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Published: January 28th 2008
View from a train
Wet... all wet...I think Fedde le Gand put it best when he said 'I LOVE THIS CITY!'
Of course he was talking about Detroit, and whilst I have never been to Detroit, and know very little about the city, I can say, without a doubt, that if Fedde ever visited Brighton, he would re-release the track 'Put your hands or for Detroit' with the altered lyrics 'I THINK THIS CITY IS NOT WITHOUT IT'S OWN CHARM, BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY PUT YOUR HANDS UP FOR BRIGHTON BECAUSE - I LOVE THIS CITY!!' and maybe he'd also make the filmclip slightly less degrading to women.
Annnywho.
I love Brighton. Always have. When I was like 11, and Meg was still Margaret and Margaret was like 13, my mum (who was still called mum) took us over to the UK with her mum to visit the rellies, and one day she packed us girls up and walked us down to the train station and we went down to Brighton for the day.
It was like no place I'd ever seen - like a town that was an amusement park - there were arcades everywhere, like EVERYWHERE, kids all over the place
wearing very baggy pants made out of parachute material (it was like 1991) with no adult supervision... to me that seemed odd. Plus the best thing was the beach. No sand! Pebbles, billions or soft smooth pebbles - so effing cool. And there were two giant boardwalks stretching out into the ocean, one was filled with amusement rides (Meg and I went on this giant slide that circled a structure and was right at the edge so you always thought that you were gonna fall off the edge of the pier), the other with this massive ballroom on it (the ballroom burned down along with the pier it stood on a few years ago, and now it's groovy burnt out shell remains out in the ocean - so very cool).
I remember we met this cool biker dude on the way home who was heading back to his woman in London with a stuffed toy that he'd won for her on the pier, but he gave it to us instead 😊
Hey - Meg and I also went on this spinning ride, sort of like the alpine express mixed with the spinner - well really nothing like either
Burnt shell
The old pier taking a beating BUT!! I remember watching the first episode of Sugar Rush (this fucking awesome, FUNNY show about a queer teenager in Brighton) and Kim was having a dream about making out with Sugar in a ride at the end of the Pier and it was THAT ride! I was like - I've been in that thing!! ... when I was 11... with my sister... meh - it was still cool.
Another thing about Brighton is that it is a queer mecca. Alan and Susan took Kristy and I down there in 2006 when we visited and took us along to a gay pub and everything it was the best ;P so cute! They told us that one of the kings used to holiday down in Brighton and keep all his fun stuff (mistresses etc) down there, and it just stayed this fun city. (as is my understanding)
So I found myself in London, with two and a half days to work with, and I decided to make visiting Brighton my number one priority.
Anyone who knows me can imagine my joy when I woke up on the Tuesday morning to see a wet, miserable London day greet me.
Near gay town
Looking out at the pier If there's anything I love more than a crisp, sunny, cool, perfect spring day... it's seeing them on 'crap' days.. the days when everyone else would cringe and apologise to their guests about the weather. I jumped in the shower, grabbed my notebook and my jacket, threw up the hood and walked down to Clapham Junction station with an insane smile on my face.
And whoa the day was a beauty... totally typical English weather, wet and windy - it was awesome.
One the train ride down to Brighton I could see rivers breaking their banks and I had my first doubt... maybe people are right when they give me a 'your retarded' (and yes I did spell your correctly for my intended pun thankyou) look when I start talking about how much I love walking around in the rain and such.
Off the train at Brighton - people were huddling against the walls, waiting for bus connections or taxis to show up before stepping into the wind, and again, I just threw up my hood, tossed my plastic bag with my breakfast (snickers and 2 bags of crisps - 78p thanks very much!) into a bin,
Waves under the pier
I took this and I was like wait for it, wait for it... shit! run, now! and headed to the beach. At least I assumed I was traveling in the right direction, basically I just followed the general downward slope and hoped that it would lead me to the beach (or a lighthouse, or my spirit coyote... whatever... Marge... the chilli!!!). Like eight blocks later, and crossing five streets with water freaking pissing down the drains (I had not seen that much water in such a long time - awesome) I came to the cinemas on the strand. I just stood a few metres back from the corner observing my target in complete awe. I could see the pier, I could see the water, I could see seagulls taking on extreme winds and just hanging still in the air. I had arrived man!
