Day Out In Brighton
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On a recent Sunday afternoon, I met up with Ian, and my new writer friend Jude again in Guildford.
I drove them both to a nice village called Shere.
I nearly got lost driving there, as I took a wrong turning, but Ian spotted another road, which I used to get there.
When we arrived in Shere, we walked round some of the village. I showed them the stream, and then the churchyard.
Me and Ian in the Churchyard in Shere. You can just about make out Jude's shadow over us, as she took the photo
We then went in a pub together and had a meal and a drink. I ate my favourite meal of scampi and chips, Jude ate a vegetarian meal.
After we had our meal and chatted to each other, I drove Ian and Jude back to Guildford.
Jude then drove herself back to Bracknell.
I took Friday off work, as the weather looked like it would be sunny, so I thought it would be nice idea to spend the day in Brighton.
I phoned my mate Frog and he was up for going to Brighton as well, and I asked him if we could meet up with his artist friend Owen, who lives there.
Frog's artist friend Owen was up for meeting up too, which was cool. I was excited about meeting him, as I thought his art and videos were very funny.
Owen is on my MySpace friend list as 'Putressence'
I also asked a few other friends if they were up for going to Brighton with me, and Ian said he'd come along with his friend too.
So, we met up at Guildford train station. Frog was outside the station, and we found Ian with his friend inside the station entrance.
Ian introduced me and Frog to his friend, who we had both not met before. Ian's friend was called Jeremy, and he had come all the way from North Carolina, so he was another American. I've met quite a few people from the US this year.
Jeremy works as a Captain pilot, flying cargo around the world. He had some time off, so he came to England to hang out with us.
Jeremy looked very much like Phil Collins, who is a famous singer. Frog made a few filthy jokes about this, as Ian looks a bit like Sting, but I won't repeat Frog's jokes here.
Jeremy was very interesting to talk and listen to, as he knew a lot of facts. He told us about some of his experiences of being a pilot. A good story he told us was when his plane was hit by lightning, the flash blinded him for about 10 seconds, and some of the plane electrics cut out.
Jeremy also told us about some of his girlfriends around the world that he sees, like one in China and one in Russia, when he goes on flights there.
It was interesting to hear stories about Jeremy growing up in North Carolina as well, and he told us that Hill Billie's live in that area.
We caught the train from Guildford to Gatwick.
Frog and Jeremy had a bit of a debate on Frog's favourite topic, which is the 9/11 attack.
Frog is very interested in conspiracies, and he believes with the research he's done, that the American government blew up the Twin Towers, and that it was an inside job.
There are a lot of unusual things about the 9/11 attack, which many say there are unanswered questions about the whole thing.
Whilst Frog and Jeremy were have a debate about 9/11, a big black guy, who was standing behind us on the train, spoke up. The big guy looked a bit like the boxer Mike Tyson, as he was big built. This guy was a bit annoyed with Frog's views on 9/11, and he said something to Frog in a fairly aggressive voice. Frog started to argue back with him, but luckily the train stopped off at Gatwick and we all got off quickly, Frog followed us too, and luckily the big guy did not follow as well.
When we were standing on the platform in Gatwick, waiting for our Brighton train to arrive, I took a photo for Ian, as he had forgotten to take his camera with him. Ian wanted a photo of 'Mind the Gap' which was painted on the edge of the platform, as he wanted to send this photo to his friends in the US.
Mind the gap
An announcement spoke out on the tannoy speaker, which gave some bad news. The woman's voice said that had been a fatality on the line, which meant our train had been cancelled. I guess someone must have thrown themselves on the rail line. This really sucked, as we had to wait around for ages for a train to arrive on the other platform. We were really hungry by then too.
Our replacement train eventually arrived on the other platform and we all got on.
Frog got a text message from his friend Owen whilst we were on the train to Brighton.
