So right now it's 8:30 in the morning and I'm just about to pack my stuff up and travel to London to stay with my aunty and uncle for a few days before going on an overnight camping trip.

But i'll get to that in a few days. Brighton is a beautiful city by the bay. Reminds me a lot of st Kilda. Just a bit nicer area and there's a lot better shopping.

Got stuck in a bit of traffic on the way down because of a yearly bike ride from London to Brighton. So managed to find a park about a 1 mile away then walked it to the hostel, which was right on the beach front. St Christopher's inn. Which is a bit of a European chain. We were sharing a room with 3 young guys from Germany or Switzerland or somewhere around there but what I've noticed whilst traveling is that most European travellers spend pretty much their entire time in the rooms. They'll get up for breakfast then jump straight into bed. I mean why leave your own country to travel if all you're going to do is sleep all day?

Anyway dropped our bags off and went for a wander through the streets primarily The Lanes, which are old fishing houses turned into shops that snake their way through the main streets close to the beach (actually I shouldn't really call it a beach because it's not covered in sand it's just rocks. But then again it's the best they can do so A for effort). But anyway it's very easy to get lost in the lanes as there's no real reference point and no matter how many times you wander through and back again there's always another shop to find (mostly jewellery and dress stores).

After consulting the Britain travel guide I've got (big thanks to Laura Anderson) found out there's the less commercial lane called The North Laine. Felt like we'd stepped into Thailand. Impromptu stalls set up along the strip buried amongst colourful cafes and pubs attended to by more colourful people. (biggest gay and lesbian community in England).

After being dragged this way and that through clothing store and jewellery stores alike managed to stumble down a lane with a man and his dog hanging out and the dog was stake boarding, like literally stake boarding it was one of the coolest things I've seen and enough to brighten everyones' day that happened past. I'll post a couple of photos. Afterwards grabbed a beer at a tiny little pub and sat outside in the sun. Then pub crawled it to another one further west called the black lion to satiate a craving for nachos. But not dinner time yet. After a few more beers in the fading sunlight, a spilt glass of wine down my jeans, which still smell of it, and a couple of run ins with the local street crowd (mostly asking for money). Figured it was time to get some dinner.

Asked the bar tender what was good and she suggested a moroccan place nearby.

A big thing for me about going to ethnic restaurants is it needs to be devoid of white people and full of the local culture and this one was more that than any other along the strip. A small crowd of Lebanese guys out the front passing around a shishe and then wandered inside and there was another gathering around the tv watching the football everyone screaming at it in Arabic. These are the places for food.

I'll post a photo of the meal this morning but it was just beautiful, we got a meze and a targine to mix it up a bit between cultures.

Being so full we just went for a massive walk along the "beach" then back to the bar below the hostel for a bit then sleepy time.

Woke up the next day about half an hour before check out so everything was a bit rushed but at least we were able to leave our bags there until we picked them up later in the day.

First thing was first though, Before any shopping or walking was done we needed coffee and fast.

So after browsing the shops for a bit and walking across half the city we finally sat down about an hour later at this very Australian looking coffee house. I got a macchiato, first time I'd seen it on a list and by god was it worth the wait. Nice strong two shot coffee to start the day. Probably a little bit too much milk in it but better than the French stuff. Seriously most places only Serve short blacks and it's just coffee flavoured water most of the time.

Then we went for a bit of a shop. Katy is definitely a bit of a compulsive shopper when she wants to be, but she say she doesn't shop very often. I think she bought something at just about every store we walked into minus the shoe stores, which we visited a lot of to find a pair of Nike blazers for her. I managed to find a pair of shoes that fit me, a pair of vans, and for half the price of what you'd expect to pay in Australia so HA! bought a couple of other bits and pieces but nothing major.

Whilst walking through lanes again, found a really nice Thai restaurant with a roof terrace so sat out in the sun and sipped on a mojito at 2pm. But it wasn't time for lunch yet so more walking and then came across another bead store so I found the nearest pub and sat down outside sipping on a beer whilst Katy went off and shopped for beads to make more jewellery.

After that wandered back and grabbed our bags before grabbing a 6pm lunch at wagamama. A Japanese restaurant. Very white, very clean and very tasty.

Walked up the hill back to the car and then drove back to Katy's house. Then spent half the night helping Katy register and set-up he business. Mainly what records to keep and why.

As I finish this I'm on the train to London. It's been a fun weekend in Essex and hopefully the weather holds out for the camping trip this weekend.

A la prochaine

E