Rising late, I saw that Hove was wreathed in sea mist yet the sun was doing it’s best to get through. Delayed by Marmite toast and strong tea I eventually hit the prom around mid day and found cool air, sunshine and mist. A perfect combination creating an odd sense that Brighton was a stage existing in a bubble out of step with the rest of England. Many would argue that, indeed it does. Tourists drifted in as the mist drifted out and by 2pm the weather was ready for sun bathing and ice cream…..and yes, the dog did get his share.
Archive for the 'images' Category
Finally!
Saturday afternoon the rain came in and visibility was down to yards up at Devils Dyke but FINALLY, today, we had clear skies and sunshine just in time for the Brighton Marathon. Pre festival spirit seems to be kicking in and last weekend Brighton Unitarian Church held a Makers Boutique (a craft fair to you and me) selling handmade contemporary arts & crafts with some good work by Nick Orsbournbe. They plan to repeat this throughout the year, check their site for details.
Classical Lighting on Western Road has closed down – FINALLY! I bought some lights in this shop 14 years ago when I first moved to town and they had a closing down sale then. As far as I know they’ve had a closing down sale every day since. I imagined that they got away with it because of the high turnover of people moving to Brighton and then moving out again. I had thought that this was just some sales gimmick but it seems they really were closing down, only very, very, very slowly.
Gently Out Of My Mind
January
Hooray! January is over. What an awful month! You get up and it’s dark, you go to work and it’s dark. You come home and it’s dark. And it’s cold. And it snows. And the snow instantly turnes to slush or black ice. And it rains. And there are car accidents and there are traffic jams and the bloody train system closes down.
But January is over. We’ve survived and on Monday the sun broke through just as I got to work. Isn’t the sun fantastic? We British are stalwarts. We persevere through these bloody winter days but every now and them we get a glimpse of what life is supposed to be like and it’s beautiful.
The people who do road works have decided that the wiggly bit in the A23 just before Handcross isn’t difficult enough for drivers so they’ve added a few hazards. They have run a line of cones along the outside lane and painted two extra sets of centre lines down the road. So now there is a chicane where drivers can’t tell where the middle is and so meander around like morons.
Still, we have a bit of sun at last which creates some great light just after the rain.
And in Brighton today I noticed a great new bit of street art in St. George’s Mews along with some written words seeming to blame globalisation for poverty in Africa.
I was texted Friday evening saying come and see a gig at the Duke Of York. A film about the sea with live music. Arrived just before midnight to find a lot of people waiting to see the Brighton based indie rock band British Sea Power perform a live accompaniment to the film From The Sea To The Land Beyond.
From The Sea To The Land Beyond is a film by Penny Woolcock using archive footage from films made over the past 100 years from the the British Film Institute. It is a montage and traces very loosely the history of the British relationship with the sea.
I bought a large glass of Rioja and took a seat. As the film started and the band began to play the connection between the two was not obvious. Much of the footage is fairly stark black and white and the music is modern indy rock. However, very quickly I relaxed into the film and found it captivating, the music providing a splendid backdrop to some fascinating images. British Sea Power are a basic guitar band supplemented by a viola and a cornet and I loved the way the cornet swept one along in what was at times quite an emotional experience.
Terrific stuff, reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi in places and which could stand another viewing.
P.S. – Just discovered this is to be shown at 9pm on BBC 4 this evening.
Things I love About London
Spent a few days up in London. A slight chill in the air, autumn leaves to kick as I walk, tastefully decorated tube stations, proper boozers, people giving out flowers to celebrate a Muslim festival and a brief glimpse of the new open backed Bus for London based on the old Routemaster.
Gorgeous day in Brighton on Saturday. Autumn comming in but sky clear and the sun warm. Some great paintings on display in the Ink_d Gallery on North Rd. I was particaulrly struck by the Fragments work by Carne Griffiths.
Dartmouth Week 2012
A friend recently pointed out an annoying habit many people have of starting their sentences with the word “So”. He’s right. It’s odd how things like this catch on so quickly and I blame it on The Internet in the same way as my parents blamed everything on all those atom bombs they kept letting off.
So, I did Dartmouth Week regatta last week. Boat towed down on Monday. Cork 1720. Test run Tuesday. Gale and torrential rain on Wednesday so skipped the Brixham passage race. Instead two of us rose early and walked through the rain to the boat getting thoroughly saturated then spent hours with clothes in front of heaters trying to dry out. Ah, Summertime in England.
For lunch, to a pub named The Cherub. Old. Tudor. Flowers. Two pints of “Yotter” and a baked potato with cheese. After; home for a snooze then out again for more beer and dinner before bed. My type of day really.
Raced for the rest of the week. First race we led our class for a bit then jinxed it by considering crossing the finish line first before we’d even hit the first mark. This set the trend. Optimistic starts followed by reasonably skilled sailing then awful cockups before becoming resigned to coming in well down but having had a great day and only hit one other boat. Good to hit one boat on the first day, we reasoned, to make sure the rest of them stay clear. Sportsboat class taken by a J70. New J-Boat with a lifting keel. Evenings spent consuming pints of bitter and watching loud air displays. No British celebration complete without a war reference so a Lancaster, a Hurricane and a Spitfire. Then, next day, the Red Arrows. Prefer Dartmouth to Cowes these days as cheaper, fewer tossers and less crowded so possible to get into the pubs and restaurants. Dartmouth is also a great natural harbour. A smallish river but just round the corner and you’re out into open sea. Great castle like structures at the entrance to the river too.































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