The wind swirled, the leaves danced and the English Channel erupted onto the beaches of Brighton last night. I know because here in Heathers lovely little flat the windows rattled and the rain hammered. Sounds not unfamiliar for someone from the West Coast of Canada, and just like at home they make for a cozy comfy feeling as you drift off to sleep.
Debbie Huddlestan thank you for having such a warm and welcoming daughter. Heather greeted me at her flat in Hove, had a whole slew of things for us to do and was gracious and fun just like her mother. We cried a few tears in her mother’s memory but we also had some good laughs and we forged a friendship that will last for years to come.
Heather, who was once a student of mine, has been very adventurous. A little girl from Port Hardy, British Columbia, Canada, population 5000, she crossed the North Atlantic and has made the UK her home. With a good job and her own flat and a gang of great friends she has built a life for herself full of interesting places and events. I’m so proud of her and I know her mother would be too.
While Heather was still at work on my second day in Hove I was invited to her friends home in Brighton to accompany them to a record shop extravaganza. YES a record shop, as in all vinyl! Alison’s flat was gloriously English. Street level, very narrow hallway leads to office and bathroom and the rest of the space is taken up by very narrow stairs leading up to bedrooms and down to kitchen and sitting room. Of course the building is hundreds of years old and who ever thought some fool would want to wrangle a queen size up the inches wide stairs of a row home. Down the stairs is the kitchen and living area with a beautiful little garden patio for summer. Inside a low ceiling and a gas fire and typically English fittings we returned from the Record store bash for a delicious lamb dinner and plenty of Prosecco.
Brighton itself is home to a famous Pavillion that combines French and Chinese architecture from the 1800s resulting in what became known as Chinoisierie. A synergy of styles, colour and form where the sum of the parts is greater than the hole. I didn’t visit this time as my time with Heather was short and we had lots of other things to do. After a great walk we met up with the “girls” at a 16th pub for bangers and mash, good comfort food for a dark November afternoon.
Sunday lunch is impossible to escape, nor would you want to. Heather and I found a great place after another long walk on the Hove Promenade and settled into roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings. All slathered in a delicious gravy and washed down with a pint.
Goodbyes said and promises to stay in touch with Heather and my new friends from Brighton, I am now on the Hove to London Victoria Station train where I will stop up at a rented flat for the next six nights.
Wander With Stella - Solo & Together 