part in Pride and Prejudice where Lydia goes down to Brighton with the officers and ends up eloping with Mr. Wickham. It was kind of fun imagining what the Brighton of the early 1800s looked like, but it was also actually quite difficult. (Tangent alert.) Houses in California were usually built at some point in the last 50 years, and if they were actually built 50 or more years ago they’re considered rather old. Here though there’s no way of telling. When I went into the Dennis Severs’ house I was thinking, ‘Ok, maybe 60-100 years old, on the generous side,’ only to be informed that it was actually built in 1724. The US was still a colony at that point! Even most of the houses in the suburbs in the UK were built before World War Two. (Now back to Brighton.)We came out of the train station
(built in 1840, so this would not have been where Lydia arrived with the officers.) and started following the crowd of people who had shuffled us off the train towards the sea. The day was cloudy but the city was still alive with people and markets. Crowds swelled around brightly colored buildings – bold yellows trimmed in red, mint greens, deep turquoise blues and pastel pinks - flowing into one shop or down a market street to the side. The city itself seemed to move, meandering off on little tangent streets filled with markets, massive antique shops and small second hand bookstores.
As we followed the flow of people, drinking in the surroundings, we were soon swept down a side street and into a farmers market that was filled with older women in purple dresses and red hats picking through fresh produce. After drifting back onto the main street we were soon distracted into another busy side street. Here there were tables set up outside massive antique and vintage shops that were overflowing with the strangest and coolest jumble of things you can imagine. Old tin toys, manikins with no arms, poufy holiday sweaters, original Pokémon figurines and just about everything else you can imagine was available for purchase in the cases and on the tables. We went into the largest shop we passed and found a pathway cleared through the tangle of things. We followed the wandering trail around two floors, getting lost in stacks of books and boxes of old badges and pins. After an hour of browsing we forced ourselves to leave and continued toward the sea.
We turned a corner and found Brighton Dome, which is really less of a dome and more of a expansive building built in the Middle Eastern style of architecture where concerts, comedians, speakers and exhibitions are held. After a quick walk inside we realized that the Dome was much more exciting from the outside unless you have a ticket to one of the above venues, so we retraced our steps out the door and followed a path around to the back of the building. We emerged onto a large green lawn sprawling away from the back of the building toward another similarly styled building to the side. It hardly felt like we were still in England. 
When we pressed on we finally came down a hill and found ourselves facing the sea. The pier reached over the waves to our right, a Ferris wheel stood silent to our left and small orange rocks sloped down to meet the grey water that stretched endlessly beyond. The entrance to the pier was like the entrance to a fair - there were stands for crepes, cotton candy, ice cream and waffles curving around two arched entryways. I stopped to get a sugar and lemon crepe and savored the sweet, tangy flavor as we strolled down the pier. 
Nicola gasped as I was watching seagulls play in the wind off the side of the pier, and I looked up just as a seagull swooped down and nearly collided with my head. Luckily I flinched when I saw him, pulling my head down and clutching my crepe close to my chest. I looked around and saw the birds below watching my crepe and realized something – the little jerk was trying to steal my crepe! It’s a good thing he missed or I would have been eating seagull kebabs over a beach bonfire that night. He circled back around, his head tilted; eyeing me reproachfully and squawking a little disappointedly.
Making sure I had his attention, I took a big slow bite of my crepe. He might have been a dumb bird but he got the message all right because he squawked louder, annoyed and provoked. I stuffed the last few bites in my mouth and walked on briskly before the feathered little terrorist could gather back up and mount another attack.
There is a fair at the end of the pier that brings images of lazy summer days at the sea to mind. (These days definitely involve Lydia and the officers in my mind even though the pier wasn’t built until several decades after she would have been there.) The day was windy and a bit cold but the pier was less crowded than in warmer months, (as I was told) and offered a bustling but peaceful atmosphere.
No longer content to look down at the beach, we soon climbed down to walk on the shore. It wasn’t long before we discovered that the picturesque orange pebbles that look so pretty in photographs are rather hellish to walk on. Firstly because it feels like a rather aggressive foot massage. Secondly, the pebbles are so smooth they can’t get any hold on each other and shift as you walk, causing your feet to be sucked several inches beneath them with each step. Finally, when this happens, about 18 dozen pebbles maliciously burrow into your shoes and wedge themselves in the most painful places, such as against the bridge of your food or between your toes, and make taking more than one step at a time between emptying your shoes impossible. Taking your shoes off was also a poor option since walking barefoot felt like the equivalent of walking over the top of a vat of rounded ice cubes.
After scrambling over the beach for a bit, we began to make our way for the station, becoming distracted in a few more shops along the way but finally making it onto our train.
Other Photos
Awesome dog in a pub window.
There is an annual festival in Brighton where artists paint massive murals on the back of a stretch of buildings.
You can't pass up a good touristy photo opportunity.
I would have ridden the chicken. Oddly enough the three chickens were the only animals that weren't horses on the carousel.
This is an Alice in Wonderland store! (Shout out to Caroline - the biggest Alice fan I know.)
RLO -Xxx
I have always found messaging etiquette/language interesting – It’s almost a whole different language, with different linguistic laws. Usually at home if texts don’t have a clear, hard end, we will end them with some sort of emoticon – usually : ), : (, >.< or : / This sort of ends the message and gives it some point of reference for tone because, obviously, tone and body language are eliminated in writing.
Here they end messages with “Xx.” Kiss kiss. Or sometimes more like “Xxxxxx.” (kisskisskisskisskisskiss!) I noticed it before I got here a bit, but never thought about it very much. Tom Felton can’t seem to send a tweet without attaching some amount of kisses on the end and Palak ended every text she sent me once I got here with x’s. I didn’t quite make the connection that everyone did this here though until I got my first text from someone at the university.
I don’t remember exactly what it said; it was something about food. “Did you want to get lunch sometime? Xx.”
Oh my. That’s rather intimate.
Someone soon explained that this means something more along the lines of “full stop,” not “let-me-virtually-kiss-you-multiple-times,” and ended my confusion.
For the most part I’ve been sticking to my smiley faces, but who knows – maybe once I’m back I’ll find I’m hooked on ending my messages with kisses rather than faces.
Xx.
London-isms
Dithering – wavering between options (i.e. “I was dithering today on whether I should present Monday or Tuesday.”)
Cash Machine - ATM
Jumper - Sweater/Hoodie
Chuffed – amused, excited, pleased
Tea – This can also just mean food (i.e. “I have to go to work without tea!”)
Cob - bun
Bap – also a word for a bun
Spot - zit
Philadelphia – cream cheese (People over here like to refer to items by their brand names)
Chunder – throw up
Plait – braid (I know we have this word in America as well but they use it much more frequently here)
Sort it out – figure it out / fix something (i.e. “My schedule is messed up but I’ll sort it out.”)
Kip – sleep, nap (i.e. “I had a kip today.” Or “You can kip at my place.”)
Maths – math (i.e. “I’m rubbish at maths.”)
Uni – university
