Day Three in brighton...

Already lloking forward to the Waitangi Day Pub Crawl, this may be a quick blog entry (o:

Today was anther of no particular plans. Maybe a museum?

It began with a walk, finally, to the Brighton Pier. why the bother? Not sure really. It would be cool with some mates maybe or if you're 10 again. It's got it's own rainbow's end like theme park, a casino, food outlets for africa and then right at its end is a pretty good view over the ocean.

Next I wandered, for like 2 hrs, down to the the White cliffs of Dover. yeah, ok. So they were the white cliffs of Brighton but they're waaaay higher than Dover's so I reckon way cooler. Sure no wars were fought over them but...

On the way back I played fetch with dog and have decided I HAVE to have a dog when I grow up. 

Oh and I read a book in the sun at the cliffs and may even have managed to get a slightly reddish tinge to my face this arvo. maybe I'll be a tad off pasty by tomorrow?

Then, with a picture perfect sunset following me home, I headed back to the West Pier to watch the swarms of starlings which are known to congregate there each evening. There were literally thousands of the wee suckers. Like schools of fish in the sky, they performed manoeuvres that would leave our best fighter pilots, obviously not NZ's seeing as we no longer have an airforce, but America's anyway, spitting with envy. Awesome.

Then it was home for a quick Thai dinner, spot of telly and a shave. Ah, the hard life (o:

No wait! One more thing. Whilst walking home, taking the stony beach front rather than the paved promenade, I came face to face with a guy walking up the beach starkers! "Floomin heck" I thought, supressing a shudder. It must be like 2 degrees out, even with the sun. Then I notice up the beach a couple going full commando as well. "Do all Pommes go swimmin at the beach nudders then"? Walking on another 100m, eyes fixed firmly forwards, i came across a sign stating 'You are now leaving the naturist beach. Please reclothe to avoid offending other beach goers and personal prosecution'. Seems I had been wandering along a nudist beach! Hahahaaa

Day Two in Brighton

Or I guess it is day 3 of you include Sunday night.

Today I went for a wander around town. Needing new shoes I decided I'd go check out what Brighton had to offer. I also intended on visiting the Brighton Pier on the way. Buuuut, that never happened. 

I did make it to the West Pier next door. A run down, falling to pieces pier that would not be safe for a crash test dummy to stumble across. But it looks awesome. A photographers dream. 

(pic of west pier)

Then I headed left into town. it had begun to drizzle and the Brighton pier wasn't going anywhere. Heading into town I completed a few chores and then made a visit to the Information Office. Or rather i walked past by chance and popped my head in. They directed me to all sorts of closed museums but had also suggested I visit the 'bohemian' region of the town; good choice!

This place is like a permanent flea market. A hundred garage sales rolled into one with op shops littered throughout. It is a bargain hunters dream. So much pointless and useless stuff which I would love to own. Every little nicknack you could think of. And an awesome fudge place in the middle of it. Mmmmmm.

(pic of one shop)

Day One in brighton

Blue sky, gentle swell on the ocean, no plans. Time to relax. 

I began the day with a pleasant stroll down to the Hove lagoon where I joined an old lady in feeding the swans. Beautiful great big white ones. Like mini polar bears with wings. They were seriously huge. Their giant black feet resembled those of a clydesdale. After off loading of a couple of loaves of bread down their cavernous mouths, I made my goodbyes and made a move down to a nearby skate park. Here some guys were filming a couple of bmx stunt bikers and skateboarders who kept me entertained for the next hour or so pulling tricks, sliding rails, jumping mountains and pretty much just having a good time and a good laugh.

I then pushed off again down the promenade, intending on reaching the infamous Brighton Pier. But it began raining and so after grabbing a quick lunch at the super, I read for a bit by the ocean (it had calmed a little) and then went home for tea. Nice day. But an even better day was just around the corner... 

Brighton

Arrived by train. Or bus but that was because the train ticket i paid for didn't work as the train tracks were under going repairs. I had travelled down with some of vicky's friends who lived in Brighton too. So they escorted me to the Brighton train station and here I met Pernhille and Ben (couple we'd met skiing in Avoriaz) and headed off to stay with them in Hove.

When we arrived at the flat, Ben made us the ultimate roast. A superb roast. A perfect roast. A roast to end all roasts. And the flat? Wow! More like an upscale apartment. I could live out my days here. Brighton as a whole has me hook, line and sinker. Hell, it has me whole rod too!

The gayness continues

Friday in Manchester was a day spent with a little biking, some shopping, and then relaxing. Then it was the gay birthday. So it was no surprise it felt like dejavu (how do u spell that?) when I was invited to join Vicky and her flatmate in London where another friend was having another gay party. "Ahhh, why not" I figured. I wanted to see London anyway. So off we set by car with two gay guys, heading to meet another club full.

Only this night turned out far different to the last. The last was good. This night was brilliant. 

When we reached Steve's flat who we were staying with, we ate some cake and then prepared for town. Gay guys and a girl all required preparation time and so i was left with a bottle of wine and an hour to kill. One and one together equalled me finishing the first bottle and starting on the second by the time we left. The other half disappeared by the time we reached the pub for dinner and a half hour later and I had gone the same way. I was finished too. Or was I?

