Brighton and conference part I -- Brighton
I didn't do it quite as cheaply as I'd hoped, because I bought two meals there, as well as tea on Saturday and Sunday mornings, a drink on Saturday evening, some snacks, and a bar of olive oil soap made by the Palestinian company Zaytoun, which was for sale on one of the stands (I wasn't as interested in the literature on the stand, as I had a fair idea of its content already, but supporting industry in that area sounded good to me). But I didn't go more than a few pounds over budget, for all that (excluding coach fare, but I budgeted that when I paid it last week).
Packing required a lot of organisation -- a sheaf of papers including directions from the coach station to the "crash space" (which I got off the AA website by plugging in the postcodes) and from crash to the conference venue, which was Hove Town Hall; my bus ticket; and an article I'd printed off from the Guardian as it had serendipitously turned up on their website on Friday, listing good cheap eats in Brighton. Night gear, clean skivvies, a very basic sponge bag (toothbrush and toothpaste, comb, deodorant), a sleeping bag kindly leant by flatmate-John, and a pillow. Food -- plums, apples, cereal, granola, soy milk, and two servings of stir-fry, plus another of dahl and rice for my dinner on Friday night -- I heated it up before I left the office and packed it up carefully wrapped in a tea towel and my pyjamas, to eat at the coach station.
I decided that because I didn't know what sort of kitchen facilities there would be at the crash space, and I didn't want to pack anything (like rice) that might go off at room temperature, only to pack breakfasts and lunches and not dinners as well. (I was right -- there was no microwave in the crash space, and there was a lot of time when I was walking around with food in my bags at room temperature.)
The journey down was a bit of a nightmare. I had booked a seven o'clock coach in an excess of cautiousness -- I finish work at five and, as I'd expected, taking the 38 from Piccadilly down to Victoria took less than half an hour. However, it gave me time to walk without rushing between the train station and the coach station, use the loo, and have some dinner, so it would have been perfect... except that when I pitched up at the gate at quarter to seven and asked if I was in the right place, I was told that I was, but there had been a horrendous accident on the motorway near Gatwick and as a result the 6.00 bus hadn't come yet, let alone the 7.00! I sat down with my book and a tube of Pringles and made the best of it.
In the end they got a replacement bus at 8.15. We pulled into Brighton around half past ten, right near the pier. I could see it all lit up and considered going down, and we'd also just passed the pavillion, which *really* got my attention, but I wanted to be sure of finding the crash space and thought I'd better get to sleep anyway. So off I toddled, found it easily enough with a route map I'd got off the AA, and went upstairs to the "early" room to sleep. It was the bare floor of the upstairs hall of St Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church. The sleeping bag and pillow were bare minimum necessities -- I really wished I had a crash mat too, it was very hard! Still, I slept, more or less. I woke sometime in the small hours of the morning with a very sore back, unzipped my bag, pulled my skirt out of it, shoved it underneath me and slept on!
The conference was really good but I don't have the schedule to remind me of everything, so I'll post more in another entry; I met a lot of lovely people, though, including making contact with quite a lot of Greens from Hackney. On Sunday night I stayed in the downstairs room in the crash space, the "late" room, because I'd stayed at the venue to watch comedy and didn't get to the crash till after midnight. Being carpeted, it was a bit softer, and I made it better still by putting all of my clothes (except my Hobbs jacket!) underneath me from the beginning. There were also bathrooms both upstairs and down, so I could brush my teeth, wash, comb my hair, etc. Obviously I hadn't packed make-up or anything else high-maintenance!
