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| Birthday drinks |
As it is both my son, Sammi, and my birthday around this time we got together and celebrated together. In anticipation of the weather turning warm again, I wore light summer clothes and took a gilet as my only over-garment to Brighton. Ever since my return to the UK, I have made bad choices of what to wear and this week proved to be no exception. I got to Brighton and found it to be rather breezy. Winds of 40mph swept eastward along the prom and fighting them to walk back to Sam's new flat in Hove was a challenge. In addition to the strong winds, Wednesday was a day of particularly heavy rain too.
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| A raging sea |
The red flags have been out along the seafront to warn people not to swim. The waves must have been 3 meters high. Since my last visit in January, Sam and his friend Andy have moved up in the world. They are now living at the top of an old regency terraced house overlooking the sea. They are ninety-five steps up in the world! The flat is quite lovely and very airy - much nicer than the one they had in the centre of town.
On my way back to the flat I saw a sign on a neighbouring house that said that Prince Klemens von Metternich had stayed there in 1840. Haha, I recalled, This is he of the France sneezing quote. Sam's neck of the woods must be a salubrious part of town if such dignitaries once stayed there. Then later on, in another part of town - Old Steine - I saw a blue plaque to say that Tallyrand had stayed in that house in 1830. Being an adversary of Metternich it is fortunate that they were not in Brighton at the same time. Wandering the streets of Brighton became quite a trip down my A level history memory lane.
I also got to see Anne too. We day-trip to Stanmer Park to the Butterfly House. It was steamy hot inside and a welcome change from the torrential downpour outside. I noticed that lots of the butterflies had damaged wings. I thought that probably life inside an air-conditioned building was a bit tough for them. Apparently not. The butterflies with damaged wings are usually much older than they would have been had they lived in their natural habitat. So, just like us, butterflies have bits that drop off them as they grow old! Oh how our beauty fades with age.
I set off on Thursday morning for a swim in the Sea Lanes. I got there and saw about three people in the pool ploughing up and down. The wind created a spray from their arms as they swung them out of the water it made swimming look too difficult. I wimped out and went for a sauna on the beach instead. The shower on the beach was a challenge. When I pressed the start button the water got blown from the shower head at right angles so I had to step a meter down the beach to get any benefit from the water.
This weekend I set off again. This time to visit Ann in Stevenage. Another Ann and another great meet-up. Ann had just returned from what was supposed to be an amazing Mediterranean cruise that turned into a nightmare as her luggage did not arrive until near the end of the cruise. @ROL booked the cruise but refused to take responsibility for this booking, @BA were all but uncontactable and when they did answer a call in person, they lied about where the luggage was. This ended up as an article in the Mail on Sunday. Infuriating - we book holidays to relax and enjoy. Ann spent most of her time making expensive phone calls trying to locate her luggage. This was not a relaxing holiday. Errrr.
