Destination: Brighton

When the English go to the seaside, they go to Brighton. And they go in droves! The recent warm weather inspired many, including myself, to wander on down to the pebbly beaches of Brighton.

It's so easy to get to - only 50 minutes by train from Clapham Junction. The train is at the top of a hill, and looking out from there you can see down to the ocean. Brighton is a very pretty city, many of its buildings are from the 1800s. And the ocean is surprisingly clean too. Anyway, from the train station I went in search of my hotel and found it on the main road, right across from the beach. After checking in (my room was very clean, but very hot! The windows only opened about six inches.), I wandered down to the beach. The weather wasn't that crash hot - just my luck, I thought, after a week-and-a-half of gorgeous hot, sunny weather in London, it would rain, wouldn't it? But it held off raining, and I wandered along the beach.

Yes, it is completely pebbled until you get to the water lane, where it is sand. And the pebbles are really bizarre! You actually sink into them as you walk along...which, obviously, makes walking a little more difficult than expected. All along the beach front is a wide footpath, which runs along under the big wall that has built the city up, and keeps it from washing away I guess. The wall is also home to lots of pubs, cafes and shops. There are also lots of little market stalls. And, for the hefty fee of one pound, you can hire a folding chair for half a day and bask in the sunshine.


View along the beach from the road


This carousel is on the beach and is a famous attraction.


Empty chairs at empty tables ... or, empty chairs on a pebble beach:D

One of the famous attractions along the seafront is the West Pier. It was built in 1866, and was basically shops and restaurants, it even had a concert hall! But due to lack of maintenance it was declared unsafe and in 1975 it was shut down for good. Then it burned down. Then it fell down. And now most of it's in the water and it's a ncie home for the giant seagulls (more on them shortly). It still stands out in the water though, and there has been some talk of rebuilding it. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, given the phenomenal costs that would be involved. Anyway, photos!


The West Pier today


The ruins along the beach are basically just large iron pieces, covered in seaweed which is not only indicative of how high the tide can get, but also gives them a strange jungle look...very surreal

Further along the beach is the Brighton Pier, the sister structure to the West Pier, but it happens to still be very much intact. And tacky. It's gloriously tacky though! It's got a theme park with rides at the end of it and all these arcade games and things. But it's also a kinda cool place to hang out and look at the view. And the Giant Crazy Seagulls! And they really are giant - I've never seen anything quite like it. They're probably about three times the size of a regular seagull, and with a volume of voice to match. They're really bizzarre...


The Brighton Pier.


Crazy big seagull!


Loungin' around on the pier...

From there I wandered over to the Royal Pavillion. It was originally built by George III, and then became the favourite party palace of his son, George IV. Basically, he drank a lot and had a few harlots hanging around. Not to be outdone by anyone, he then spent a stack having it remodelled...and then to keep up with the Eastern fashions of the time, spent a whole lot more having it remodelled again. It really is the height of decadence, all decked out in ornate oriental furnshinings, artworks, carpets, even the wallpaper! It's amazing...and kind of funny too, when you look at it. Probably the highlights were the grand dining room with it's massive chandelier, and the music room, also with incredible chandeliers. The Palace was built as a summer home, evident in the french doors which line the rooms of the bottom floor and the large balconies on the top floor. I finished my tour with a Sussex Tea (home made scone with jam, clotted cream, and tea) on the terrace of the Queen Adelaide tea rooms, on the top floor of the Palace. From there I had a great view of the lovely gardens on the west side of the Pavilion.


The gardens, also known as the West Lawn.


The exterior of the Pavilion is currently undergoing some maintenence work, but you get hte general idea of what it's like. Very bizarre seeing this Eastern building in Brighton! By the way, as per most of these stately homes, photos were not permitted inside, unfortunately, so you'll just have to believe me when I say the inside really was spectacular!


The exterior from the West lawn.


Me, on the terrace of the Pavilion.

From there I went to The Lanes, which are these beautiful little cobble-stone streets lined with funky shops and cafes. The thing about Brighton is that it has this really funky, kinda bohemian vibe to it. It's full of 'alternative' people, despite it's popularity as a weekend getaway for Londoners. Think vegetarian restaurants, second-hand book and record stores, crazy stores full of really funky knick-knacks, clothes and furniture. Yes I went a little mad, and I may or may not have allegedly come home with twice the amount of luggage I had before I left. Allegedly. Anyway, GREAT place to shop, whatever you're after.


