I Don't Need to do That Again - Brighton, UK

Perhaps it is the weather here in London (awful lately) or my slight jetlag having returned from San Francisco 4 days ago, but WTF is up with Brighton and why do people go there? I was clearly not impressed, so now you really want to read on - don't you.

Brighton is an easy 40 minute train ride from London. So we decided to enjoy the FIRST SUNNY DAY in a freaking long time and head south to the coast and Brighton.

I would say Brighton is a lot like Santa Cruz, but with less meth and homeless people. The temperature was about the same (i.e. freezing), and it seemed like there were a lot of people wandering around going, "why the hell do people come here" - just like Santa Cruz. There are also weird carnival rides and the assorted carnival junk foods - such as candy floss (makes me think of underwear but it is just cotton candy), mini doughnuts, and bad fish and chips. At least they had skiball. But at 50p per play, which is like almost 1 USD right now, it was a little rich for my taste.

Hey look, I'm cold.

After walking around for an hour or so and realizing there wasn't shit to do, we rented bikes and decided to ride along the coast. Uhm, great idea EXCEPT, a) the only bikes to rent were super huge beach cruisers that weighed about 60lbs, and b) the winds were blowing about 50mph off the water. This was excellent on our way out of town. We had 5 or 6 miles of pure tailwind, and then on the return......mother of god. People were walking faster than we were pedaling.So that was a fun 1.5 hours.

He looks happy because we had the tailwind here still.

Douche.

The one bright spot of the day in Brighton was lunch at Riddle and Fins.We had the works: oysters, mixed shellfish, bouillabaisse, fresh asparagus, and a gorgeous bottle of french white (plus 2 beers for Dave, Anchor Steam - not even kidding). I may have lead poisoning, or whatever you can get from over-consumption of shellfish.

Nom nom nom.

Heaven in a bowl.

These little snails were called whelks, new food for both of us.

OMG, really. This one is for R.S., she has that whole cake obsession-thing going.

Sunday made up for Saturday's visit to Brighton. Here's why:


While visiting SF last week, I was lamenting the sad absence of bagels in London. My coworker A.K. reminded me that there are bagels at Brick Lane in East London, which I totally forgot!!!! Real bagels, not those shitty (sorry, but I am using the word shitty appropriately here) things from Noah's. These are the water-boiled kind of bagels that are dense and tasty, not bready. Oh AND they pile "salt beef" on your bagel. Cream cheese is for wussies after all. 

Dear god, is this kosher?

Since I missed the Diamond Jubilee because I was in SF being warm, here is the best tribute to the Queen I have seen yet. This is above the pay-toilet at Victoria Station. Come on, check out the crown on the chick. That is some outstandingly patriotic graffiti.

Sorry for the tasteless toilet humor.