Stormy Brighton

A short trip to Brighton, 4-6 September 08

I'd been accepted to talk at a conference in Brighton and was hoping to get some sunshine- what I actually got was soaked to my skin at least twice (so nice to sit in a conference with wet feet, legs, etc etc) and almost blown off my feet by the gale force winds!

Stormy sea & sky by Brighton Pier- this is summer!

The venue was out of town at Falmer, a short train ride from the centre of Brighton on the University of Sussex campus. I knew my timings were tight to get from Stirling to the conference in time to do my talk that day so if the plane from Glasgow was delayed I’d be in trouble… Luckily everything ran smoothly so I got to the registration desk at the conference centre with about 20 minutes to spare before the first talk. Little did I know I had been allocated accommodation at the far end of the campus – not, like most people, directly opposite the conference centre! It was of course at this moment that torrential rain poured from the sky as I dragged my suitcase all the way there and then had to rush back to catch the first talk. My first soaking of the day. The theme was set for more rain, strong winds and getting wet in order to check out.

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton

The day ran on until after 6pm, which I hadn’t been expecting, and actually I wished I hadn’t gone to the very boring keynote lecture since it was just founder members reminiscing about the start of the Medical Sociology Association 40 years before, telling anecdotes about people that were amusing mostly to those who knew who the hell they were talking about!

Anyway, things improved with dinner out in Brighton with some of the other conference folk at Carluccio’s an Italian restaurant and deli (there was one in Ealing Mic and I used to go to now and again for coffee) – the food was good, the people interesting but it was very noisy with bare walls echoing every sound.

One of the wee back streets of multi-coloured terraced houses in the North Laine area

The next day (Friday) there were more talks then I had arranged to meet an old friend Tom from RF, the charity where I worked in London, who lives in Brighton with his family. We went for dinner at a nice Indian restaurant called ‘Indian Summer’ near the seafront and I stayed over at their house that night.

There were more presentations on the Saturday but having looked at the topics, and also knowing there’d be another keynote in a similar vein to the first one, I opted instead for sight-seeing and shopping!

The Lanes area of Brighton- see the bath tub sign hanging outside the pub!

I had only ever been to Brighton briefly for work- there and back for a meeting with no time to look around – so I wanted to see a bit of the place. I found it a bit self-consciously cool and trendy as if people were trying too hard. It was an interesting people watching experience; people tend to dress in bright colours, with varied textures and layers – none of the black and white and denim of Stirling! There is definitely an under-current of ‘arty’ types (or wannabe arty anyway!), environmentally-aware folk and lots of students. I enjoyed wandering around the back lanes of The Lanes and North Laine window shopping and had lunch in a health food-type café sitting outside since a miracle happened and on Saturday it didn’t rain!

Graffiti art of James Brown on the backs of shops, North Laine

I flew home on Saturday evening so that I’d be back for our 7th wedding anniversary on Sunday so we could spend the day together. We wanted to go for lunch in a Mediterranean restaurant on Sunday but it was shut and all the other restaurants we looked at were empty! It was dead in town but it could be because Monday was a bank holiday and everyone was away for the weekend. We ended up having a coffee and cake in a café we haven’t tried before called Crema Central. I don’t think we’ll hurry back - it was weak coffee and I didn't like the feel of the place.