From 'La Mole' to Penge

Over the years I've (over)heard many people say how crap London Pride has become compared to the one in Brighton. As we had never been, it was high time to go on a fact finding trip!

Adrian suggested we re-used the costumes from 2006 and, thanks to the lovely Mike and Alex's hospitality, we had a place to go and get ready before the parade.

The day started for us with a 6 am wake-up call; we were on the train to Brighton with our bags at 7:22 am

and by the sea-side at 8 am.

Mikey very kindly picked us up at the station and drove us to the vicarage where they are staying for the week-end.

We even got a lovely cooked breakfast to fortify us for the endeavours of the day!




Shortly after breakfast it was time to get ready!



Yes the outfits are quite heavy and cumbersome and the vicar even had to move  the car off the drive as we couldn't get out!



A big thank you to everyone at the vicarage for their very kind hospitality!

We then walked down to the seafront by the pier where the parade was assembling



So far so good: it was a great atmosphere somehow more relaxed than London.
We joined the parade as instructed at the end, after the police and the shit left in vast quantities by their horses, and for a while it was fun.

Then we noticed that unlike London for most of the parade there are no barricades and people would just walk in to pose for photos, getting very crowded and rather claustrophobic at times.

It didn't help that a number of people were already high on drink (and goodness knows what else!) just after midday.
Some people were really obnoxious (mainly the youngsters) and I would have happily stuck my pink feather fan where the sun doesn't shine! 

After walking for what felt like hours, we finally got to Preston Park where the event was.

It was rather crowded!



Here we saw Mike and Alex again, and bumped into some other people we knew near the 'bear tent',
We didn't stay long as we were on the train back to sanity London at 4:19 pm!

So what's the verdict? Is it really better than London? I don't know about that.
If you like the 'party' yes it must be; if you hate crowds it's even worse that the event in capital. In my personal opinion there is also a higher concentration of morons too!

We are glad we went and we enjoyed it, probably more now that it is over!

Yesterday we spent the day in Brighton for some sea air (it was sunny!), and to see Alex and Mike who were there for the long week-end. We also had the pleasure to meet their friend David.




(David was modelling a pantomime costume for us in a charity shop; it didn't fit either Adrian or me, so we didn't buy it.
Mike was flashing his fur!)


Food yesterday consisted of afternoon tea at the camp and kitsch "Tea Cosy".
You should go there to see something really "over the top" when it comes to decorations! (it is a kind of shrine to the Royal Family, walls and ceiling).




Adrian and I had the "The Queen Elizabeth Coronation High Tea" (pictured above): the Welsh rarebit was lovely, the crumpets and scones very good; the sliced cakes mediocre (not homemade, but I guess you must get a homemade one if you order one of the other teas).

Anyway, it was quite an experience!

*

Today we spent the afternoon and evening at Lynne's!
She cooked a gorgeous roast chicken lunch with all the trimming and we sat to watch some DVD/Blue ray films on her new HD TV.... for 9 hours!!!
Thank you Darling!

Today I discovered that perhaps at times you can have too much of a good thing.

We went down to Brighton to discuss the details for our Civil Partnership celebration (7 weeks today).
We first called at the fish&chip restaurant where we were offered a drink and I had tea (2 cups); then at the place where we'll be having afternoon tea (another tea: 2 more cups).
Both ladies we talked to were extremely nice and we are very happy with out things are shaping up.

Before heading back to the station we went to a lovely tea room that would have been our first choice for afternoon tea but unfortunately is way too small to accommodate all our guests.
We had something to eat, and yes more tea (one large teapot each: I had 4 cups).

8 cups of tea in less than 4 hours!!

The tea room is called the Tea Cosy and it's very camp and bohemian (we are partial to a bit of both!).
It reminded us of Lovejoy's Tea Room in San Francisco, though much smaller and definitely more eccentric.


The menu states that anybody caught dunking their biscuits in their tea will be asked to leave, and similar treatment will be dished out to those responsible of "blasphemy" against HM the Queen or any member of the Royal Family!

It's Monday morning, I'm at work and I'm bored again! Well nothing new there.

My week-end was good and way too short.
On Saturday, we braved the wind and rain and went down to Brighton, mainly to check out a couple of place for our civil partnership celebratory trip.
Then we went onto the pier: my goodness, it was really windy!! (but dry)

The light was beatiful and there were so many birds flying over the pier and the sea. Apart from the seagull, there were flocks of small birds (I confess my ignorance on the matter and won't even try to guess what they were) that kept flying over: it was like being in "The birds", though luckily they did not attack anybody!

We got home at around 8:15 pm and I felt slightly ill: I think it was all that fresh air. Anyway a soup, a sandwich, a stiff whiskey and a snooze on the sofa resting my head in Adrian's lap sorted me out!

Yesterday was spent at home: I managed to tick a few things off my to-do list and we also planned how to spend our 10 days in Florida next Feb.
Sadly we'll give the north-east and the panhandle a miss, but there isn't just enough time to go everywhere!