A small section of The Lanes

After nipping back to the hotel for a quick kip, I wandered off to find some dinner, and found a nice restaurant over-looking the beach (after passing a plethora of pubs on the beach front, one with a live band playing which I sat and watched for a while), and had fish and chips for dinner - very apt! I then went in search of some nightlife, and ended up at the Walkabout - a very sad, ridiculous chain of Aussie themed pub. Brighton seems to be the place for Hens' Nights, too, as I came across so many groups of girls doing the whole Hens Night thing, most of them dressed in matching costumes and whatnot. And all so young! It was mad... Anyway, a couple of things along the way really annoyed me, and so I wasn't really in the mood for partying. I went back to the hotel.

This morning it was bright and clear and lovely. After a great breakfast at the hotel, I wandered along the beach again, this time dabbling in the water for a bit. It was beautiful and calm and clear...it really reminded me of home! It was SO NICE to be at a beach again. I eventually wandered up into the township and went along North Laine, this street which is full of more crazy homeware stores and cool funky stalls. Also did a little more shopping, which I shouldn't have, but what can you do? Sometimes I just need to a do a little shopping, it's my kind of therapy:D.

After lunch at a pub on the beach, I headed on back to London. I may or may not be a little bit burned - although I prefer to say 'bronzed with a red hue' - but I had a great time. I'm in love with Brighton! Next time I go, I'm going with a few people to party REALLY hard:D. And explore a bit more of Sussex.

All in all, a lovely weekend and it was great to get out of London. And speaking of getting out of London, Paris on Thursday!


By the way, I'm aware my posts are ridiculously long sometimes... sorry! But I'm a writer, it's what I do! THat's my excuse and I'm sitting to it...

Tennis and Pebbles

I suppose I should say SOMETHING about the tennis, given I live in the suburb where it's being held.:) Suffice it to say that a combination of the beautiful warm weather, the late sunsets (yesterday was the Summer Solstice - I was walking home last night about 10pm and the sun was still setting:) - awesome!) and the tennis means Wimbledon is really buzzing at the moment. About the time I was walking home there were streams of people walking down the hill from the village, and on the busses, and in cars, all coming from the tennis. The pubs and restaurants are burgeoning at the moment, and there's a great vibe in the air. The only downside is, of course, the train station has been bedlam in the mornings, but I'll get over it.

As for actually going to the Tennis, working full-time is putting a stop to that, as is my trip to Paris and paying for flights for the end of September. Never mind, there's always next year! In the meantime, I'll just enjoy the atmosphere.

This weekend I'm going down to Brighton. Although the weather isn't expected to stay so lovely, I'm determined to go and try and make the most of any sunshine and warm weather. There are storms predicted, but the sunshine is supposed to come out on Sunday. I'm staying in a hotel right on the esplanade, which should be good - very close to all the attractions. I'll go Saturday morning, do some sight-seeing, stay over Saturday night, and come back Saturday afternoon ... and hopefully get a swim in there somewhere! I may be being overly optimistic, but we'll see how we go...

Anyway, for now I'm enjoying the lovely warm weather - even if I am working in an office with no air conditioning and only a few little fans - and experiencing being a blonde for the first time in about 5 years.:D Got it done last night after netball. Speaking of netball: Definition of 'hot' - playing centre for a full game of netball in the sun when it's 30 degrees. I seriously nearly died - I have no idea how I got through that, but there you go! Of course today I'm utterly exhausted, hence why it's going to be a very relaxed night in tonight.

Less than a week til Paris now!:) Huzzah!

