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Having reported that I abandoned my attempt to go to Brighton the other week due to dire weather conditions, I took advantage of the sunshine last Sunday and jumped on a train to the coast.

Armed with a camera and sunglasses I enjoyed a great day at the seaside. Brighton is really big, not like the quaint seaside towns I’m used to up North - it’s actually like Bournemouth. I made my way down from the massive train station to the sea front where the promenade stretches for miles. It’s all so heavily built up - like a foreign resort. I spent most of the day strolling along the stony beach (shame it’s not sandy) taking in the sights of the burnt-out west pier and then walking along the main pier. This is great - full of classic seaside games, arcades, shops and funfairs. I bought fish and chips and watched the jet skiers zoom around beneath the pier, showing off to the crowds by doing stunts.

Click here to see my panorama of the pier.

Luckily for me, I had chosen to come to Brighton on the day of the famous ‘London to Brighton Classic Car Rally’. The finish line was just on the promenade so I spent most of the afternoon watching the cars come in which parked up along the sea front. The proud owners stood by their vehicles, happily ready to tell you all about their pride and joy.

Heading back to the station I did have a wonder through the winding shopping streets and had time to check out the famous Royal Pavilion, styled like an Indian palace by architect John Nash between 1815-1823. It’s quite spectacular.

I had a great day out but forgot to take sun cream so unfortunately I looked like classic Brit abroad for the journey back to London.

Deck chairs on the promenade

View from the beach

Brighton pier

Jet skiers

Car rally on the sea front

The Royal Pavillion

Sue and Eric had a good time in London when they came to stay for a few days the other week. Yet more exciting adventures, especially for Eric. Busy in the big smoke!

Unfortunately I was at work while they were out exploring the galleries, museums and tourist sites of the capital, although one evening me and Eric went for a night on the tiles. We went to Notting Hill Arts Club - to a hip-hop night where they have live bands as well as DJs. It was good fun and we watched three bands and singers playing a variety of soul, R n B and even some electro-rock music. It’s quite an alternative scene at the Arts Club so not a typical example of a nightclub in England. Eric seemed to have a good time though.

On the Saturday I had time to show Eric some of the cool buildings in London in The City. We wondered round looking at the great architecture of the ‘Gherkin’ (Swiss Re building), Natwest tower and the Lloyds building before grabbing a tasty burger on trendy Brick Lane.

This was before we attended a ‘Celebrate Rwanda’ day, an event organised by VSO volunteers (and Sue’s fellow colleagues from her time working in Rwanda). I really enjoyed the event which featured talks by Rwandanese officials, traditional dancers, slideshows and presentations by VSO members. I even had a go at the dancing…

It was good to get involved and find out more about Rwanda, the country and its culture.

At the club.

Eric outside the ‘Gherkin’.

Celebrate Rwanda day

Presentations

Traditional dancers

Sue telling us about her experiences

My Bank Holiday Monday was not spent doing anything that special largely due to the terrible rain but I still managed to get out and about. The Saturday was nice though and I took a stroll down by the Southbank where there is always lots going on. I actually went from Westminster down past the London Eye and Tate Modern and continued to Tower Bridge which I’d never seen before. The view is great from the bridge and takes in the whole city skyline and the Thames. While I was there the bridge actually opened to allow some ship to pass through - the process is quite quick actually.

I headed back to the Tate Modern where outside there was a cool mountain biking competition being held. The crowds were huge but not as big as the jumps and ramps the crazy bikers were launching themselves off. Great entertainment. Back in Shepherds Bush later that evening I decided to get a last minute gig ticket (off a tout) for Terrorvision at the Empire. This band are a bit of a blast from the past from my yoof and they’ve recently reformed - they look a bit old now (and so do their fans) but they can still rock. Great stuff.

Sunday was a bit rainy so I headed to The Imperial War Museum, where I’d wanted to go for ages. I really enjoyed it but only had a few hours and needed a bit more time to see everything. There’s a great bit called ‘The Trench’ which recreates life in a WW2 trench, complete with smells and dark passageways.

