Sunny Saltdean

I woke up to a message from Alan to say that he'd arrived in LA, but his case hadn't, it was still in Vegas - not ideal seeing as he was in work this morning and didn't have time to go clothes shopping, so he had to wear the clothes he'd travelled in (jeans and a tee shirt)!  Fortunately he'd bought some aftershave and body spray in duty free and had the toiletries off the plane, so at least he smelt ok!  

A normal Monday at work for me, but I met Lou for lunch and on my way home I parked up in Saltdean and went for a walk along the cliffs to get my blip.  It's lovely at this time of year when all the wild flowers are out on the tops of the cliffs.  The white building you can see to the left is the White Cliffs Cafe that I talk about.

Josh finally finished the rendering and was just packing up when I got home.  He's done an excellent job and I can't wait to see it when it's all painted.

Tonight I met Hamza as he'd asked me if I'd meet up sometime to give him some photography tips.  As it was a nice night we met at The White Horse in Rottingdean as they have a lovely terrace overlooking the sea.  We sat and chatted, and he told me about growing up in Istanbul and that his father was an architect and his mother designed and made all their clothes.  Hamza says he got interest in design from his parents and grew up wanting to go to college in London.  He told a friend of his dream, and this friend said that the following year he would take him, and he did. In 1968 when he was 25 years old, they travelled by steam train via Milan and Paris, as his friend wanted him to see all the fashion capitals as he felt Hamza might find somewhere he'd prefer to be.  He said it was an exciting experience and on their journey people came and went on the train so they met and chatted to so many different people.  He didn't speak a word of English, and when he arrived in London he went to a hotel and as luck would have it, it was owned by a couple and one of them was Turkish.  They gave him a job in the hotel and he worked in the mornings and went to school in the afternoons to learn English.  He applied to a design college where to get a place you had to design something original and he said that there was a girl who designed a bird cage hat - inside it was a real bird and needless to say, she got a place!  It was really interesting hearing about his life and I've added a link to his website in case you're interesting in seeing his work.

I spoke to Alan when I got home and his case has now arrived in LA and has been picked up with a courier, so fingers crossed by the time he gets back to the hotel, it should be there.

Anyway, it's late again and I'm off to bed - I'm behind on commenting once again, and will try to catch up tomorrow.