We Are Only Making One Post Today,

as there are lots of photographs,

 and it takes a time to resize and upload them, so here goes,

 we took the tram to West Croydon station, then the mainline,

 to Brighton,

 we took a chance on the weather,

 and it paid off,

 as we left the station blue skies,

 and flowers in hanging baskets,

 greated us,

 I looked in this shop, it had lots of reproduction prints, but of more interest so many toy cars, Dinky, Corgi and many more,

 our first glimpse of the sea,

 as we neared the clock tower,

 looking back to the station Diana was catching me up,

 on this side of the clock tower, Queen Victoria,

 and the legend,

on the other side Prince Albert,

 we walked to the sea front,

 and past Brighton Rock, a book, play, film, radio adaptation, musical and shop,

 first pose of the day,

 the ruined west pier in the distance,

 it was deliberately set alight, twice,

 the East or Palace Pier as it is known,

I was snapping away,

and taking lots of photographs,

most with Diana,

center frame,

not many on the beach, it was warm but very windy,

a quick panorama,

plenty of chairs for hire,

looking back at the town front,

some of the old fishing boats have been placed as a interest as to what Brighton once was, a fishing town,

seafood, yummy, I will buy some on the pier,

a happy lobster,

along the seafront,

there are a number of rides,

some small,

and others pretty big,

and of course stalls selling everything for the beach,

we made our way towards the pier,

the rides at the end looking scary,

on our next visit here we will take this tour, there are three routes at £14.00, or £10.00 for OAPs like myself,

and here are the routes,

the main seafront roundabout,

and here we are,

at the,

 Palace Pier,

we planned a walk to the end of it, we did not have breakfast, so noodles for Diana, whelks for myself,

a look along the shore,

one of the amusement arcades,

and one of the new attractions, a zip line,

the British Airways Tower in the distance,

a bit rough for swimming today,

but for us the weather could not have been better,

even if it was a tad windy,

I had to get in with a pose first,

then Diana's turn,

one more for the album,

crikey my turn came around again quickly!

looking at the sea and clouds I wish I had brought the infrared camera set up, in fact I may do that in the next few days, the rail fare was with our discount travel card was £14.00 each return, so not too expensive to travel down again,

on our way to the end of the pier where the food stall is that Diana wanted, I searched in vain for the seafood stall, alsas after asking one of the officials I was told it could not be made financially viable, so at the end of last season it closed for the last time,

but no problems for Diana's food stall,

yes that is me! the Cheeky Chappie Max Miller, was so popular, especially here as he was born in Brighton, many years ago I had a 2 record live recording of him at the Adelphi Theatre, both of them 78 RPM, famous for his flamboyant suits and at the time very risque humour, some so risque it was banned by the BBC!

although this clip is old it is well worth listening to for music hall humour of the time, and if you like part 1, here is part 2, and just so you will know what to expect here is one of his standup jokes,

I said to my father. "Dad, I want to get married." 

He said: "Alright son, who do you want to marry?" 

I said: "I'd like to marry Miss Green." 

He said: "You can't" I said: "Why not?" 

He said: "She's your half sister. When I was a lad I had a bike and I got around a bit." 

I said: "Alright, I'll marry Miss White" 

He said: "You can't, she's your half sister. Forget about it." 

Well, I was a bit despondent and I walked around and my mum said to me: 

"What's wrong with you?" 

I said: Well, I said to Dad I wanted to marry Miss Green and he said I couldn't because she's my half-sister. 

I said "All right, I'll marry Miss White." 

He said: "You can't, she's your half sister" 

She said: "Look, you go marry which one you like. He's not your father anyway!" 

back to the fun of the fair,

so many rides to choose from,

from old favorites like the Waltzer,

to this one,

that looked,

and was awesome,

and this one looked and was insane,

as well as going up and down and round tight corners,

the tub itself span round as well,

back to this whatever it is called, it went around its axis so unbelievably fast,

this one seems a bit tamer for me,

the Turbo looked fearsome as well,

too scary for me,

and being upside down is not my cup of tea!

now this is more like it,

not too fast,

of course back when we used to come here in the mid 1950s this was the height of fun fair rides at the end of the pier,

we often watch Tipping Point,

a quiz show,

taken from this 10p coin push and shove game, Diana tried so hard,

but £1 later, that is 10 goes at 10p a go and not winning a thing she gave up,

a great visit,

we made our way past some of the now not used fishing boats,

along with now abandoned hand,

and engined powered

capstans that were used to beach the boats,

then for me,

breakfast!

and what could be better, sitting in the sun on Brighton beach,

with a pot of whelks?

we were guessing this chap is somehow famous, as he had his own photographer with some very expensive kit,

but who was he, any guesses?

we could not go to Brighton without eating some freshly made doughnuts,

so I sat down and watched a lone swimmer in the surf,

then Diana brought the coffees,

and doughnuts,

 then it was my turn to queue,

for a couple of ice creams,

I caught Diana taking a photograph of one of them,

which she thought was funny,

 and this was the photograph she took,

and of course I had to get into the picture,

ice creams in hand,

we walked towards The Lanes,

passing the shop that has almost countless sewing machines in the window,

Allsaints Spitalfields,

we entered a outside sales area, 

where traders had set up their pitches,

in the distance the Royal Pavilion, 

we entered The Lanes,

if you have never been here before,

the small lanes lead into open areas,

with lots of pubs,

shops, mostly jewellers,

and some like this one very specialist, dealing in militaria,

did I mention pubs?

and a favorite of ours,

The Duck House,

and of course the buildings are interesting,

in their own right,

we started back to the station, 

but first a photograph of this Royal Enfield, it looks old, but could in fact be brand new,

up the hill,

towards the clock tower,

then left to H & M, shopping for Diana,

liquid refreshment for myself, next onto the train for the ride home,

as we walked into the park,

we stopped for a look at the garden in Foxgrove Lodge,

the garden full of flowers,

like these dahlias,

after a coffee and short stop,

we were out again to Kathmandu Masala, in Croydon Road, Beckenham,

 for our evening meal,

 poppadoms with a sherry,

 for our starters,

 lamb samosa for Diana,

 King prawn puri for myself,

 next our main course,

 chicken vindaloo, 

 aloo gobi,

 for a change Jhaneko Mashu, lamb pieces cooked in a clay oven and then pan fried with fresh spring onions, ginger, garlic, dry chilli with touch of lemon a very dry dish it was described as, and nice it was too, 

and a bowl of mushroom and peas rice, what a feast, 

'Cheers!', the meal came to £70.00, including service,

 we made our way outside to the bus stop, 

 a look at the moon and we were on our way home, we watched the penultimate disk from Game of Thrones, and then for us we were off to bed.