farewell!

final night

After nearly a year in Brighton, it is time to say goodbye to this great town. And to my room with a view. I can't believe that nearly a year has gone by. I remember my first evening here, after a long flight from Chicago, and a nearly 3 hour bus ride from Heathrow. I arrived to this room, welcomed by the RA and the two flatmates who were already here. The room was bare, as it will be tomorrow.

This evening, after having played tour guide around Brighton (photos to come), I've been busy packing up and most of my stuff are now in bags. We'll be heading off early tomorrow morning to Slough to pick up my cousin and then to the Lake District for two nights. Then we head up to Edinburgh and York, before flying back to Singapore. It's all ending too soon!

playing tour guide

My parents arrived in Brighton after a few days in London, and we did the necessary touristy things.


Lunch at the Regency


The Royal Pavilion gardens


The Royal Pavilion - I never get tired of it!


A wander through the Lanes.


A walk on the beach. Despite the dark clouds looming, the sky held.

days go by

I will not miss the seagulls.

Part 2 of the weekend

A weekend of walking part 1

It was my last weekend in Brighton, and was it a good one! DSD came down on Friday night and on Saturday morning, along with Yukiko, we took the bus along the coast to Beachy Head. The bus ride was about 1.5 hours and finally we reached the spot. The first thing I saw was this:

Beachy Head used to be a popular spot for suicides, and we saw some crosses, flowers and even a teddy bear laid for those who leapt to their very rocky deaths. Beachy Head is also famous for being the location of one of the scenes in The Who's Quadrophenia.
Be

Before conquering the cliffs, we decided to fuel up and sat down at the Beachy Head pub's patio. The sun shone bright and the food was better than expected, considering that it was the only pub around.


Both of them went for the beef and guinness pie, which looked and tasted pretty good.



I went for the bacon and cheese burger. Not classic English fare, but still pretty yummy with chargrilled streaks.


From Beachy Head, we got a great view of Eastbourne.





The weather was just perfect for a great day of walking.



There were lots of ups and downs to get over, and many many photos of the chalk cliffs and the gorgeous lighthouse to take. And finally we walked the three miles to Birling Gap, which was packed with beachgoers and pubbers.


And it looked like a fine day for speardiving.




From Birling Gap it was another 5 miles to Seven Sisters, over more rolling hills and some rather steep descents.


And we kept taking in all these great views behind us. Yes, we'd walked all the way from there, right at the end, past the lighthouse.

Sunday cookout

All good things come in packets. Well in this case at least. (We ended up forgetting about the rice paste, so that's for another day).


Tofu patties


Aubergines


Thai curry with chicken, aubergines and peas.


Japanese rice, fried tofu, green curry, tofu patties and a bottle of Pinot Grigio.

It's times like these

That I really hate this place. 

The whole building (22 flats, with some 4-6 people each) shares 4 dryers. 

Most of the time it's more like 3 as one's out of order or being serviced. 

Last week it was down to two. 

Today, it was down to ZERO. 

The two that were in the room were out of order.

The other two had been taken away for servicing. 

My room is full of hanging clothes, although on the bright side, it is a sunny day. 

And a couple of weeks ago, we had no water. The building's water tank had run dry. And since I'm on the top floor and the tank in the basement, it'd take even longer to get the water pressure high enough to reach us. It was supposed to take half an hour. But some two hours later, the taps were dry, although water did occasionally trickle in. The problem was only properly fixed the next morning, resulting in frozen food for dinner (minimal washing up) and a terribly quick and lukewarm shower after. 

Yet how sad that in a few weeks this place will no longer be mine. And a few weeks after that, some fella's gonna come in here, put his/her clothes in the cupboard, and photos on the wall, and be amazed by that view. 

Looks like rain

The sea today.
Although I must say that the rainy and gusty day has resulted in a lovely 15 deg C morning.
So different from the really warm weekend, although great for the daytrippers, not so good for those stuck in finishing papers.



The reason why I don't go to the beach on weekends. (Like I have the time to go to the beach in the first place)

Discovery

Its Discovery apple season. This was purchased at the Hove farmers market.
Crisp, crunchy, not too sweet, with a hint of tartness, and with a lovely pinkish hue.

ocean music

With just a few weeks to go here, finishing the dissertation and wrapping up my great year in Brighton, packing up and shipping out as I ponder again that great 'what if' question, more pictures of this big little sea town are to come!

Laura Veirs - Ocean Night Song
The paddles of night are unfolding
A mermaid's map floats by on the rolling green
Japanese fishing float carries my soul out to the whales
And out to the deep

yesterday's news

Rain in England is so different from the rain in Singapore.
In England sneaks up on you unannounced and it never wants to leave. Although sometimes it begins with the brilliance of yellow and the impending gloom of the dark clouds hovering overhead.
Whereas, in Singapore, thunder and lightning never fail to introduce the rain. And it's often brief, sometimes violent, but it seldom keeps drip-dripping throughout the rest of the night and day.

(Ok so it's a picture taken yesterday, and instead today is a bright and shiny one.)

so many books

I'm supposed to be writing but I'm just so itching to read all the books on the Booker longlist.
Possibly because I've never heard of most of them before. I'm quite interested in the one by Tan Twan Eng, which is apparently about a 16-year-old from Penang who is forced into collaborating with the Japanese when they invade. How relevant to my dissertation. And yet how untimely (it's currently about writing rather than reading - my bibliography is seven pages long).

wimpy!

Wimpy in Hove.

After a quick wiki, apparently it's originally American and called Wimpy Bar.
Didn't get to eat there though I feel like I should go back and just give their burgers a try.

three things

1) DSD's got pictures of our visit to the Hove Farmers market on Sunday.

2) “I think Michael Kors has made an excellent business for himself appropriating everything Halston already did.” Then he reconsiders, but the effect makes the insult more stinging. “I mean, his clothes aren’t so bad that they make me upset or mad,” he says. “They’re just conservative and, in a lot of ways, boring clothes.”
NY Mag's feature on what happens after starring on a Bravo TV reality show

3) A big Saturday cookout of Sayur Lodeh (a type of vegetable curry), Bah Kut Teh (pork rib soup), stirfried greens and Japanese rice.
(Photo courtesy of Yukiko.)

Brighton Pride and Pie

Saturday morning was scorching hot, yet DSD, Yukiko and I planted ourselves at Old Steine, and waited. And waited.

And waited.

We caught a glimpse of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. The Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man.

And the we waited somemore.

And finally, the parade began.

There were floats and cops, and dancing Dorothys, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and balloons festooning fire engines. There was pink everywhere and rainbows abound.









But it was hot and I was getting tanned. So DSD and I hopped off to the North Laine area for some Pokeno Pies, where a chicken and butternut squash pie and salad went for 5.60

big day out

It's a hot one today, already climbing to 22 degrees at 930am!

It is once again beach weather, but I have to resist the temptation and knuckle down today, for this weekend, tonight actually, DSD is dropping by and oh the plans we have for our stomachs!

Brighton dreamin

With just a month left to go in my all-too-short Brighton stint, I've resolved to take more pictures. So this morning, I took my camera out for a walk.


It was a lazy hazy day of summer, perfect beach weather and the inevitable deckchairs.





Some cafe in a great building.


I spent some time reading my book (alas, it was for my dissertation and was thus Frank Furedi's Silent War ) on one of the benches on the promenade over at Hove, which had this inscription on it.



But all too soon, it was time to go back to the flat and continue working on the paper.

Yes, the plastic sheeting is still up. On the bright side, living right at the top means that unlike the poor fellas on the other floors I still get to see some some sky.