Farewell, Golden Youth!

Brighton is where I mutated from a teenager into a young man.  Like it or not, this city and the people that I knew while I lived there, are a significant part of who I became, and who I am now. Leaving for what may very well be the last time was a bittersweet moment.

But fish and house-guests stink after four days, so it was time to move on. We said goodbye to a couple who had treated us to their generous brand of hospitality, and who we were sad to bid farewell.  Now, I wanted to go and look at three of the places I lived while a young man in the city, so despite the rainy day that it turned out to be, we set off for 10, St. George's Terrace.  Here it is, as I saw it this morning

 

Do you see that railing on the top?  I lived in the attic and by climbing out of the window, my friends and I would enjoy sunny summer afternoons on the roof, protected from falling by that railing.  (I lived above the rounded windows on the right, not the angular ones on the left.)

And here is a photo given to me by my friends from Brighton, taken back in 1981:

It's the one with the greenish paint and the workman apparently trying to break into the front window! In this 36 year old photo you can just make out the window of my attic flat!

This is the last place I lived before departing England for home.

Some other photos of the era came with this one, and I may tack some of them on to the bottom of this post, if I feel like embarrassing myself.

Prior to living in this house, I lived at...

16 Rugby Place!  Went past there this morning and the place looks exactly the same. Except with no clouds of hashish smoke rolling out the windows...  This was student digs, with room for five people, and many of my friends stayed here at some time or another.

And the place is for sale, as well!

When I first moved to Brighton, I lived in a hostel right on the seafront on Marine Parade.  I posted a photo of the area as seen from the Palace Pier yesterday.  But I soon started going out with a girl from Germany, and we got shacked up in a flat in Rottingdean, across the road from the White Horse pub.

So the next stop was Rottingdean, along the seafront where we would watch rabbits playing from the top deck of the bus, past the old mill,

And down to the White Horse where we had a mediocre lunch.  The weather was blustery, wet and coldish, 

But I did manage to take a photo of the place I once lived. Above the two shops are two flats, accessible from within the tunnel that leads through to the back of the building.  

We lived in the right hand flat as seen here, and underneath was a tailor's shop, all boarded up and abandoned.  The window above the shop was our livingroom, and the one above was our bedroom. This place was wonderful during the summer, but the stormy channel was only yards away, and in the winter it was bitter!

Leaving here we went off in the hope of seeing some white cliffs at Beachy Head. The pub was packed to the gills, they wouldn't sell us a coffee if we couldn't sit down, so we left.  Derek fled back to the car, but I tried to walk through the lashing wind and light rain to get something of a view, but I gave up after a couple of hundred yards, and ran back to the car myself.

We departed, pausing only to take a photo of Eastbourne

This is like the Florida of England.  It's where Englishmen go to die.

And from here, to St. Leonard's on Sea, to be greeted by another old friend, and we've been having a fine old time since then, chatting, and eating, and drinking beer (not me!). But not taking pictures, so there is nothing else for me to post.

So I will post some photos from the days immediately prior to my departure from England on 3rd October 1981, and some actually taken on that very day. Expect no comments from me on them.  If they mean something to you, they will need no explanation. Otherwise you will have to exercise your imagination to figure out who is who and what is what.

Brighton

We woke, and took a taxi to Moulsecoomb, to the Cockroft building of Brighton University,

where we were met by two genuinely nice young women.  They showed us around the building and then guided us over to Watts building, where I studied as a young man.

It is essentially identical on the outside, but inside it's totally different.  Where we had a huge computing center full of mainframe hardware, they have nothing at all.  Instead, they do it all on PC equipment.

What the graduates do if ever faced with a mainframe during their working careers, I don't know.

All the computer classrooms were closed, and on the point of renovation, and desktop computers by the hundreds, being thrown out and replaced in time to greet the influx of new students at the end of summer.

The Learning Resource Center was also unrecognizable.  There wasn't a book to be seen, and instead we saw snug little sound-insulated, private rooms where student groups were encouraged to talk (or what ever).

Everything designed to make life easier and more comfortable for the students, as is only right.  There were coffee machines, ATMs, all sorts of facilities that were not available in the dark ages when I was a student.  There was even a Starbucks! 

And perhaps the cutest thing of all:

A vending machine that dispenses USB cables, hard drives, ethernet patch cords, three-button mice, USB flashdrives, and the like.

It was good to see the developments and improvements that have occurred over the years, even though some of them seemed so foreign that they were hard to believe.  

