A Nice Mess

The Grand Hotel - on the skyline on the far right - was built for the then Duchess of Northumberland over 150 years ago. It was built as a house - sorry, 'residence' - but perhaps she didn't like it, because it was converted to a hotel (an hotel?) after only 5 years. It remains a commercial hotel, but its web site is useless, so I can't even find out how much it would cost to stay there. By repute, it has a fabulous spiral staircase and does impressive afternoon tea; I now regret that we did not look inside. Our post-funeral breakfast was in a simple beach cafe at the bottom of the cliff below it; he would have loved the contrast

Breakfast today was in a modern cliff-top cafe, where the blinding morning light tempted me on to the terrace. I took better pictures than this scruffy one, but the shadows and the intruding glare catch the atmosphere. No-one is there because the air temperature is low and the wind is wild

Two boys learning the pleasure of the family eating together, before we all went our separate ways, was blissful but bitter-sweet

Laurell and Hardy used to stay in the Grand (Stan was a local lad). They understood the affinity of laughter and tears