Everything was done by about four o'clock on Sunday afternoon. When I had booked my coach tickets I hadn't been sure what time it would all finish, or how far the conference venue was from the coach station, so I had booked a late bus -- 9 pm (plus that was when the cheap fares started). So, with five hours to kill, I took the opportunity to explore Brighton a little bit. I walked along the seafront from Hove Town Hall, where the conference was, all the way to Brighton pier. At various places there were stalls selling jewellery, clothing, etc, of the "bohemian" style that I favour! including one selling porcelain from Marrakech. I was tempted by some inlaid egg-cups, but resisted. Also lots of fish & chips and ice cream stalls (I gave in and got some chips, with lashings of salt and vinegar as is requisite!). And finally, a fortune teller's stall "Esmerelda -- genuine Romany gypsy" said the curling writing. And a carousel. Also tempting, but not too much so. And I had arrived at Brighton pier.
I wandered slowly along it and looked at all the games, food stalls, and rides -- they had just about as much as any amusement park, all along the pier! I would have rather liked to go on one of the roller coasters, (the log shoot was not as tempting as it might have been on a hot day!) but I had all my bags with me and they were expensive and had signs saying that they took no responsibilty for property, you had to leave it with a friend. So I just went into one of the gambling rooms and spent my £0.84 of change in one of the 2p slot machines! I won a lollipop and some pastel candies. Given it was quite fun, I thought that was pretty good value for less than a pound, but above that, not so much.
It was quarter to seven when I finished at the pier, so I walked up to the pavillion and around it a bit. It's very cool and beautiful, but I still couldn't figure out what it was all about! As it turns out, I was right to assume that it was an imitation of subcontinental architecture rather than actually designed by someone who might have designed a temple or gurdwara in India at the time. It's had a patchy architectural history, by the sounds of it, bits added through time! The grounds are lovely, and I can imagine the whole complex being a very big perk of living in Brighton. Either way, I'd like to go back another time and have a proper prowl around.
After that, I was planning on going to "the laines" (a pedestrianised area which is apparently also, more prosaically, known as "Brighton Lanes shopping area") which is right beside the pavillion, as that article from the Guardian on the best cheap eats in Brighton informed me there was a lovely Indian place on Meeting House Lane. I went and found it -- but it was closed! Alas, all could not go perfectly. So I found a Thai place, had tom yum soup, rice, and jasmine tea, very very relaxedly with my book, and then wandered over to get my coach home.
The coach to Victoria station and bus from there got me home at around quarter past twelve. I was a bit dozy yesterday, but I had a full nine hours sleep last night so am fully recovered.
I'll post about the actual conference in a follow-up.
Packing required a lot of organisation -- a sheaf of papers including directions from the coach station to the "crash space" (which I got off the AA website by plugging in the postcodes) and from crash to the conference venue, which was Hove Town Hall; my bus ticket; and an article I'd printed off from the Guardian as it had serendipitously turned up on their website on Friday, listing good cheap eats in Brighton. Night gear, clean skivvies, a very basic sponge bag (toothbrush and toothpaste, comb, deodorant), a sleeping bag kindly leant by flatmate-John, and a pillow. Food -- plums, apples, cereal, granola, soy milk, and two servings of stir-fry, plus another of dahl and rice for my dinner on Friday night -- I heated it up before I left the office and packed it up carefully wrapped in a tea towel and my pyjamas, to eat at the coach station.
I decided that because I didn't know what sort of kitchen facilities there would be at the crash space, and I didn't want to pack anything (like rice) that might go off at room temperature, only to pack breakfasts and lunches and not dinners as well. (I was right -- there was no microwave in the crash space, and there was a lot of time when I was walking around with food in my bags at room temperature.)
The journey down was a bit of a nightmare. I had booked a seven o'clock coach in an excess of cautiousness -- I finish work at five and, as I'd expected, taking the 38 from Piccadilly down to Victoria took less than half an hour. However, it gave me time to walk without rushing between the train station and the coach station, use the loo, and have some dinner, so it would have been perfect... except that when I pitched up at the gate at quarter to seven and asked if I was in the right place, I was told that I was, but there had been a horrendous accident on the motorway near Gatwick and as a result the 6.00 bus hadn't come yet, let alone the 7.00! I sat down with my book and a tube of Pringles and made the best of it.
