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Published: December 30th 2014
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Oxfam Wood Green’s shop manager had decided to take us to Southend for the annual summer excursion in 2014. I had noticed that it would be more convenient to travel to Southend from Fenchurch Street near Tower Hill rather than from Liverpool Street. He got the tickets for us to travel with the c2c train from Fenchurch Street to Southend Central on 31 August.
Southend seems to be smaller and more compact than Brighton – a few-minutes’ walk from the station brought us to the seaside and viewpoint to the Southend Pier.
Like Brighton, there was a fun-fair with various rides, stalls and arcade centres. Some of young volunteers were interested in these kinds of things and they entered the fun-fair while we were walking on the seaside. There was nothing interesting on the east edge of Southend. As a typical occasion to the visit to the seaside town, we had fish & chips for our lunch. One of the young Asian colleagues had already started swimming. Another young man began swimming too. He had brought swimming costume and looked a professional swimmer. He was asked to
rescue the young Asian man if he got drowned. His swimming skills had been improved. Compared to Brighton, the depth of the shallows didn’t seem to be deep. He didn’t make us worry this time.
We decided to go to the pier in the afternoon. It was £4 for the return trip on the train; £3.50 for the single trip (walk and ride), and £2 for walk only. I could have walked all the way; however, I was persuaded that I would get lost if I would stay away from the group. It was warm and pleasant – we really enjoyed the walk on the world’s longest pier. All of the cafes, arcade centres and restaurants were open on 31 August. We found the shop for Lifeboat – RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute). There were various types of boats displayed in the back of the shop. We got on the train back to the harbour. I personally found the passenger car was rather cramped; the seat was hard and uncomfortable due to the old-fashioned designed car, and it would have been more pleasant to walk back to the harbour on my own.
Afterwards, we popped into the arcade centre near the pier. I wasn’t interested in spending my money on games at all; I popped out, ate ice cream and was reading my book while my manager and other volunteers were spending their money.
They decided to leave the arcade centre around 4 o’clock, and we began walking along the promenade of Westcliff-on-Sea. There were beautiful valley gardens with colourful flowers, palm trees, sub-tropical plants and attractive ornaments. We were walking on the esplanade parallel with lovely gardens. The sun was shining, and its reflection made an orange and pinkish hue on the gentle sea – I fell in love with the picturesque scene. There were some young people who were swimming in the late afternoon.
I liked the walk along the Westcliff-on-Sea, and suggested we would visit Southend in autumn. I managed to complete the final assignment of proofreading at the end of September, and we decided to visit there on 9 October.
After arriving at Southend, we had fish
& chips for our lunch, and went to the pier. In contrast to 31 August, it was a very gusty day. Nevertheless, we decided to do the walk on both directions on the pier. With the gusty wind, the sea was very choppy – a number of floating boats were tilted on the rough water. The wind was roaring, blowing from sea to land: I felt I had been pushed back while walking towards the head of the pier. We managed to reach the destination, looked beyond, took photos and popped in the RNLI shop. Mark is a really good man: he dropped some money in the box to support the RNLI. The train was running on the pier, but many shops were closed on 9 October. Due to the direction of the wind, it was rather easy for us to walk back to the harbour. We were looking round the shop after coming back to the reception. I flicked through the guide book of the Southend Pier and found that the historic pier has suffered the fire several times over the past century. We hope the admission charge of £2 would help the maintenance fees.
The weather was improved in the mid afternoon. We decided to walk to the garden at Westcliff. A wide variety of herbaceous plants and dahlias were thriving. I was intrigued to see the wrecked or vandalised bust? of the Elizabeth II, which one of my colleagues found while he was strolling through the garden on his own on 31 August. The winding footpaths on the Westcliff garden were like a maze: there were several footpaths which were leading to several directions. We missed the royal bust; he might have found it tucked away in a corner.
I believed we would be nearer to Westcliff-on-Sea station while walking in the Westcliff garden. There wasn’t sign for the station. I asked a couple of people who were walking on the esplanade how to reach the station. We had remembered the man said that the station was located at the back of the cinema building. We found “Station Road” and followed on the right as the man had explained. We were wandering around the residential district for a while. I found a man who was the postman. He gave us the appropriate direction:
he told us to follow right on “Station Road”, and then take left path when we would see the T-junction and take the right at the first lane. We finally managed to find the Westcliff-on-Sea station. There wasn’t any sign on “Station Road” – just one opposite the station – and it was tucked away from the esplanade and the centre of Westcliff village.
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