Mindful of their privacy, I took no photographs of our two hosts for the blog, but I now regret taking none as a personal keepsake.  Thank you, ladies.  It was a pleasure!

From there by bus to the Old Steine, where we took a good look at the incredible Royal Pavilion, where Edward VII stashed his mistress Lillie Langtry, a short coach-trip from London.  This place was a Royal Stabbin' Cabin!  And the reputation of Brighton as being the place to go for a "dirty weekend" began!

We wandered through the gardens (which have changed since my day) and caught a glimpse of The Dome, which houses a small auditorium.  I went there to concerts by Rick Wakeman and Camel, to name but a couple.

We wandered up North Street

Until I found the entrance to The Lanes that I was looking for.  The Lanes has become a place that sells expensive jewelry and even more expensive coffee to pretentious tourists.  The only place I would have really liked to see was Robinson's Bookshop, but it was no more.

Departing The Lanes the one place I knew we would definately not find was Brown's Cafe, which couldn't possibly have survived all those years...

...and there it was!  Looking much the same, except for all the trendy executives wearing Cartier watches where the poor students would sit, eating Peasant's Pot or the unlimited spaghetti meals, and the waitresses would sit at your table with you and smoke your cigarettes and chat. 

From there past the Clock Tower

to Western Road and Churchill Square where I bought my books, magazines and college supplies at WH Smiths.  Smiths is still there but there is an escalator down to the books, instead of a staircase up!

Then down to the seafront where we saw the remains of Brighton's West Pier.

We walked on the sandy beach...

(Bajans may laugh at this point) and saw the i360, owned and operated by British Airways, with flights every 30 minutes.

We turned east and strolled along past much summer fun activity, 

to the Palace Pier, where we embarked upon a stroll out over the water.

From the end of the pier I took two panorama shots of the beach.

The second of these shows the seafront where I lived on Marine Parade as a poor-assed student, when first I came to Brighton in 1975.

Alas, while we were strolling on the pier, a telephone call brought distressing news from home for my travelling companion Derek.  And as our plans for the day were almost complete and our feet were hurting, we decided to cut short our walk and return home.

Later, we all went out to dinner, and to help generate an appetite,

The i360!

We watched it take other sightseers to the heights, and then it was our turn.

From the top, you can look east as far as the white cliffs at Newhaven, and probably as far as Beachy Head.

To the west, you can see way out past Worthing, probably as far as Bognor.

And south, in the channel... could it possibly be the Isle of Wight?  Anyway, upon our return to earth, it was the China Garden restaurant for a delicious meal, and then back home again.  

Time for bed.  St.Leonard's tomorrow, and on the way, the few places in eastern Brighton that we didn't see today.

The Winged Rats of Trafalgar Square.

Years ago, when I last visited Trafalgar Square, you could hardly see the monument for pigeons. They were everywhere. There were vendors who would sell you small tubs of bird-seed for exorbitant prices, and tourists used to feed the birds all day.

Sprinkling bird seed on your head and shoulders so you could be photographed with pigeons standing all over you, was a common tourist stunt. Also common were the cries of dismay, as the pigeons flew away, leaving you covered in bird crap!  I never made that mistake, because prior to my visit, a British friend warned me to stay well away from the "winged rats".  But just walking across the square was dangerous, and the place was filthy with poop!

It was so bad that the statue of Nelson at the top of the column was affected.  About ten years ago, the historic piece of sculpture was cleaned, with no expense spared to ensure his preservation for the future. The sale of bird seed was banned.

When we visited yesterday, throughout the entire square I saw maybe a total of a dozen birds. And the place was spic and span.

Beaulieu

By the way, I've finally created an album of the photos I took at Beaulieu. The link is in the righthand sidebar. There are nearly 60 photos in the album, but I still have to go in and add the details of what each vehicle actually is. This too, will come!

Londinium

We set off from home (and our friends really made us feel like it was home) in a taxi to the train station.  Much modernized since my last visit!

Well, the ticketing and so forth was all modernized, and the trains themselves were as well, but the tracks were probably exactly the same.

An hour and three minutes later (much faster than the train to Inverness) we were at London Victoria, and minutes later picked up our red, white and blue tour bus, right outside.

Don't think we stayed with this bus for long, because it is, after all, a hop-on/hop-off tour, and we did much hopping, as well as walking around the city.

