The photographs below are of tributes attached to memorial benches, in Hove and St. Annes.
I recently found myself thinking of Joan Vollmer and how, if I had the money, I'd love to commission a bench in Hove looking out at the channel, in memory of 'Bill and Joan'. I'd give them both long lives on the little memorial plaque, mentioning their happy marriage and long hours spent looking out to sea together.
It's not what happened, but it's a happier ending to the story.
This weekend has been a long one, mainly because it started on Thursday lunchtime. I headed straight from work to Brighton, met Sophy for dinner, then headed to The Enchantment Under the Sea dance. I had a great time, meeting up with lots of friends, some I’d not seen in months. The performances included singing from Raquel Merlot (with an accordian accompanied cover of I’m on Fire) and burlesque from Honey Moon and Baby Bones.
Kitty Peels did an act based on Back to The Future, for which I was the ‘man prop’. My job was to sit onstage and act bored as Kitty undressed. Since I was ignoring Kitty I didn’t see the act, but the audience seemed to like it. After the dance I returned to Hove, stopping off at the soon-to-be-sold market diner. Eating burgers at 3am with a friend in a Munroe-style dress seemed a fitting send-off to the place.
Next morning I was up early for my run, then spent the afternoon catching up with friends and doing a little shopping. I headed back to Coventry yesterday to meet Jo, who’d hitched up from Brighton. We went to her Aunt’s 50th birthday party, then made the long walk back to the city centre.
It’s been a good weekend. Not sure when I’ll next be in Brighton, but I hope it won’t be too long.
There are some interesting blogs coming out of Brighton looking at alternative ways of living. One is the fantastic A long way from Eden, whose author, Jo, visited me in Coventry this weekend. A new blog, by a former housemate of mine, is Beth Eats Local:
"From June 1st
2008 to May 31st 2009 every item of food that I eat and every
ingredient that goes into that food is going to come from a one hundred
mile radius of my home in Brighton. If I’m travelling, food has to come
from either a one hundred mile radius of where I am, or from one
hundred miles of Brighton. I’m vegetarian, and I’m going to try to eat
organic wherever possible. Am I crazy? Undoubtedly. Am I going to
cheat? Not if I can help it. Am I going to starve? You’ve gotta hope
not."
Something Jo pointed out to me is that the difficult bit in making lifestyle changes is often the research: what do vegans eat for breakfast? But once you've found a alternative (cereal with soya milk, toast with vegan spread, fruit, porridge) you don't need to find it again. Providing Beth doesn't starve to death, I'm hoping to see lots of interesting ideas for local food.
Another attraction of local eating (speaking as a spectator, rather than a participant) is the idea that you are more likely to have some sort of interaction with the people producing your food. I imagine Beth is likely to meet some interesting people.
Good luck!
