Back in Brighton

As I write this, we’re on the train to Brighton. We have been closely following the Covid virus news from Perth, where it seems it's becoming a bigger and bigger issue. At this stage, we noticed the Brits were starting to stockpile the toilet roll, but otherwise still fairly oblivious. So, we made the decision to bring our flights home, forward by one week, as more and more borders are closing. We’ll see what happens. In the mean time, Brighton here we come.

We had another Airbnb apartment (well studio actually) in a gorgeous area of Brighton, in a four story Georgian house. Our room was again really cosy. We had a big window with a view of a very old and beautiful church. An excellent shower and again, very good heating.  We were eventually succesful in changing our flights, so we now have five nights in Brighton and then will go directly to Heathrow to fly home.  

View from our apartment window

Some of the beautiful Georgian buildings in Brighton

We both really love Brighton and we have quite a bit of history there. Richie and I went there a few times in our early wild romantic days (these days are still romantic but not very wild, thankfully) and a young Richie used to go there with his mates, directly from work on a Friday and hit the local pubs.

It was great to be in the fresh air and wide streets of Brighton, after crowded London. We were also glad to get away from the underground (due to the virus) for a while.

We spent most of our days walking around Brighton, in fact we averaged about 10 kms a day. We spent quite a bit of time on Brighton Pier. The first time we visited it was midweek and cold and it was deadly quiet and a bit sad looking. 

Sunny Brighton Pier

The second visit was on a sunny Saturday and bam! suddenly it was jumping - all the rides were going, people were lazing around in deck chairs, kids were screaming and fairy floss was being consumed by the bucket load. 

Some of the rides on Brighton Pier

Not quite as good as the BMW but close

Is that sunshine, biting my eyes?

Giant Brighton seagull, enjoying the water slide

A bit of sun and the Poms are out in droves, bless them

I love Brighton Pier, it is like a blast from my childhood when Willy used to drive us to the seaside for a day out. Buckets and spades, butterfly nets and shiny pinwheels, cockles and winkles, sticks of rock -  somehow it's reassuring to see the things of your childhood still being enjoyed. However, I didn't see peaches and Angel Delight on the local menus, so I guess somethings have moved on. 

We visited a few second hand shops and I found a new top and a funky pink beanie to replace the one I lost in Greenwich. It turned out to be for children aged 7-10 years - but as they say, if the cap fits.......... 

Richie found some nice clothes in Primark (which I think is the English Target) don’t tell Simone.

We had some more great pub lunches, found a delicious pie shop in the Brighton Lanes and spent many an hour just wandering and getting lost in the lanes, at our leisure.

One of the entrances to the Lanes

Yes another fabulous pub lunch

Afternoon tea and cakies, so civilised

We spent our second last day, hiring a very attractive BMW and Richie drove us to Hastings, so we could have lunch with George and Maggie. We wanted to stop at Eastbourne on the way but when we reached Eastbourne there was not a parking spot to be found, so we headed directly to Hastings. 

We had another great pub lunch, this time the pub was in a field of sheep, very rural. We saw George’s lovely renovated bungalow and caught up with the youngest Reidy brother, Paul. Paul was very keen to regale us with his Australian travels from 20 years ago, I think seeing us, gave him an opportunity to relive his salad days!

Our hire car, not too shabby

Eastbourne Pier, looked very inviting, if only we could park the car...

On our return to Brighton we had the same parking issues, as Eastbourne and after driving around for a good twenty minutes, we ended parking along the waterfront, about fifteen minutes walk from our accomodation. The following morning we gave ourselves a little fright when we couldn’t find the car, we walked up and down the front several times before we located it - but all ended well.

Even though I really enjoyed London, it was so nice to be beside the seaside and breathe the crisp sea air and hear the seagulls. Brighton seagulls are HUGE and my enduring memory of Brighton will be the haunting cry of the gulls - all very scenic and romantic.

