Brighton beach

A chilly morning, and it took us a while to get going. Eventually we all convened in the Brighton branch of Waterstones as a convenient place to meet. Amazingly, none of us bought any books. Then we wandered down to the beach, which was somewhat bleak. While we were looking at an exhibition of photos next to the i360, D was randomly interviewed by a roving reporter from the Brighton Argus about the bankruptcy of the company that runs it. As it happened we had just been discussing it, as it has closed with no notice and all the staff have been made redundant. D said she was surprised more people weren’t interested in seeing the view from the top, and N pointed out you could see the same view from the Downs for free. We had a nice chat and now D is in the paper :)

It really wasn’t pleasant on the beach so we retreated for a light lunch at a Turkish cafe called Lavash, where we were served massive handmade wraps stuffed with various combinations of vegetables, fried halloumi, falafel, hummus, and tzatziki, followed by pots of mint tea. Excellent value, and we really enjoyed it.

Then a brisk walk to the station, goodbyes, and an efficient train journey to Darlington. The taxi rank was bare when I arrived, due to taxis all being stuck in traffic jams, but when a taxi arrived, the driver quizzed the people in the queue about where they were going, and I ended up sharing a taxi with someone else, making it a fair bit cheaper than it would have been. So a good result, home before seven, where a glass of wine and dinner were waiting.