Still playing catch-up

  I am splitting this off so it makes more sense and doesn't look as long winded, but if you are just joining us I just posted another update just before, so check below for anything you may have missed... I know how much you would all lose sleep knowing you missed a post. 

So this is the 15th which was a Monday.. The 14th is below. Will make this shorter as I am in need of sleep but I didn't get anything writ last night as I decided I was too sleepy then also...

So Monday we checked out of our nice little apartment and once again set about dragging our (now blessedly slightly ligher less the wine and Tim Tams) baggage through the streets. One of the wheels on our wheelie bag gave up the ghost on the trip from the airport so it is more of a draggy scrapey bag than a wheelie bag now, must take a photo of the results. At some station somewhere (I really can't keep track) we caught an overland train to Gatwick airport and then a shuttle bus out to where our rental car place was. Thence started an hour and a half or more of agonising waiting and faffing about as the seemingly inept, overwrought and understaffed outfit messed around trying to serve us and a few other customers all at once... The sort of thing that would take five minutes at a normal place. I won't bore you with details, but as always we were left asking if cheap prices were really worth the trauma... But yes, they generally are. 

Eventually we climbed aboard our new and trusty steed (a 1,6 Vauxhall Astra... New, but that was the only thing going for it) and wheezed our way off toward the horizon... with a few dramas to start off with.... my companion had a minor apoplexy when I overestimated the Astra's accelerative abilities and tried to jump into a gap in traffic on a roundabout.... Screams and flailing and them a long period of silence in the cabin ensued.

Serenity eventually pervaded once again and I settled into my job of attempting to pilot the appalling excuse for an object resembling a car southward, appreciating the British motorists' apparent complete disregard for speed limits of any sort and happily humming along at 90mph, while still getting passed by various other motorists. Gripe #843 - in England owners of Mini Coopers and Hyundai Coupes apparently believe they posses 'sports cars' and feel the need to drive like utter knobs. Fortunately I was happier in the Astra, whipping along with it's spasto-matic transmission choosing gears at random and making the soundtrack to the whole trip an endless melody of 'Vrrrr VRRRR vrrrrr VRRRR vrrrr...' (Gripe #844... English radio... It's flipping TERRIBLE).

Before too long we were in sunny Brighton, where we ate a decent pub lunch at the Black Lion (solid name for a pub) 

                                                              

before we wandered once again, enjoying the quirky English  seaside charm of the place, checking out a few shops (made it to The Lanes Armoury... Incredible little shop! Seriously check out the website... Shame about the prices though), strolled the 'beach' (aka quarry) (actually on such a nice day it was still pretty pleasant) and ate ice cream. We then wandered down to check out the world famous boardwalk, thereby fulfilling another ambition of my tour (being a Graham Greene fan) 

               

                                                                  

                  

                                                                 

Back in the car for another stint, we ended up blissfully semi lost in the pretty countryside and eventually found our way to our home for the night, a perfectly charming little pub called The East End Arms... Fun Fact - Owned by the bassist for Dire Staits it turns out. A nice steak and more beer ensued, and in the peace and still of their garden I was suddenly most relaxed, stopping for a breath basically for the first time since we arrived.

                              

Music on the trip has been limited mostly to what is played in pubs so far, will remedy that once we get an Aux cord for the car... Have had The Strokes stuck in my head a fair bit (You're not from New York City you're from Rotherham....) not too obscure though... One album that does constantly go round in my head when I am here though (have I mentioned this one before?) is PJ Harvey's 'Let England Shake' which was released to considerable acclaim a year or two back, but was not radio-friendly enough to be heard around our parts. Partly a love story about her home country, it also references aspects of the fading of the empire, the positive and negative impacts of that empire, and a series of stories about the wars and the effect they have had in shaping the nation from the point of view of various characters in different times and places. It's quite touching at times and very relevant in the centenary year of the Great War (which, by the way, the Brits are taking VERY seriously, and good on them. More on that later). So give that a crack.... The track 'England' stays with me quite a bit and may surprise you at first, but it's very bittersweet and pretty. 

Night all, stay well