BoofleBlog

We made the hour-and-a-half drive down to Brighton, a nice little seaside town which is supposed to be quite gay. The first stop was the Toy Museum. It’s very nice, but a bit small and heavier on the model trains than I might like.

As we wandered through town, I figured out what Brighton reminds me of — it’s a cross between Castro Street and Haight Street. There were certainly more gay folks there than I’d seen anywhere else, but it was crossed with a very strong hippie vibe. I remember passing the “Vegetarian Shoe Shop” (no leather or animal products). Mostly it felt like a lot of people determined to believe that they’re better than everyone else just because they don’t fit into the mainstream. Wow — just like the Haight and the Castro, then.

We went down the hill (through the rain) to the Royal Pavillion. It’s staggeringly gaudy. Indian and Chinese decor taken to never-before-seen degrees. If I understand right, it was George IV’s summer cottage while he was running the country and pretending that his father wasn’t that crazy. The best bit, and the only bit that wasn’t cringe-worthy was seeing Queen Victoria’s WC. I had expected the royal throne to be more impressive somehow.

Then back to Richmond, where I managed to catch the overtime of the FA Cup in the pub.

– Wrapup —