Rest day in London.

The first twenty four hours in London was taken up primarily with sleep.  Up at 4.15am and finished my full English breakfast by 6am.  The hotel staff struggle with their English ( Polish I think ) but very polite.



A day of leisure - what to do?  How about a day at the beach?  Yes - OK off to Brighton I go.









Why Brighton you ask?  I have been fortunate to visit Great Britain several times and London has always been on the 'to see' list.  Well this time I am going to visit Brighton - might call in and see my good friend Samantha Bond at the Theatre Royal where is currently starring in a stage play called "Passion".


Set off on foot walking towards the village of Crawley.  As you can imagine Gatwick and Crawley are not exactly in the middle of the pristine rural countryside.  A couple of kilometres later I was in the village of Crawley - not much of the original village to see.

Head stones - thank God Shirley isn't with me or she would spend hours looking for relatives.  Those Middleton's are everywhere -some mix very high in the social classes.  I think one is even married to royalty.










Paid a couple of British pounds and I was on a train headed to Brighton.

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton.  Full of culture - to much for the likes of me.  Looks like it was designed by someone influenced by Moorish architecture.  Could look it up - you do it.

Yes very nice - moving on.

Brighton Beach - where every self respecting Englishman goes for his summer holidays.  What happened to all the Bingo Halls?  Not one to be seen anywhere.

Brighton foreshore reminds me of Santa Monica, California.  It has the same wide boulevard, a large pier, beach and amusements WITHOUT the sand, muscle men, roller blades, volley ball, sunshine and pan handlers.

Thinking about lunch and a pub meal.   If I have a pub meal then I can have a beer.  Hmmmm.

I got to the Theatre Royal only to be told to go away.  Samantha Bond claims not to know me - never heard of me in fact.  Words like "stalking" and "police" caused me to move away.

Thought I may venture into the famous or is that infamous Colonnade Bar which is next to the Theatre Royal.  The odd actor is often seen there - "Anyone seen Samantha?"