First, we came upon Buckingham Palace.  For a brief while we thought we would get to see the changing of the guard, because we were there at the perfect time... but there was no ceremony today.  We could go back on Wednesday, but we will probably be doing something else.  Still, we took a lot of photos.  As did the thousands of other tourists that thronged the place.

Next, the Palace of Westminster, a.k.a. the Houses of Parliament.  The tour guide tricked me into saying that this tower was Big Ben, which of course, it isn't.  Big Ben is the bell that lives in the tower, not the tower itself.  And I knew this, but it slipped my mind.  No, really!

Just across the river and down a bit is the London Eye. This would be a great vantage point to photograph London, but the 28 minute rotation period is dwarfed by the 3-hour queue outside to get in.

All over London, there is construction.  Literally, everywhere you look.  And some consider this a bad thing.  But I believe that London is not a 2,000 year old city that is built, rather a 2,000 year old city that is still being built.  And that promises an exciting future.

St Paul's cathedral, seen from the top of the bus.  Why didn't I go inside?  It wasn't the prospect of paying an entrance fee that put me off, it was the prospect of being enthralled for hours, and missing a glimpse of everything else.

The same can be said for the Tower of London.  Which, I came across unexpectedly, when we jumped off the bus to see Tower Bridge.

Stupid Bajan always thought it was called Tower Bridge because it had towers.  I only realised today that it got it's name from the fact that it is right next to the Tower of London!

Walked across the bridge, and took a photo or two of some of the modern architecture in the city.

Many bemoan the newer designs, and give them disparaging names.  Above, you can see The Shard, and below is The Gherkin and what must be what they call The Can Of Ham.  Now, I am just fine with this new architectural direction. 

If new, 20th and 21st century buildings are constructed using Tudor, Georgian, and other styles from the past, what will Londoners of the future point to and describe as the architecture of our time?

Any way, after crossing Tower Bridge, we walked along the Thames, where we bought an iced cream cone, and enjoyed the view of the Tower of London...

...and Tower Bridge itself, seen from a slight distance.

I kept catching glimpses of The Shard between buildings and trees, and think this would be another great photographic vantage point!

As we walked, we passed HMS Belfast, which is famous (as far as I can tell) for blowing itself up almost immediately after being launched, by running into a mine.  (Who can understand these people?)

We finally came to, and crossed London Bridge.  And no, London Brdge is not Falling Down.  It is a fine, sturdy, modern bridge, if a bit plain.  The original London Bridge was sold to a Texan with mega money and micro brains, who thought he was getting Tower Bridge, and didn't realize his error until the bridge had been re-erected in Texas.  The canny Londoners sold it to him because it was Falling Down!

The Shard again.  It kept appearing, when you least expected it to.  Then again, it's pretty hard to miss...

Anyway, we re-crossed the river at London Bridge, and walked back along the Thames to hop-on at the very point we'd hopped-off.

Here is the statue of Boudica, famous queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe, who gave the Romans hell with her chariot, before taking poison when finally defeated.  And here also are some of the throng of other tourists we rubbed shoulders with all day.  (We know, as tourists ourselves, we are no better than they.)

An anatomically incorrect lion in Trafalgar Square.  Apparently, the sculptor had never seen a lion, so he modeled the statue off of his dog and a stray cat.  Or something equally unlikely.

Derek remembered a photo of his father standing in front of Nelson's Column so here is Derek doing the same.  (Did you know the column leans over like that tower in Pisa?  Oh, you're not going to buy that?  Ok...)  This statue of Nelson isn't as good as the one at home.  It is taller, but ours is older by a couple of decades, and more!

Any Bajans still remember Curly Smith and the Trevose Hotel in Bayswater? Here is Marble Arch, which reminds me of those good old days.  After visiting the arch, we took a walk down Oxford Street, before returning to hop onto our bus again.

Around this time, my camera battery died, and I had to switch to the phone. Which was starting to look iffy on battery as well. It grabbed a shot of the three Golden Divers in Coventry Street.  So far, nothing has explained their significance. But who can resist the allure of naked women jumping off a tall building?

Here is the famous statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus.  Only it isn't Eros at all, rather his twin brother Anteros!  (Who knew?)

Our tour was nearly over, so we soon found ourselves back at Victoria, and after a coffee, we hopped on the train for Brighton.  An hour and a cab-ride later we were sitting down to a tasty meal with our friends, and telling them the tale of our day in The Smoke.

So, I will close now, but first, I will say that on our way down from London, I spotted the name of one of the stations through the window, and snapped a picture.

This one's for you, Keith, my old mate!