I realised I was drunk (putting it lightly) and so began my assault on the bar's water supply. Wacking them back like a true champ I managed to sober up before anything too stupid took place and luckily all the gay guys were more than willing to watch over me to make sure I was safe. Then it was off to the club where we would spend the night dancing to what was actually quite awesome music.

I hit the stage quite quickly and teamed up with a little blonde thing (female) who i spent the night with, dancing away on the drink shelf above everyone else, swigging back free drinks (guys were being really generous that night; albiet gin and tonics all the time) and thoroughly enjoying myself. Awesome night. 

Then the next day I headed off to Brighton with one of Vicky's friends after a quick pub meal and deciding I would return to London at a later date to see the sights.

One gay night in Man city

Vicky's friend was having a birthday. I was invited. Awesome. So we grabbed some wine and headed off for a party. A gay party.

We arrived to a room full of young gay men. Nothing against them; in fact the more gay guys in the world, the more girls left for me, but I still felt a little out of place when numbers were this askew. So i remained happily in the kitchen where 3 girls were hanging out and Vicky was there to 'protect' me. Some interesting things happened though.

I wandered upstairs at one stage to put my jacket away. Walked into the room and found to my surprise, a guy and a girl with a pile of white powder on plate seated between them. "whaaaa!?" I thought I was looking at cocaine to be honest. Turned out it was MDMA, the raw ingredient of ecstasy. They were wrapping small portions in zig zag cigarette paper to create 'pills' of the stuff. They offered me a try but for now I was ok just watching. 

I'd always thought the stuff would make you go crazy with dance. In reality they just looked wasted and I can't say it looked all that great. Night ended fairly soon after that as I was a little over all the gayness and wasn't drunk or really feeling the dance. But it was my first gay party and club (called Homo electric) and so I am glad I was invited. Leaving the club to groups of girls making out you'd think life was great only if you looked left the groups of guys were at it too...

Making it back to Manchester

C aught the ferry Thursday morning. Booked to leave at 8:30, it ended up departing at closer to 11am as the strong winds which were blowing small children into lakes (true story), flipping over 18 wheelers (true again) and causing London Bridge to once more fall down, had also caused all the ferry's cargo to tear loose and need tidying up. But the ferry ride was much more pleasent, lacking in distractions, but calm. Though when we arrived back at the mainland a sleet storm set in for all of 2 minutes leaving a 10cm layer of snow piled up against the gutters and me wondering what the walk to ton would be like. 

Bus from Morecombe to Preston and then one on to Manchester. Easy as pork pie. Then another local bus and i was back in Vicky's flat to surprise her with my presence as my final email hadn't been recieved and she'd assumed I'd cancelled and was coming the following day. Ah well. It all worked out. As always.

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stuff from isle

It's been a week since I was in the Isle and already I have forgotten what went on (o:

Friday we went out. I worked as am unofficial coat checker at Havana Bar in between dancing and actually made money! People were giving me their coats, tips, drinks and taking photos and I really don't think i looked the coat check guy part; I was wearing aviators, drunk, and laughing the whole time. Eventually the real bouncers came and took over and so it was back to dancing for me. And Pierre and his sister are the ultimate dancers. Everyone loves them and they truly bring the party with them. DJ's actually ring them and ask if they'll come help the dance floor to go off!

And then Saturday was Aussie Day. Or rather, Auckland Anniversary Day. This was celebrated in style at the Nurses Res(idence) with Kiwis and Aussies pitted against each other in life threatening feats of bravery, endurance and intelligence. All English present were divided into one of the two teams as well but there contributions were, um, tops. Nah, they were good as. Of course, New Zealand dominated the day overall. Winning the cricket, the ping pong, the drinking, Spoons, the cooking, the appearance, having the better country and so on. We did lose one game though admittedly. The intelligence test. Or did we lose?

Our questions were on Australia and their questions were like wise based upon New Zealand. So really, all we did was reinforce the fact that they like our country more, hence they know more about it. I mean, why bother learning which poo belongs to which australian animal (real questions, serious) or deciding which is a real Australian city when the options are Woobygoolybong, Wombat, Grassfield or Iggaboo. The fact that three of them are real in the first place sums up Australia pretty well I think.

Then town was hit and again it was another great night. Pierre had to leave early though to look after his Scottish girlfriend who was a little tipsy and I somehow got separated from everyone else. I  remember visiting nearly every club in the Island (Colours, Havana, Outback and P-something), taking at least 3 taxi rides by just climbing in with randoms and meeting a tonne of awesome people in cues who let me sift in to their place and save me half an hour of waiting in cue. Then the night ended when two of the res residents found me and took me home to sleep the night at the res. Pierre then came and picked me up in the morning, as usual, being an AWESOME host! 

Can't wait to return for the TT bike race in end of May.

Pierre and Motley's

Pierre and his flat mate Aisha...



Us getting ready for town...