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random delights  •  markets  •  liberty  •  museums   •   at night  •  bunny & cotgrave  •  newark fair  •  brighton

The tube delivered us to London Bridge Station, and this beautiful hallway delivered us to our train to Brighton.

We arrived at our platform with ten minutes to spare. Enough time to slurp our takeout coffee and do a little train spotting.

I just love train stations. So many of them are beautiful, like Brighton's station, shown here.

In short order — maybe a bit more than an hour — our train arrived from London in Brighton, and we walked straight to the sea. Brighton is nearly directly south of London, on the English Channel.

Brighton is famous for its pebble beach and pier, part of which is shown here. Brighton is also known for its large gay community and its art scene, particularly street art. My favorite Banksy piece (two British cops kissing) was originally on a wall of a Pub in Brighton. It seems likely that the piece was a nod to the queerness of Brighton, but it was also a powerful dismantling of the macho culture of police work.

Here is another view of the pier. A mini amusement park, complete with a roller coaster, is at the end of the pier.

We are early, the pier hasn't opened for the day. Julie's gesture is due to a Black Sabbath song that was playing on a tinny speaker nearby. She's typically not so "metal" this early in the day.

We're in, and exploring the pier. Since it's early, and off season, we almost have the place to ourselves. I advocated for passing through covered areas of the pier quickly, since being on the sea is such a rare treat for me.

Ahhh, fresh sea air and grand views of the Brighton beach and the English channel. This is more like it.

I imagine that the end of the pier would be quite a sight when lit up at night, and bustling with revelers in peak season. On this day, I found the pier surreal — a garish place of merriment sitting silent, surrounded by the grays of the sea and the sky. This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy being here — I did, very much. It was just a rather odd pleasure.

brighton

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random delights  •  markets  •  liberty  •  museums   •   at night  •  bunny & cot grave  •  Newark fair  •  brighton