Brighton Putties

The beginning of august found me heading down the motorway towards Brighton to see me very good mate Dee. After a quick roasting in my tin can while I waited (and waited) to get through the tolls into Kent, (I should at this point note that it was soooo hot that even the sat nav fondly know as Nicola went into melt down) we cruised down through the south downs without further ado and arrived just in time for afternoon tea.

As is the way with the weather in England, having decided to talk a wonder down to the sea front it promptly started to drizzle and then rain on us!!! So we strolled along the promenade in the pissing rain until we found ourselves on the very famous Brighton Pier. After doughnuts, waffles and tea we had a good look at all the crazy people on the rides, which made for good spectator sport. which reminds me, Dee we still need to go on that roller coaster, next time hay. As the rain showed no sign of letting up it was back home for a very yummy supper and a good old yarn to catch up.

Friday dawned with a slightly greyish tint to the sky so we set off up the road to check out the Booth Museum. Stuffed full of things you would never be allowed to stuff these days the museum boasts over half a million specimens of assorted types and species some of which are now extinct and many of which are stabbed on to cork boards with little pins. That said if looking at taxidermy birds is your thing this is the place for your. Entering the museum one is confronted with room after room of hellish Victorian ode to the hunting of stunning creatures, stuffing them and hanging them from the wall. Not for the faint hearted there are lion and tigers and antelopes too, heads chopped off and mounted to the wall, but worry not what happened to the rest of the poor creatures body parts – skin on floor, bones on display, flesh undoubtedly eaten! To be fair to the place once you get passed the initial reaction of 'would these beautiful animals not have been happier left alone in the wilds from which they were taken' and acknowledge that it was a different time period and that these hunters were revered as great men, (although why the discerning Victorian gentleman would want stuffed a zebra attached to the dinning room wall and half and elephants head in the lounge is a little beyond me if for on other reason that it omits a rather unpleasant smell!) it is well worth a visit, if for no other reason than what’s done is done and we should try and look at the majestic beauty of this stunning collection of animals and curiosities from around the world with an open mind. After all they are quite stunning. Dee was rather taken with a checker elephant stow but for myself there is a merman made with such care to detail that even after all these years it still had the power of attraction.

After a return to the house for tea and cakes we headed down to town of some virtual retail therapy, this is where you wounder about shops looking at all the things you would buy if you had been born to money!!!! After spending several thousand virtual pounds we went for some serious pizza (which would have kill lesser mortals) then we encountered the fabric gallery (see separate post) a truly fabulous and well worth while poke about was followed by a couple of pints on the sea front in the sun, what more could a girl ask for? The hike home and some very yummy chicken fajitas. mmmm and a rather fun evening with the girls. Dee has to go to a fancy dress party where the theme is 'S' hence the obsession with the afore mentioned checkered elephant shrew!! So we proceeded to spend a large part of the evening doing Dee's head in while we came up with ideas for her costume. My personal favorite was that she should go as a solar powered calculator, complete with the number words, shelloil, on the display. Oh yes a fun night.