Memoirs

The other day we went to Brighton, a seaside town. Our first stop was the Pier, a frenetic and tacky place with arcades and snack shops. The weather was windy and overcast, but that didn’t stop the hearty Britons, who were out by the shore and were even braving the water! The beach is a pebble beach, which doesn’t seem too appealing to us spoiled Floridians. The seafood on offer included cockles, mussels, whelk, and jellied eel. (Thanks, but no thanks.) But the water itself is absolutely gorgeous – it has shades of blue and green that are just like the old seascape paintings.

We then wandered over to the Pavilion, England’s answer to the Taj Mahal. After lunch (Italian, of course) Mike and Adrian went inside, while the rest of us went the The Lanes, a shopping area in the old town, with lots of twisting and turning streets. (If you were in the market for jewelry or antiques, the Lanes would be your spot.)

We stopped at a grocery store on the way home—it was fun to see which things are the same and which are different. (Same: General layout of the store. Different: about four choices of salad dressing instead of twenty. Bizarre flavors of potato chips, including “lamb and mint”, “lime and roasted chicken”, and a quite yummy Thai spice. The availability of something called “toad in hole.”) One thing that’s the same are the prices, except that they’re in pounds instead of dollars. Translated, this means that everything basically costs twice as much as back home. We try not to think about that too much.

Sunday we had lunch and tea at Adrian’s parents’ house. The houses in this part of England look close together, but the back yards are very spacious, and when you go back there, it’s easy to forget that you’re in a dense area. Adrian’s father is an excellent gardener, so he had all varieties of flowers, fruits, and veggies growing back there. (He even makes his own wine, which was very good!)

We also went to a town called Steyning, where Adrian lived when he was young. One of the best parts was during the drive there, over the Downs. On top of one of the hills, we could see the whole town and all the way to the sea, with farmers’ fields on the other side. Beautiful!