This is a text for a 6th form. Please do not read too fast. They should be able to follow the route in the text on a map.
On New Year’s Day, the first day of the new year, there’s always a big parade in London. It doesn’t start early in the morning because most people need to sleep late after all the parties.
The parade starts at 11.45am on Piccadilly outside the Ritz Hotel and finishes around 3pm at Parliament Square.
The way of the parade is always the same: Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square.
You can buy tickets and watch the parade from special places or just stand at the side of a street and see everything from there – just like about half a million other people.
The VIPs sit at the end of the parade’s way opposite King Street.
But why do so many people come to this event?
It is because you can see bands from many countries, clowns and people in fancy dresses just like on carnival in Germany. You can really have fun at this parade but the best thing is to be member in one of the bands or the groups in this parade.
