A Grand dayout!!

Today we decided to take a bit of a day trip out to BRIGHTON the louder busier and slightly more bohemian cousin of Eastbourne.

We began our outing with a lovely drive from Polegate to Brighton. The other road users thought that we would appreciate the scenery more and get to know the area better by travelling no faster than 30mph for most of the journey. Thanks to this we got a great view of the "long man" carved into the hillside.


When we arrived in Brighton we had a delightful 15-20 minute tour of the town until we found a parking space just on the border of Eastbourne.

After a short walk along the prom whilst being refreshed by a howling sea breeze we made it into town. As it was approaching lunch we decided to go food hunting. Not an easy task when I am lactose intolerant, Mrs Vicarage can't do wheat, gluten, tomatoes, red meat or msg, the girl is picky with a capital P and Isaac will eat anything put in front of him.

Then suddenly, just around the corner we spy our salvation from gnawy hunger pains. NANDOS!

Now fully fuelled up on chilli and chicken it was time for some shopping.

And what an experience. I felt old, working class and quite poor not to mention deeply unfashionable as we walked the streets filled with the painfully hip and the bang on trend. Basically I just felt slightly uncomfortable the whole time.

However we did have some success in shopping, we finally have some wine glasses which match. Unfortunately the girl (number 2 child) decided in one shop (I believe it was TK Maxx) to catch her eye ball on one of those product hanger thingies near the tills. Thanks to God though that this does not appear to have caused any damage and she was still able to enjoy our final activity before leaving Brighton.

We went off to Cineworld to watch the latest (and least well known outside of small girls social circles) Disney offering.

And it was brilliant! The movie at least. The girl did not blink from the moment the titles came on to the moment the credits rolled. Even the boy was fascinated, especially during the flying sequences. The girl seemed most impressed that the little girl had the same name as her!

I say that at least the movie was brilliant because the experience, or at least my experience was enhanced in many exciting ways.

Firstly the strong ammonia smell of urine in the cinema acted as very impressive smelling salts at the end of a tiring day. Secondly I was saved from a salt over dose and excess calories by accidentally tipping half my bag of salted popcorn all over the floor. The third thing was that the cinema was exceptionally dark and it was difficult for Mrs Vicarage to find the cup holder, but I managed to find it with my knee, HARD. Fourthly, Mrs Vicarage was having some trouble getting the straws into the large coke, but in doing so poured a sizeable quantity of the cold liquid all over my feet which had been getting quite warm in my sandles. There was then a steady drip of cold liquid from the cup to cool my feet during the rest of the movie, LOVELY.

The journey home was as lovely as the journey there. No rushing home for us, no no. Instead a nice leisurely drive home with cyclists and pedestrians overtaking us. Following a smartcar which had undergone some amusing rebranding.

please click on the pic to see what I mean.

Hello Silver Lining!