Monday was a bit of a write-off. I’d planned to go to Brighton and got up early to get the train. Unfortunately, it was raining really hard and didn’t look like stopping. But being the stubborn boy I am, I still headed off for the station in my waterproofs only to turn back halfway there, my shoes squelching with water.

The rest of the day was spent indoors apart from heading out to catch ‘Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull’ at the cinema. I enjoyed it but I don’t think everyone is of the same opinion…

I never tire of the views.

Tower bridge

MTB competition outside Tate Modern

Outside the Imperial War Museum

Terrorvision!

I finally met my new Brother-in-Law Eric last weekend when I went up to Sheffield to visit family. Eric is my sister Sue’s new husband who she met in Rwanda - it is his first time in the UK so it was good to find out how he’s getting on and bond over making a birthday cake. Yes, the reason I was in Sheffield was because it was my Newphew Harvey’s 4th Birthday party, so it was a bit of a family gathering. Poor Eric, thrown in at the deep end! Even I find family get-to-gethers a bit too much sometimes!

Anyway, I first met Eric in Matalan of all places where he was buying a belt - had Eric’s waistline already shrunk over the shock of horrible British cuisine or expanded over too many Fish and Chip suppers?. Back at my sister’s house, we were then put in charge of making a dragon Birthday cake which I think we did a good job of. I gave Eric a ‘welcome to Britain’ present of some Union Jack boxershorts and a Queen’s cutout head postcard (living in London, these items are handily easy available). I think he was pleased.

That evening after tea, me, Eric, Mark and my dad went to the local golf driving range to hit a few balls and have some ‘lads’ time. It was Eric’s first time playing golf because in Rwanda it is an exclusive sport only enjoyed by rich people. Good fun.

The next day was Harvey’s birthday party. He had a bouncy castle in the backgarden and had invited about 10 of his friend round. So the afternoon was spend playing party games, eating party food and having fun on the bouncy castle.

All in all, it was a fun-filled, if hectic weekend - I hope Eric knows what he’s in for…

Sue, Eric and me

The dragon cake

Eric with his present

Playing golf

Fun on the bouncy castle

The other weekend when it was really hot and sunny, I went to Hampstead Heath to join friends Tom and Clare for a Sunday picnic. Clare has just moved to London so was good to find out how she was enjoying London. We had a lovely spread of food including some pear cider that I brought along. Hampstead Heath is a really big green space but we only really saw a small part of it. We were on Parliment Hill where you get a great view of the London skyline looking south. Click here to have a look at the panaroma picture I took (scroll along the picture).

There’s a few lakes and bathing pools on the heath (inlcuding a lido). There’s a mixed sex lake, a womens’ lake and famously a men only lake where you are probably more than likely to be propositioned by a toned man in skimpy trunks if you hang around long enough…

Tom and Clare

On the heath

One of the lakes

I haven’t blogged in a while, so let me quickly let you know what I’ve been up to. The other week I went to a free festival in Victoria Park in East London. It was all in support of ‘Love Music Hate Racism’, a campaign to unite people against rascism and fascism through the power of music. Carrying on the spirit of when similar events took place in the 70s, it was a day of rock bands, rappers and ethnic musicians performing to get the message across. It was a good day despite pretty miserable weather and I saw the likes of Hard-Fi, The Paddingtons and The Good the Bad and the Queen.

This event tied in well with the London Mayoral elections which took place about a week later - which some would say hinged slightly around the political and racial views of Tory Boris Johnson Vs Labour Ken Livingston. One thing people would all agree on though was the shunning of the BNP (anti-BNP being the main focus of the festival).

Anyway, I was quite excited at getting my opportunity to vote in London on who I thought would best run the capital city. I was up bright and early to stroll down to the local church hall in Shepherds Bush to cast my vote. I opted for Ken, he lost, Boris won but I’m not bitter. Let’s give him a chance and see what he can do.

I spent the long May Bank Holiday in York, chilling out and catching up with friends there. The weather was beautiful, the boats were out on the river and it was the perfect time to spend lazing in the parks.

