Josh On Tour

Brighton is where Londoners go in the summer to lay out on the beach (but not go for a swim). It is an incredibly diverse town with a really relaxed party type atmosphere. On the train ride there I was reading my lonely planet guide book and got a little worried when it mentioned that it would definately pay to book ahead on summer weekends for accomodation do to its immense population so once the train broke down I was preparing myself for perhaps a night on a park bench. I did eventually find a hostel thanks to the help of a local named Katie who broke the english mold of never initiating conversation, saw how lost I was and offered to help me find a hostel. I managed to pay for the very last bed in the Baggies Backpackers Hostel moments before someone else called to book a bed for the night and was denied, so big thanks to Katie from Brighton. The basic setup of the Brighton coastline is a line of highrise hotels with the occaisional restaurant, followed by a road, then walkway with steps leading down to the beach, then another walkway with pubs, icecream stalls and live bands playing at various intervals, followed by a huge lineup of table with local hippies selling jewellry etc, then finally you have the golden pebble beach which when the sun comes out is jam packed full of scantilly clad people, and then you have the nearly deserted ocean. This scenery goes for literately miles in either direction (see photo's above).



There is also a pier which has an amusement park upon it (above left) though I was informed that it was not worth going to as it was incredibly tacky. Above right we have Katie modelling one of the strangest things I've heard of, a line of multicoloured sheds all about 3m by 3m which people hire out (or purchase) for the summer so as to have a space to lay out on their stored deckchair, apparently these things aren't cheap either. Brighton also stands somewhat appart from conservative England with a large gay community, abundance of hippies and, as I discovered when my phone went off while I was engrossed in reading my book on the beach, I checked my text message put my phone back in my bag and after a quick glance around my fellow sunbathers, noticed that in Brighton bikini tops are indeed optional.