In the end they got a replacement bus at 8.15. We pulled into Brighton around half past ten, right near the pier. I could see it all lit up and considered going down, and we'd also just passed the pavillion, which *really* got my attention, but I wanted to be sure of finding the crash space and thought I'd better get to sleep anyway. So off I toddled, found it easily enough with a route map I'd got off the AA, and went upstairs to the "early" room to sleep. It was the bare floor of the upstairs hall of St Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church. The sleeping bag and pillow were bare minimum necessities -- I really wished I had a crash mat too, it was very hard! Still, I slept, more or less. I woke sometime in the small hours of the morning with a very sore back, unzipped my bag, pulled my skirt out of it, shoved it underneath me and slept on!
The conference was really good but I don't have the schedule to remind me of everything, so I'll post more in another entry; I met a lot of lovely people, though, including making contact with quite a lot of Greens from Hackney. On Sunday night I stayed in the downstairs room in the crash space, the "late" room, because I'd stayed at the venue to watch comedy and didn't get to the crash till after midnight. Being carpeted, it was a bit softer, and I made it better still by putting all of my clothes (except my Hobbs jacket!) underneath me from the beginning. There were also bathrooms both upstairs and down, so I could brush my teeth, wash, comb my hair, etc. Obviously I hadn't packed make-up or anything else high-maintenance!
Everything was done by about four o'clock on Sunday afternoon. When I had booked my coach tickets I hadn't been sure what time it would all finish, or how far the conference venue was from the coach station, so I had booked a late bus -- 9 pm (plus that was when the cheap fares started). So, with five hours to kill, I took the opportunity to explore Brighton a little bit. I walked along the seafront from Hove Town Hall, where the conference was, all the way to Brighton pier. At various places there were stalls selling jewellery, clothing, etc, of the "bohemian" style that I favour! including one selling porcelain from Marrakech. I was tempted by some inlaid egg-cups, but resisted. Also lots of fish & chips and ice cream stalls (I gave in and got some chips, with lashings of salt and vinegar as is requisite!). And finally, a fortune teller's stall "Esmerelda -- genuine Romany gypsy" said the curling writing. And a carousel. Also tempting, but not too much so. And I had arrived at Brighton pier.
I wandered slowly along it and looked at all the games, food stalls, and rides -- they had just about as much as any amusement park, all along the pier! I would have rather liked to go on one of the roller coasters, (the log shoot was not as tempting as it might have been on a hot day!) but I had all my bags with me and they were expensive and had signs saying that they took no responsibilty for property, you had to leave it with a friend. So I just went into one of the gambling rooms and spent my £0.84 of change in one of the 2p slot machines! I won a lollipop and some pastel candies. Given it was quite fun, I thought that was pretty good value for less than a pound, but above that, not so much.
It was quarter to seven when I finished at the pier, so I walked up to the pavillion and around it a bit. It's very cool and beautiful, but I still couldn't figure out what it was all about! As it turns out, I was right to assume that it was an imitation of subcontinental architecture rather than actually designed by someone who might have designed a temple or gurdwara in India at the time. It's had a patchy architectural history, by the sounds of it, bits added through time! The grounds are lovely, and I can imagine the whole complex being a very big perk of living in Brighton. Either way, I'd like to go back another time and have a proper prowl around.
After that, I was planning on going to "the laines" (a pedestrianised area which is apparently also, more prosaically, known as "Brighton Lanes shopping area") which is right beside the pavillion, as that article from the Guardian on the best cheap eats in Brighton informed me there was a lovely Indian place on Meeting House Lane. I went and found it -- but it was closed! Alas, all could not go perfectly. So I found a Thai place, had tom yum soup, rice, and jasmine tea, very very relaxedly with my book, and then wandered over to get my coach home.
The coach to Victoria station and bus from there got me home at around quarter past twelve. I was a bit dozy yesterday, but I had a full nine hours sleep last night so am fully recovered.
I'll post about the actual conference in a follow-up.