It’s been hot and sunny down here in London too and I enjoyed strolling down the Mall and through Trafalger Square after seeing a gig at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) last week. It was a band called Gravenhurst who do indie, shoe-gazer type stuff. With it being the ICA the crowd were very reserved and just stood politely still, at the most, outrageously nodding their head in time with the beat.

A pretty wet and gloomy day

One of the stages

The local polling station

Boats on the river in sunny York

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Despite waking up to a blizzard outside my window on Sunday morning, I decided to head into London and catch the action of the Olympic torch relay from St Pauls Cathedral (plus, I just had to go and see what was going on after seeing all the exciting scuffles on BBC news that morning. Seeing ex-Blue Peter’s Konnie Huq wrestling the torch with a protester is one of the funniest thing I’ve seen this year. Poor old Konnie!).

I was there to see the hand-over of the torch to another runner outside the steps of St Pauls. All seemed quite orderly when I arrived at about 2.30pm but as the crowd gathered so did the protesters. On one side there was the ‘Free Tibet’ crowd and equally on the other a ‘One China’ crowd (ie. patriotic Chinese). So basically it just turned into a big shouting match between the two sides along with lots of banner and flag waving. In a surreal twist, a military band were trying to drown out the sound of the protesters by playing Darth Vader’s entrance march theme tune from Star Wars. I felt like starting up a protest against the band who were wearing bearskin hats (the Britsh Army has been criticised recently for their use of real black bearskin for their hats, cruely sourced and provided by Canadian hunters).

By the time the torch turned up there was so many police, security and riot vans around that you literally couldn’t see the torch. It must have been passed onto the bus because that suddenly sped off followed by the entourage of police. How disappointing.

I haven’t seen that much police presence since a Friday night out in Wrexham.

Outside St Pauls on a pretty bleak day

Quite a good Monk banner

Pro-Tibet and Pro-China flags side by side

A big police presence

Meanwhile, amongst the scuffling and shouting, The Peace Dance Man was trying to get his message across. Here’s a sample from his manifesto he was handing out: “I perform a traditional Irish folk dance. It is called a Soft Jig. It lasts four minutes, but I could cut it short, if necessary. I have the music on tape. I am willing to do my dance at any party free of charge.”

Cool.

A few weeks ago, I went to see my Uncle Matthew who lives in Lower Broughton in Salford. If you’ve heard of trendy Salford Quays, just think the exact opposite. This area of Salford is sadly very run-down but is now gradually being re-developed (demolished and rebuilt) to make for a more in-time trendy ‘New Broughton’. What this basically means by the looks of the development though is more glass less brick. What’s shocking is the abandonment of houses that are probably only 20 years old to make way for a completely new housing scheme. It seems that it’s just one grand housing plan after another from the Council; let’s hope this one lasts.

As me, my Dad and Uncle Matthew took a stroll around the area, Matthew could hardly recognise the area from the Salford he grew up in. The new houses and flats do look attractive and modern. We stopped to chat to a young lad who was standing in his doorway with his pet parrot on his shoulder. Walking though the soon-to-be demolished vacant buildings was like a visit to a ghost town; boarded up windows and rusting satellite dishes.

We reached the Church of the Ascension, a red bricked grade II listed building about 100 years old. It seemed odd stuck amongst the decay, wasteland and re-development - defying the odds against its existence.

The redevelopment

Abandoned houses

Surveying the area - Strangeways prison is just on the horizon

The Church of the Ascension

Me and Uncle Matthew

Following on from my recent holiday in the snowy wilderness of Lapland, I saw a brilliant film yesterday called Into The Wild. It was a very touching and beautiful film based on the book by Jon Krakauer. It’s a true story of the adventures of Christopher McCandless, a young american who, after graduating from university, shuns the modern world and society by giving all his money to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska. The film is all about the people he meets along the way until he eventually reaches Alaska and lives his dream in the wilderness. The ending is very sad though and I came out of the Prince Charles cinema and into Leicester Square a bit dazed.