Goodbyes and Baking

I suppose I should update on what I've been up to on the weekend. Friday night I went to dinner with Dani and Lauretta - a very quiet affair to say goodbye to them as they head Oz-side. It was just Dani, Lauretta, me, Laura and her friend Mizzy (sp?). Weirdest thing ever - Laura I had met a couple of months ago through Jaimee. It turns out she went to high school with Lauretta, but we didn't make that connection until a couple of weeks ago. Bizzarro World! So that was cool. We just went to a little thai place in Fulham that we'd been to before. Photos:







Saturday morning I went to the Dentist (bleh!) and have to book in to get a root canal done in the next few weeks. Oh boy, can't wait. After that, the weather was BEAUTIFUL, and I needed to go to the Australia Shop, so I went into Covent Garden. We're talking amazing weather at the moment - the last four or five days have been high 20s, it was 33 degrees on Friday! It's bright and clear and hot, I'm absolutely loving it and I never thought I'd say that. But I guess it's okay if it's only for a few weeks of the year, rather than the four months of the year it's like back home! So I wandered around the city and took in all the street performers in Covent Garden, looked on with amusement at the people cooling their feet in the fountains in Trafalga square, and wandered across the Westminster bridge... it was wonderful:).

Saturday night I went to Jody's and we wandered over the bridge into Putney and got some dinner then wandered back to her place where we Kill Billed the night away.

Sunday I had plans on heading into Hyde Park because it was a beautiful day again, but alas a massive migraine burrowed its way into my head and I found myself lying on the couch all afternoon, unable to get up because of my head. Ugh. I hate migraines. I haven't had one that bad for a while actually. We're talking incessant throbbing, muscle cramps all over, extreme sudden tiredness, forced horizontal position... ouchies.:(

Monday night, however, I was back to my usual self and Jody, and Jody from work (yes, TWO Jody's!) went to a trivia night in aid of cancer research. Okay, firstly let me just say the questions were a)English-centric; b)for Old people:D. And by 'old', I of course mean older than me. So anyway, we didn't do TOO badly I suppose. We came third-last...but that's not LAST!:D We got most of the muppets questions right...

As to the week ahead, not a great deal happening. Went to the gym tonight, netball and a hair cut and colour tomorrow night (finally!), and the weekend is still unclaimed, so I guess we'll wait and see what pops up on the social radar. Anything can happen in this crazy universe.

Life

My great-grandmother died early this morning (my time). At 94, it wasn't a bad innings at all. She had two heart attacks, but they still thought she'd be strong enough to pull through. Apparently not. Her mind was completely gone though. My sister visited her a few weeks ago and apparently she had no idea who she was, and kept thinking she was my great-aunt Claire. I don't think she even realised her daughter had died.

I really REALLY wish I was home right now to be there for my Pop. He's lost his wife, his sister and his mother in the space of 10 months. It just doesn't seem fair. It explains why when I rang him the other night he was so distant - MoreGran was in hospital by then, she'd had a fall apparently.

Anyway, Rest in Peace MoreGran. Right to the end she was an inspiration and greatly respected.

Detox Day 3

So far, so good! Apart from my hot chocolate in the morning - I can't live without it - I've declined tea, chocolate, cheese, milk, bread...Although I'm really tired, I feel really good! So if I can make it through to Thursday, I reckon I'll be feeling great!

Ankle is all good now, the knee's still a bit of an issue, but I still managed to play three games of netball last night. I got there early because our game wasn't until 8.15, and a couple of teams needed fillers, so I jumped in. Needless to say I was absolutely exhausted by today. But what can you do?

Tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner with Dani and Lauretta to say goodbye before they head off to the Spanish Islands, and then back to Oz. So it should be a good night, but sad. I just wish we'd both known we were in London a bit earlier!

The weekend holds nothing spectacular at this point. Dentist on Saturday morning - oh hooray. Also, the real estate agent rang my housemate, Dan, today to say our contract's up in September. So Dan's moving in with his girlfriend, Rich has a job placement up in Leeds already...so I guess it's up to me! The problem is, of course, that when the change over is meant to take place I'm going to be in Oz, so that should be interesting to see how all my planning and organisation (or lack thereof, generally speaking) pans out.

Never mind. I'm sure everything will be just fine. Everything always is!

So what happens now?

Well!

I just finished my LAST EVER ASSIGNMENT (assuming I pass), and the relief is almost instantaneous. I can't believe how quickly the last four-and-a-half years have gone. It's just surreal.