And then, I walked forward, and holy crap it was windy - still not quite as windy as in France, but the chill and the piercing relentless drops of rain added their own special 'something', I didn't quite get pushed off my feet, but a couple of times I did take a stumble backwards a few steps. I waited at the lights and crossed over to the 'beach' near the old skeleton
and me under the Pier
with waves... collecting a stone for Idgie (her usual UK souvenir) of the ballroom pier and took shelter in a bus stop before heading down to the pebbles.
I can't even describe it (yet again - maybe I should read more Hemmingway, I hear he describes things well... actually I saw that in a movie once, and I can't remember what movie, but I can remember that it had Sandra Bullock in it and was crap) yet I will try... the walkway near the beach actually wasn't as windy or wet as it was protected by the higher level, but whooshka! it was still bloody wet and windy! I felt like I was the only person in the world walking around out there. I could see up near the amusement pier maybe three other people with cameras :P I would have to stop and wipe the water off the lens of mine every few steps. I went to the toilets just to hear some silence for a while and get into the dry - there was a lady at the door to collect the 30p for entrance, but she said it was free today (I would have thought they could charge more, people would probably be more desperate - oh
Army of Shreks
Just waiting to be called to action... yeah - you have to pay to use toilets like EVERYWHERE in europe. And they're STILL hard to find - pisses me off, not the paying, just the lack of them) and it was only when I got into the bathroom that I saw just how saturated my right side was. Water was still pouring off of me - it was sweet!
I walked the rest of the way along the water and then up past the Pier and into the gay area and had a little wander. Found a net cafe and sat online for like and hour for 50p - totally sweet. Guy tried to see me a new mobile for a fiver - should have taken him up on that 😊
I then headed into the town and walked through the lanes, recognising scenes from Sugar Rush all over the place, so I guess I did the unofficial Sugar Rush tour of Brighton :P
I headed back to the pier and wandered out to the end... took photos of the old rides that are still there that Meg and I went on... they were all closed of course, the pier was like a ghost
beautiful brighton
from the pier - by this stage foam was collecting on the beach! town! so cool. I will live in Brighton some day, and when I do, I want Mum and Meg to come visit... we could spent the day going on rides and stuff, calling Meg Margaret... it'll be just like old times!
Then I headed back to the Gay area and sat and had a Magners in Charles Street pub (the 'c' was in rainbow). It was so cool in there - like a nightclub, totally groovy, totally comfy and queer, reminded me of lunches at the Sporties with Ian, Josh and Annie - we need to do that more often dudes!! Introduce Brendan to our posse!
I wrote in my journal like the nerd that I have become... Yes, I have a journal now... AND I'm writing a fiction! How nerdy is that? It's set in the Buffy-verse, and I was gonna get Lannie to read it for me and tell me how crap it was exactly, but after the whole Victoria Station thing I totally lost all self esteem (sorry Lannie - I did you out of a literary treat that would have only been matched by watching Flight of the Phoenix... or jamming a basketball pump
This way...
to not much... but at least the rock shop was open :) needle in your eye and pumping away...). anyway - just to put it out there on the internet - I am a nerd.
So I sat there, writing, and watching the crazy weather outside, just feeling awesome! Safe and dry inside, yet excited about walking around outside... anyway, soon my Magners was finished and I bundled up my things and headed back along the beach... re-walked the length between the two piers and back up into town towards the train station.
Back to London...
ahhhh
Next time it's totally shit weather in Brisbane I am grabbing my jacket and catching a train out to Manly... i'll walk up to Wynnum, have some fish and chips, wander back to Manly and have a bevvie.... who wants to come?
I am upset by the lack of comments people... Have my travels grown uninteresting? Free schnapps to the next ten people who comment... I am totally serious!!
Anywho, that night Lannie and I went into Clapham again (I think) and met up with Crazy Natt again and Sos and Sammy!!! It was so awesome to see the girlies again!! And they all look so freaking fabulous!!
It was so bizarre sitting eating pizza, being served by a Brisbane chicky, drinking awesome wine from NZ and Budvars, and just talking crap with them all - just like the old days... add in some guacamole, Liana, and an Adam Sandler movie and it would have been just like the old days... only it was in London, a billion miles away from Brisbane.
It was cool.
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Meg
non-member comment
A non-alcoholic schnapps for me!
Hiya Sus! Before I read the part about the free schnapps I so intended to write a comment here. And how could I not?!?!?!? I'm practically famous in this blog - soooo many mentions of Meg and also, dare I say, Margaret. Fantastic photos of Brighton. I'd definitely visit you if you lived there!!! Safe travels and see you in a week or so.