The Grand Hotel Brighton

Brighton Palace

Brighton is an easy town to walk around, even though you can get lost in the Lanes, its all good fun. There was quite a bit of groovy artwork and our end of Brighton was rather elegant. Whilst we had the car, we drove to the outer suburbs and found it was just like any other burb in England. 

The Yeti at the old pier, that burnt down many a year ago

Images of Brighton street art

So now, as I write this,  we are back on the plane, travelling  home. We stocked up on Panadol, a bit of toilet roll (only 4 rolls, we were very restrained) tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits for our two weeks of self isolation. We had planned to self isolate anyway but a few days ago the Australian government made it mandatory. We had a painfree journey home. Both of us had been been expecting a bit of a bun fight. However, we managed to catch an early train from Brighton to Victoria. There we picked up the Piccadily line and it was EMPTY when we got on! The check-in process at Heathrow was a bit slow but everything else was smooth as could be. 

An empty Piccadily Line train, not something you see every day

The journey home, the world has changed since we left Perth

catching up on the blog

So I think this might be our last holiday outside of Australia of the foreseeable future, at least until this Covid issue is cleared up.  Note to self next time - leave the cupboards full of food. The whole journey home was surprisingly painless. The first flight, we had a spare seat between us and the second flight, Doha to Perth, we sat at the back of the plane and had a row of seats each, so we both were able to spread out and sleep. 

The service on Qatar airways was really good on this last flight. We were the only flight to land at Perth Airport, we were given one sheet of information regarding quarantine, other than that it was business as usual. Our plane landed at 6pm and we walked in our front door at 7pm.

Was great to see Fatty again, as always.  We have now been home a week and the whole world has changed. Most countries in the world have closed their borders. WA has just closed our borders to the other states. Everyone is advised to stay home as much as possible and everything not essential has closed down.  Many tour companies, airlines, hotels etc are not expected to survive this shut down. So our next travels may be a whole different ball game. Reminds me of the old Chinese curse "may you be born in interesting times". Interesting indeed. 

Yodi gripping on for dear life, don't leave me again!

The last few days in London

Saturday, was a much needed rest day, which we spent in bed, reading and relaxing. Richie was a bit stir crazy by the late afternoon, so we got up and dressed and met Micky P. at The Lilly pub. We hadn't realised how crowded it would be on a Saturday night, nor how young the crowd would be. 

So after one drink, we retired to a bar in the nearby Ibis Hotel. Another great night of memories and stories of the old days...and us telling Micky, he must visit Australia, and then getting nostalgic about WA beaches etc...

We finished the night with another curry from the Famous Lilly restaurant and retired back to our cozy apartment.

Our second Sunday in London, we finally visited the Bricklane markets. They didn't disappoint and were as good as advertised. Lots of funky vintage stalls, lots of very groovy people and an amazing variety of food stalls. 

THE place for vintage clothes

Brick Lane Markets

It’s a really long market that is both indoors and outdoors. There were some seriously fabulous vintage clothes, however we didn’t buy anything but we’re quite temped. They had the best selection of coats ever - if you want a funky vintage coat, this is the place.

Brick Lane, is still the place for all things South Asian food wise, its got it all!

Samosa, pakoras etc yum yum

We walked from Bricklane to Petticoat market. It this was closing up when we arrived. However, it is now quite a sad little market and the stalls appeared to be full of tacky Chinese knockoffs and very blah clothes, so we didn’t miss much.

Brick Lane, also has a great variety of street art. Richie took some great snaps .

and my favourite

Next stop on our market day was Camden Town, a place we often visited when we lived in London. We weren’t sure if it was Camden or us, or both of us, that had changed so much (well it has been 30 odd years, I guess). Camden had sadly lost its punky alternatives edge and become a Disney, touristy version of its former self. There was one old sad Punk, on the bridge working for tips from selfies.

Pales in comparison to its former self

The Camden Locks were however really interesting. We spent a good half an hour watching the barges going through the locks. Quite a performance. The barge sails into the gate, one gate is locked and another is slightly opened and the water either pours in (or out) then when the level is reached, the gate is opened and off she sails. 

