During the week, we received a call from a friend who needed some help transferring some boxes from a supplier living in Horsham (near Brighton – think: South of London, and on the coast) to another supplier in Cornwall. Yesterday we started on the first leg of the journey and took the opportunity to see Brighton at the same time.
Saturday morning Matt cycled over to the Rent-a-Van place in London while I packed an over night bag and some lunch and we headed South to Brighton via Horsham. Google-maps rather optimistically ‘suggested’ the trip would take just over an hour (more like 21⁄2 hours) but then even Google can’t really be blamed for Londoners propensity for ‘park hopping’ on summer’s days and the Gay and Lesbian Festival that seemed to happen all throughout south-east England this weekend.
After collecting all the boxes in the back of the van in Horsham, we pushed on to Brighton. On the way we saw a charming old Church, St Paul’s with head-stones dating back to 1756. Further down the road we stopped to see a community club of Englishmen playing cricket and watched one side get thrashed while listening to the England vs Portugal World Cup game on the radio. Even at the penalty shoot out time, the Englishmen kept playing their game of cricket...respect.
We finally made it to Brighton around 6:00pm thinking we’d find accommodation relatively easily. Unbeknown to us, Brighton was the capital of the Mardi Gras festivities and every 'cute little BnB', hotel, motel, pub, stable was full. We weren’t too worried though as we were enjoying walking around Brighton, exploring the 'Newtown-ish' restaurants scene and trying to find a non-gay-friendly pub (aka, one with a Ladies bathroom). Don’t get too excited about the beach though, while it is London's closest beach, there are no waves, and pebbles instead of sand.
At 10:00pm we thought dinner would be a good idea and found a cute little Italian restaurant called Zizzi. Yum!
Still with no accommodation and contemplating sleeping with the boxes in the back of the van, I managed to find a BnB we hadn’t tried – with a Vacancy!! Just as this happened a seagull flew over head and dropped a bomber of bird poo right on to Matthew’s shirt - you should see the size of the seagulls here! (Matt’s Technerdical note: for you aero buff’s out there: I think the bird came in on a strafing run – there was a glint in his eye as he creamed me)
On Sunday, after a good ol' English breakfast we drove slowly home taking tangents along the way enjoying being a tourist with a hire van.
Photos are here (finally)
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1 comment:
Thought you'd be interested that I bought Ozols' surf board last Sunday.
Will keep you posted on the ensuing and inevitably comic learning period.
Hopes are high that the local 'Baywatch' types are looking forward to rescuing me.
Rick
Pres JIBFC
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