parade begins. To avoid dehydration, their officers would insist that they drink lots of water. They might have to stay in formation for hours more, and at the place where their transport awaits them there would not be sufficient toilets for all of them. Then there is the rough ride back to their base. I have seen stories of soldiers pissing out of the back of their transport trucks.

Yes, there are stories, both real and fantasized, to be told!

[Brian]

Fred, I think there are quite a lot of stories about military parades around, including here on our site.

One that immediately springs to my mind is Lee's story "Guardsman does it in his pants on parade!" which I know he wrote years ago.

There's also my own more recent effort "Military Parade". And perhaps even more in the spirit of SimonWater's sighting here is a story about a Carnival parade, "Carnaval Cow" for those with access to Stronger Interests here.

I'm sure there are others too but I can't recall them right now. Does anyone else remember some other stories on this theme?

[SimonWater]

I'm sure there are others too but I can't recall them right now. Does anyone else remember some other stories on this theme?

There are also stories/posts about the military in general, I don't remember if they include military parades, though. I think I've seen them in the Reposted Section.