A Day out on Brighton Pier

The last few days of my annual leave and we decided to visit Brighton Pier. It's only a half an hours drive away and we always sort of forget it's there!

We parked up near Kemptown where the all day charge is £5 (unlike on the seafront where it's £15) and walked down to the sea via flea markets and charity shops, browsing as we went. Lots of taxidermy but none created such a desire to own them as the moose head I'd seen in Lewes the day before (I now have a serious moose head obsession - I think the hallway needs a moose head)

 After a nice lunch in a Kemptown cafe/restaurant (lovely plaice and chips for me, disappointing burger for DD, cheese sandwich for DH ...maybe wine...yes yes there was wine!) we wandered down to the pier.

Don't Blink

 Brighton pier is free to walk on, and there are free deckchairs too. So on a warm or sunny  day (it wasn't cold but neither was it sunny on the day we visited) it's a great cheap way to 'people watch'. There are all the usual seaside fun things to do, buy food (whelks, cockles, prawns etc or donuts, waffles, frozen yoghurt with fruit, rock) or buy souvenirs (sunglasses, jewellery, temporary tattoos, cuddly toys) There are stalls to win things (tiny crap cuddly toys unless you win 1000 times!) by flinging balls at cans or shooting arrows from a bow, or even as easy as hooking a duck.

 There are amusements, all the usual fun of the fair, fortune telling machines, coin shove games, air hockey (including a new one that throws load of pucks onto the table at once! It looked awesome!), slot machines, shooting and driving games.

 There are places to have your picture taken peeping through comedy pictures, and then, finally, at the far end, the fun fair rides.

I can't praise Brighton Pier highly enough. The rides are great fun and a wrist band for UNLIMITED rides is only £15 - after 4 rides the rest are 'free' - The rides are priced by 'token' - a token is £1 and the number of tokens varies but to ride all of the adult thrill rides would cost £42 in tokens.

DD and I got wristbands and were suitably terrified on the Crazy Mouse (each corner looks like you will be flung into the sea), looped the loop on the Turbo Coaster, DD nearly wet herself in terror on the Horror Hotel, but no one would have noticed as we had wet backsides from the Wild River log flume! We rode the dodgems (ace driving by me obviously) and had several rides on the amazingly fun Galactica, we even had a ride on the golden horses of the Carousel.

We were really impressed with the rides and the price, lots more choice and cheaper than Butlins (our next closest 'theme park' style location. We are already planning a full day there to make use of the unlimited rides.

DD finished off the trip with a waffle.... on a stick.

The great British seaside day out wins!

Benefit Street

I haven't watched Benefit Street. I do not intend to watch Benefit Street. This does not stop me having an opinion on Benefit Street.

One would have to be blind, deaf, living in another country and have no access to any news, to not know about the Channel 4 show Benefit Street.

I have not watched it because the title tells me all I care to know. It cries 'let us be disparaging of those scroungers that lay around all day living on benefits'.

And it seems from the discussions on Radio 4 and elsewhere that I'm not far wrong. Sold to those that 'star' in it as a 'show about community spirit', it appears to be far from that.

I feel sad that the people in the show were so used and so naive to let it happen.

Why did they not guess that a TV show would have an agenda? Why did they not realise that it is negativity that the world loves? Why did they not think to get something in writing as to what would be the tone of the show? Why was the street identified so that now people (and children!) that live there are being bullied?

I'm disgusted that while thousands condemn the show, a huge number of people watch and believe what they see. Disgusted that many who don't believe it, watch it anyway, (adding to the viewing figures) and then mutter their disgust after each episode.

I don't suggest for one moment that all people everywhere are saints. But I do suggest that skewing results is an unkind and deeply cynical thing to do.

I await with some glee a "Politician Street" looking into the lives of a more upper class of 'benefit' claimant. But I'm not holding my breath.