I've arrived in Morecambe with Mum & Dad ready for tomorrow's run. The town has the faded glamour I like from my seaside towns but the rain was a bit much. I'd not packed a coat and was quickly soaked to the skin this evening. I took some good photos though.
The tide was in tonight, meaning the race course was underwater. The event sounds daunting but I'll just do my best and see how it goes.
A new parcel of books was waiting for me in Melbourne last night – Spook Country, The Body Artist and Julie Burchill and Daniel Raven's book Made in Brighton. I don't have any issue with Burchill and Raven writing the book, since Raven has lived in Brighton far longer than I have and, besides, everyone's welcomed to their opinion. But I had to stop reading at the reference to the "North Laines". Maybe it's pedantic, but if you're going to write a book about something it's best not to make common mistakes to acknowledge the subtleties.
Anyway. I've got a load of notes for a last story about circuses that I'm going to type up tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, with the race and visits to relatives on the way home, but I'll write an entry on it once I have chance.
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To be fair, saying “North Laines” is a bit dependant on context. I grew up in Brighton, and we *all* said North Laines. It was only when the North Laine business owners association started pushing for ‘the correct usage’ when I was about 15 that I heard it any other way. It was common parlance when I grew up.
I don’t really have a huge problem with people *saying* North Lanes/Laines – but when you’re writing a book about a subject you need to display some level of authority. “North Laine” is the ‘traditional’ name, whether common or not. I’d have been happy if the book had mocked pedants for raising the issue as long as it had acknowledged it knew there was an issue.
Maybe caring about this makes me less Brighton than both you and Mr. Raven.
FWIW, people in the village where I grew up simply referred to the area as the ‘Funny Streets’.