It's always very amusing when Frog gets a text message on his mobile, as the sound his text alarm makes is "Message, MESSAGE, MESSSSAGGGE, MESSSSSSAAAAGGGGEEE!" and it gets louder and louder, until it eventually stops.
Frog told me a funny story about when he went meditating with his meditation group. They were all sitting silently doing their mediating, when they heard "Message, MESSAGE, MESSSSAGGGE, MESSSSSSAAAAGGGGEEE!", which broke the silence, and created some giggling amongst the group. It turned out that Frog had left his mobile switched on in his bag outside in the corridor!
Frog called back his friend Owen, and he told us that his friend Owen would meet us outside Brighton train station.
The train arrived in Brighton, and we all got off.
Me, Ian and Jeremy then met Frog's artist friend Owen for the first time outside the station entrance. Frog introduced us all to him and we shacked his hand. Owen was dressed very smart in a black suit. Owen looked a bit like how the Master used to look in the old classic Doctor Who, which was cool.
We were all starving Marvin by then, so we walked towards a nice restaurant, which I had been to before on the pier.
On the way to the pier, me and Ian took a few photos of each other, with the beach and sea behind us.
Me in Brighton
Ian in Brighton
We got on the pier, but the restaurant I liked was sadly closed, as there was a private function going on inside. Ian was a bit frustrated, as he was looking forward to his fish and chips that he'd been waiting a long time for.
So we then headed back down the pier to find somewhere else to eat. On the way walking back, we asked a girl to take a group photo of us standing together.
Ian, me, Owen, Frog and Jeremy on the Brighton Pier
It took us a while to find a good place to eat, as we couldn't decide where to go. Luckily Owen knew of a pub, which was ok to eat in, so we ate in there. We ordered our food, Owen had a vegetarian meal, and I had chicken breast, which had barbeque sauce and cheese on it, with chips and salad. I can't remember what Frog, Ian and Jeremy had for their main meal, but we all shared some of Jeremy's chicken wings, apart from Owen.
After we all had finished our meals and drinks in the pub, we walked towards the seafront. We sat a bar there, and drank some more.
Not long after we sat down the sun disappeared behind some clouds and didn't come out again, apart from a brief bit of sunshine on the sea in the far horizon, which got us excited, but that only lasted about 10 minutes, and then the sun was gone for good after that. It started to get a bit cold and windy not long after. Ian and Jeremy felt the cold a bit more than me, Frog and Owen, but we're hard and used to it here. Ian and Jeremy have got used to the warmth and good life in the USA!
Whilst we were sat outside the bar by the seafront, Owen got out some of the small badges which he makes himself, and sells on his own stall in Brighton. They were very clever. You had to peer closely at them, as they were very small. The slogans and pictures on them were quite rude, which was part of the joke. When people approach his stall, I imagine they go;- "Oh, wow, they look like nice little badges, what does that say? Urrrggghhh. Oh my God. You sick b*stard!" Some of the badges say stuff like "I Love MILF" or "I can smell your c**t" He has also made some great videos with Frog. Owen told us about some of his other art, I have included some it below for you.
Owen
Owen's look-alikes
We then chatted about all kinds of stuff, from everything like our favourite comedies, to the problems with some beliefs.
It got quite a bit more colder and windier, Owen had trouble lighting a fag due to the wind.
We couldn't think what else to do whilst we were in Brighton, as I think the cold numbed our brains a bit, and Ian had to head back to Guildford, because of his Salsa dancing that evening.
So myself, Ian and Jeremy left Frog with Owen in Brighton, as Frog decided to spend a few days down there. We caught the train back to Guildford, and it was ok going back, with no further deaths on the line. I said good bye to Jeremy, and that I'll see Ian again another day.
Posted by Barry on 27 September, 2007 5:05 AM | Permalink
Content Tags:
planetfrog, frog, ian, owen, jeremy, jude, shere, brighton, brighton pier, art, artist, seaside, salsa
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