Because they have the graduation ceremonies in July at UQ, I'm not going to go to mine. But meh, the thought of sitting around for AGES to be handed a piece of paper doesn't appeal to me, although it would have been nice to have a pic in the robes and hat holding the piece of paper. I'm sure we can have some fun with photoshop:D.

So what happens now? I'm certainly not going back to uni! I'm going to enjoy a life without assignments constantly hanging over my head. I might do a DTP course in a couple of years or something, who knows, but it'd only be a TAFE thing - I couldn't go through uni again! Sure, it was fun while it lasted, but constant assessment, coupled with no time to enjoy yourself, kinda doesn't appeal to me any more.

Onto other news - and Jody and I booked our accommodation in Paris yesterday. We're staying in the suburb of Champs Elysees, not far from the tourist attraction itself. I can't wait! I'm really looking forward to this!

In a weekend round-up - after the frivolities on Friday evening, Saturday morning I worked on my assignments before wondering off to Heathrow to say goodbye to Kristine, who has moved back to NZ after two years here. So that was kind of sad. Saturday night I stayed in to work on, you guessed it, assignments. Sunday mornign was much of the same until Jody rang and we went to a pub in Putney for a couple of drinks and a meal. On the way home, I was walking past one of the many pubs in Wimbledon and saw my housemate in one of them, so I joined him and his friend for a drink rather than go home and do assignment things. Typical:). Then Dani rang and ended up crashing on our floor last night. So yes, I've managed to fill up my free time quite easily.

Tomorrow night I'm off to a BBQ with the girls from my netball team. A 'bonding' session, which is more just an excuse to eat and drink. Having said that, I started a detox today, so none of the following:

- alcohol
- tea or coffee (apart from herbal teas)
- red meat
- chocolate (this one is going to kill me!)
- sweets
- white rice, bread etc.
- dairy products (also a toughie!)

Realistically, it's not that different to the diet I keep myself on now - fruit, veg, chicken. But I do love my cheese and tea, so that's had to stop. It should be interesting to say the least, but I'm determined to do it.

After all, I have a an awesome black dress I have to fit into in Paris.:D And that's all that matters, right?;)

I Like to Party

Well I've had a very busy week, far too social and not nearly productive enough as far as assignments go. But there's all weekend for that....sort of.:)

Thursday my chocolate cake was a complete success, if I do say so myself. But apparently the smells of it cooking were wafting down the hallway and kept my housemates awake. So I've promised to bake the boys a chocolate cake at some point.

Thursday night Jess Ross was in town. Jess is a girl I used to work with at Justice, and is now living in New York. Her cousin lives in London, and they had just been on a tour of Ireland together. So Jess was in town for one night only, and we celebrated with a big catch-up and gossip session and drank a whole lot of alcohol and ate a big slice of chocolate fudge cake *drools*. That cake was SO GOOD. Anywho, Jess is still her funky self and looks fabulous, so it was great to see her. Couple that with Jaimee and Beth came along, and it was four ex-Public Affairs personnel in one place in London.:) Kinda weird, actually. But here are a couple of photos:


Jess, striking a pose like there's nothing to it, vogue..


From left, Jaimee, me, Beth and Jess, at the Railway pub in Putney.

Last night I went out with Dani and her girlfriend, Lauretta, and a bunch of their friends to a pub in Fulham Broadway. We had a few drinks there, then went to dinner next door at this fabulous Thai place, then back to the pub for a few more drinks and a boogie. It turned out my housemate had been in the same pub all night, we just hadn't seen each other. May have had something to do with the fact we were both kinda blotto by the end of it.:D Here are some photos from last night:


Me, Dani, Lauretta...


Their friend, Lachie and Nicole...


More friends!


Even more friends! These guys were great - we danced the night away!

Today I'm going to make decent progress on my other assignment, before heading off to Heathrow this afternoon to say goodbye to Kristine. She's been here two years now so has to go back to Kiwiland, which is kinda sad.

And tomorrow - I don't care if the weather is still this FABULOUS, NO GOING OUT MELANIE. YOU STAY PUT AND WRITE ASSIGNMENTS.

Ouchies.