We did however spot, Poppies Fish and Chip shop - which we’d seen in a foodie vlog and had planned to experience. So after a quick disappointing browse around the stalls, we headed to Poppies for a really, really delicious Haddock and Chips, it cost an arm and a leg but was well worth it.  

Poppies Fish and Chips, devine

We then caught the number 27 bus home and I enjoyed another voyeuristic ride, eyeballing as we travel along, into everyone’s flats - well they will leave their curtains open!

You see all sorts of interesting things from the top of the bus

Monday was another full day. We finalised the booking the Brighton leg of our trip and then headed out to the London Stadium - home of the famous (well in our house at least) Hammers. 

1980 FA cup winners.....I won't say it's a long time between drinks.....

I'm forever blowing bubbles...

Richie was in hog heaven and we had a lot of fun making purchases in the West Ham shop. Actually he was quite restrained and only bought one t-shirt and two hats.

On the way back to the station, Richie got chatting to a nice old boy from the area who was telling us about the developments around the grounds. He was a real old school Londoner, who of course reminded me a bit of Willy. 

We had a couple of hours spare, until we were due to meet Andy, so we headed to the Science Museum in Kensington. We reached there at 4pm, just as all the kids were leaving. Note to self - perfect time for a museum visit. The most interesting part was the space section and learning about the gaseous planets, which of course brought out our inner child and lots of bum jokes ensued!

That yeti gets about..

We met Andy at the pub near Swiss Cottage station and had a quick drink before our show. This pub looked like it hadn't changed at all in the last 30 years, but it was cozy and reassuring in its old fashioned way. 

The play was amazing, it was a drama about the British government spying on the British population and used a lot of social media to tell the story. It was so well done, very topical and well acted - you forget London and New York are the worlds best theatre cities.

So now we have a couple of days left in London before we head off to Brighton. We’ve been in our little West Kesnsington flat for nearly two weeks now and I will miss it when we leave. Just time for one last clothes wash before we leave.

Tuesday 10 March

We had another lovely rest day on Tuesday and then we met Rod and Andy at Leceister Square in the late afternoon. We went back to the same trendy burger bar, Byron’s then finished the night at a local pub. Rod was a bit tired, as he had just flown in from Turkey. He was due to travel to Wales to meet his cousin the next day. It was a very successful evening with lots of reminiscing and laughs.  Coincidently it was four years to the day, since Graham died, so we raised a glass or two in his memory. Footnote to this, Rod spent one night in Wales and then flew home to Canada, due to the virus shutting down everything.

The first catch up with Rod, Richie and Andy

Wednesday 11 March
After a lazy morning, we met Beatrice at St. Paul’s cathedral at about lunch time. Although we’d previously balked at the price, Beatrice had purchased discounted tickets online. It was well worth worth a visit, as Richie said he couldn’t believe he’d spent three hours in church and enjoy it!

Waiting for Richie, who was enjoying the views from the roof

Richie climbed the million steps up to the Dome and took some fantastic pictures of the view. Beatrice and I stayed below and rested our weary legs and had a chat. 

The steps upto the viewing platform, St Paul's Cathedral

Views from the top

Fortunately the Cathedral wasn’t very busy, so we were really able to appreciate the beauty of the place. We also caught the 12.30 Eucharist and I was interested to see they didn’t share the “blood of Christ” - due to the Covid virus, which was beginning to slowly get a bit of notice, although most people seemed oblivious.

Beatrice and I resting our legs and soaking up the atmosphere.

We left Beatrice in the late afternoon, and we headed to the Old Bailey but we weren't able to visit inside and the outside looked much better from a distance. We caught the bus home (with about 50 foreign language students) and had an enjoyable and slow journey down Kensington High Street.

We finished the evening with a long awaited visit to the German Donor Kebab joint, located on Fulham Broadway that Kevin (king of junk food) had recommended. Have to give it to the man, he knows his kebabs - bloody delicious. We decided to share a kebab, which for once was a mistake as it was really delicious and I'm sure we both could have devoured a whole one each. 

German Donor Kebab, didn't disappoint