Saturday,

we were off to see Phil,

in Rudgwick,

then down to Brighton,

to say hello to Chris, Wannie and their family,

Phil had now finished the conservatory he was building,

which was just as well,

as he had bought a motorbike that had not been used in 19 years, without the conservatory he would not have anywhere to keep it,

everyone agreed,

how comfortable,

Phil's new loungers were,

as it was Saturday Ruby, Phil's daughter was home from school,

after a coffee and a chat we were off to Brighton for the afternoon and evening, as we entered the town on the right hand side in the municipal gardens a huge rhubarb like plant (Gunnera maculata,) a native of Brazil was growing under the weeping willow,  

we also passed the Duke of Yorks cinema with a pair of legs gracing the rooftop, which lays claim to being the oldest cinema in continuous use in Britain,

and here we are at Brighton pier,

we parked up,

and made our way to the front,

passing this nice Triumph on the way,

it was remarkably windy,

surprisingly,

the funfair still open,

we made our way to the seafront,

with waves crashing over the beach,

it was a nice sunny day, but the wind was fierce,

not a cloud in the sky,

we passed the Max Millar Walk or as he was known 'the Cheeky Chappie', his appreciation society named the walk after him to mark the 50th anniversary of his death, I remember well some of the songs he sang, Garby, (Grandad), had some 78rpm records of him recorded at the Adelphi Theater in London, his jokes were near the knuckle, but never a rude word was used, to find out more about one of Brighton's best, have a look here,

now down at beach level we looked for a place to have lunch,

walking past the Crazy Golf,

we noticed this Maserati, it looks nice here but in real life the blue in the sunlight looked stunning,

we then found a place for lunch,

it was a Wetherspoons,

and as is usual,

the food was good,

and plenty of it,

at reasonable prices,

meal over,

we made our way to the pier,

we had planned to spend a few hours there,

looking inland the sky looked a bit menacing,

a quick pose by the clock tower,

and we are on the pier,

Brighton has a shingle beach,

a quick pose,

looking along the beach,

the lifeguard has a red/yellow flag out, 

I guess it is not safe to swim because of the waves,

Oh dear the clouds are really moving in,

but at least it is still sunny for the moment,

and plenty of holiday makers are on the beach,

seafood again,

I just love it,

but I still can not get used to this new fangled money,

but I am used to these,

whelks,

delicious,

it is low tide at the moment, so plenty of beach to sit on,

as Kai admires the view,

still the wind is good for the few windsurfers that are in the sea,

Diana strikes the pose,

further along the beach,

waves are dashing themselves,

against,

the marina breakwater,

looking west a new attraction and an old one,

the old one is the West Pier, it was designed by Eugenius Birch, opening in 1866 and closing in 1975, the pier was the first to be Grade I listed in Britain but has become increasingly derelict since closure, all that is left is this skeleton,

and this is the new attraction,

the British Airways i360 tower, you can ascend up to 450 feet from the ground to admire the views,

we went inside one of the amusement arcades,

we somehow lost the girls,

we were being watched ourselves,

but it was not too difficult to find them, 

look for the fresh doughnuts!

a panorama of the beach,

we were slowly,

making our way to the end of the pier,

where the funfair is,

I remember this one, the Twister, tried it once, never again!

I think I will give this one a miss as well,

this looked like fun,

and these guys certainly,

seemed to be enjoying it,

I guess at the bottom of the ride you get a little wet,

a coconut shy, I have always found it cheaper to buy a coconut in the shops than keep buying balls to throw at one to win it, but then I am hopeless at ball sports,

we had now walked,

around the other side of the Twister,

I mentioned before it was windy,

so much so this ride had to be closed,

now theses I can get on with, but nowadays no bumping,

it somewhat takes the fun out of things,

worse for me than the Twister, the dreaded Waltzer, it is making me giddy just thinking about it,

Oh dear another ride closed by the wind,

but not this one,

or this one,

wait a second,

is that the girls?

yes it is, they are a lot braver than I,

a quick breather from the thrill of the ride,

another seagull looking to mug an unsuspecting tourist,

weather not looking good,

but at least we found the rock shop,

and it is not raining,

we made our way back past the clock tower,

and along the beach,

then through the Lanes,

if you have never been to Brighton,

this is the place to shop,

some of the shop displays are so far out,

like this one featuring so many sewing machines,

the shops are typical small,

as are the Lanes themselves,

easy to walk around now,

but they can be a little congested in the summer season,

a great shop, specializing in Military items from the past,

the list of goods on offer here,

is almost endless,

naturally all closed in the evenings, but then,

I spotted this shop selling stamps, so I wandered inside, and bought a sheet of Prince of Wales 1897 hospital charity stamps,

what a brilliant find, both the stamps and the shop,

we started the walk back to the car,

at the top of the hill,

we then drove to the marina,

where it started to rain,

the Chinese floating restaurant,

seems to have ceased trading,

we made our way along the walkway,

although sunny rain kept appearing on the camera lens,

but we were soon inside,

where we were joined by Chris,

unfortunately Wannie had double booked herself, 

which was shame,

but Chris was here, we all had so much catching up to do,

and the good news was that the food just kept on arriving,

and delicious it was too, if you fancy an Indian meal whilst in Brighton the restaurant was called Memories of India,

I enjoy fishing,

as I guess the owner of this boat does, I guess the more baits you have out the greater the chances of catching a fish!

we said our farewells to Chris and started our drive back to Beckenham,

we all had a great day and many thanks to Steve for doing all of the driving, a last look at the pier and then arriving home, feet up a nightcap and off to bed.