I have to be THE most intelligent person in the world sometimes (*insert sarcasm here*). So not only did I manage to stack it at netball tonight and do a Jaimee - Sprained my ankle quite badly - but I took all the skin off the other knee as well, which then proceeded to bleed quite profusely. Oh and then I started to think the ankle was feeling better so I walked home from the station...and now it's twice as sore and swollen.

Well done, Melanie, well done.

In other news, I went to the dentist yesterday and lo and behold, I have to have some root canal thingy done to my ouchie tooth. At least it'll stop hurting then. And the great thing about this dentist is I rang them on Monday, got in on Tuesday afternoon! And I can claim a lot of it under the NHS scheme, which I'm now registered with, so it's not too expensive at all.

And tonight I have baked a devilishly good chocolate cake - LOTS of dark chocolate, LOTS of cream, LOTS of sugar - for a girl at work whose 30th birthday is this week.

HUZZAH FOR MULTI-TASKING!

Upside-down.

Welcome to Mel's Giant Fuzzy World of Stress. It's a scary place in here... much of the no sleeping and the physical signs to prove it. And the baking late at night. At least I'm putting my 'can't sleep so I'm staying awake' time to productivity.

Meanwhile, Jody and I booked our Eurostar tickets to Paris today AND *drumroll* tickets to the Moulin Rouge! Dinner and the show! I can't wait, I'll be singing the Elephant Medly all the way home...

Other than that, still stressing over assignments. I have netball tomorrow, but I'm trying to devote all my spare time to working on these horrible assignments. I have finished one though! At 2am the other morning...after I finished it initially, went 'oh my god, that has to be one of the most horrible things I've ever written.' So I scrapped it and started again. Very intelligent. But it's out of the way, the progressive log thing is about half done, and I've started on the other research/review assignment. Problem is, I'm not sure what to review...but we'll sort that out tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'M GOING TO PARIS! HUZZAH!

Canned Heat in my heels...

Again I've had a very busy and productive week, although I can't say much for the assignments I was meant to have written... they'll get done, though, it's just a matter of finding the motivation! And finding things to say...

Monday was a bank holiday and the weather was really bad which was fine - it meant I wasn't too keen to go outside and instead stayed in with the intention of writing my assignments. I wrote half of one - it's a start, right? RIGHT?!

Wednesday night I played netball - centre all game again, so I was exhausted by the end - and it was raining and miserable, making for a very slippery, dangerous game. But we won! And we got our terribly unattractive team shirts too. At least we got the light blue ones - some of the other teams have gotten stuck with hideous colours.

Last night was surprise drinks for Kristine, who is heading back to NZ after two years here. We had a great time - I drank FAR too much red wine and, true to form, danced the night away in ridiculous heels and stayed until the club closed at 3am. My feet are very very very very sore today! So at 3am this morning I was walking barefoot down Regent Street in Soho - very classy look. You know the one - bag in one hand, heels in the other, trudging along and singing.... We had an 'interesting' ride home. The taxi driver stopped at an all-night Tescos for us and I stayed in the car while he tried to convince me to call him and hook up with him and his extended Lebanese family at some point. Although completely off my face, I was sober enough not to answer in either the positive or the affirmative - just laughed at him:D.

So we got back to Jody and Kris' and at 4am this mornign were cooking Nachos as the sun rose. There's a reason I shouldn't eat stuff like that...I'm feeling ever so delicate today:S. Needless to say, when we got up this afternoon the kitchen was a nightmare and we were all feeling very under the weather. I managed to walk to the train station in my heels, but once I got to Wimbledon I went straight to H&M and bought a pair of thongs (I mean, 'flip-flops':D) to walk home in...and I may or may not have allegedly bought a dress while I was there. Once I get photos from Jody from last night I'll post them up - They were taken early on so I don't look too trashy.:D

Also, in good Organised Mel news, I've FINALLY got a proper bank account with a card I can use anywhere around the globe AND in shops, so hopefully the Turkey no-money fiasco will not be repeated. Also my business accounts are almost set up. Next week's primary task will be organising to register with a Doctor and a Dentist.

So yes, busy week, but a fun one.:) Hopefully the next week will bring more of the same.

Oh and I didn't realise that people couldn't leave comments on this journal unless you had your own blog, so I've now changed that so anyone can leave comments if you so desire.:)