Crusaders danced with Bin Laden, and a 'Form II certificate' greeted an Arriva bus named Austin at the Nadur carnival last night.

The hilltop village, as in previous years, lived up to its reputation as Malta's Carnival capital as thousands of people jammed the narrow streets behind the church, dancing to loud music and generally making fun of life.

Many wore colourful costumes but there appeared to be no common theme this year – with anything from the Smurfs to the seven dwarfs, many other cartoon characters, some people dressed in bubble wrap like the insurance advert, devils, a good number of escaped prisoners, oversized babies and quite strange looking women, pirates, Elvis, and a couple of bearded nuns.

Little Red Riding Hood walked merrily with the fox and people wore parrot costumes to form the words BONDI+.

There were at least two Bin Ladens and a small 'bendy bus' float. One man dressed up as a speed camera and a woman tried some political satire wearing big placards proclaiming her as a Form II certificate – a dig at Franco Debono.

There was some vulgarity – though not as much as in previous years – and enthusiasm was much in evidence with many dancing to the throbbing music in the square.

There was also a wedding procession. The bride wore white and the groom wore... a huge board reading 'divorce'.

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