Thoughts from the Bus Stop

The Blonde and the Bungee

The Blonde doing it for The Kids (c) Kristen Bailey, 2007

Yesterday I stood on Hove lawns with my little sister's camera and a bunch of her mates, all of us frantically taking photos and trying not to wet ourselves as she jumped from a 160ft crane with an elastic rope tied to her ankles (throwing horns as she fell).

The Blonde has long expressed a desire to some day do a bungee jump, and when she heard she could do one for charity right here in Brighton 'n' Hove... well, she jumped (sorry) at the chance. She's raised over £300 so far and donations are still very welcome!

* SONG OF THE DAY: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Into The Great Wide Open *

In Which I Am Part Of A Christian Flashmob...

Tee-hee: "singing on Lansdowne place last night" See also: Holland Road Baptist Church, Hove

Audrey Hepburn visits Brighton Bead Shop

Audrey Hepburn visits Brighton Bead Shop (c) Kristen Bailey 2004

One of my photos has been posted on A Tribute To Audrey Hepburn! Taken in 2004 in Sydney Street in Brighton's North Laine.

The Feet Bus, Streets of Brighton 2006

Me on the Feet Bus at the Streets of Brighton, Friday 12 May 2006 (c) Blackbird 100

As is my annual tradition, I took Friday off work to wander around the North Laine watching the performers in Streets of Brighton, which is part of the Brighton Festival.

To my great joy I found myself taking part in a bus-based performance - here I am (in pink) in the Feet Bus, a project of Melbourne-based outdoor theatre group Feet Theatre.

Took lots of photos - am still adding them to my Streets of Brighton 2006 set on Flickr. There's also a set from Streets of Brighton 2005.

Brighton Festival Children's Parade 2006

The Brighton Festival Children's Parade 2006 (c) Kristen Bailey - click on the pics for larger versions

I've put some of my photos from Saturday's Children's Parade up on Flickr - do take a look, some of the costumes/creations this year (on the theme of 'World Cuisine') were amazing, particularly the giant puppets made by some of the schools with the help of community arts group Same Sky.

I was stewarding with a bunch of people from my church - I ended up helping to carry the banner at the front of the parade and my arms (and knees) have only just stopped aching.

Over seventy schools take part so it takes a long time for the whole parade to get from the North Laine to the beach. Once we'd got to the seafront with the first part of the parade we wandered back into town and watched the rest of the schools troop past. I'm so glad I was there - we only got slightly damp and the atmosphere was just fantastic.

Flickr: atconc's Brighton Festival 2006 set

Murmuration

Murmuration of starlings over Brighton's Palace Pier

Rubbish photos taken last night - crap camera and it was blowing a gale so I couldn't stay still long enough... but they give just a hint of the weird and wonderful sight that is the murmuration of starlings at sunset on Brighton seafront most nights.

You can see them fly in from all directions and eventually they form this huge amorphous ball of black dots in the sky, and perform a strange dance before settling down to roost.

They usually favour the derelict West Pier (thousands roost there), but last evening they were doing the do over the Palace Pier.

30/03/2006: Thanks for your comment, Céline. Take a look at her video of the murmuration over the West Pier - gorgeous.

See also:
Flickr - SteveMcN: Murmuration Returns
My Brighton and Hove: Watching the Murmuration
My Brighton and Hove: The Starlings

The Button Museum

Click on the pics for larger versions.

This was one of my favourite things at Streets of Brighton last month. You picked a button from the tray, took a slip and wrote down what the button reminded you of. Then the secretary typed up what you'd written onto an index card and filed it in the Button Museum. Lovely, in so many ways!

Portrait of John Peel

Finally got around to taking a picture of this loving tribute to Peelie on the side wall of the Prince Albert pub, which is at the end of the road where my office is (and regular home to excellent gigs - I got to see the awe-inspring Laura Cantrell play here to an audience of just 70). I noticed them starting it on the day before Christmas Eve, as I was leaving for the Christmas break, and when I came back to work in the New Year it was done. So now every morning when I'm on Trafalgar Street on my way to work, I give him a nod and say, 'Morning, John'.

Pink, pink sunshine

Last night I had a big get-together for my 30th birthday - and these pretty pink balloons (the same colour as my Kickers!) were part of the decorations at the restaurant. We took them down to Hove beach this morning and let them go - it took about 15mins for them to disappear completely. Lovely.

Images (c) Kristen Bailey 2004

Love letters

Paperchase are opening a branch in Brighton - about bluddy time! It'll be in East Street, around the end of the month. Great stationery AND sparkly things... mmm.

'The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize...'

I'm feeling very hot, and quite giddy. I've done it. I've just bought My First Ollie & Nic Bag in their sale (below left, except with pink flamingos, not blue):

I also got a new toilet bag (above, right) because my old one is knackered and I couldn't afford anything bigger in the same pattern and I really wanted something from that range because the pattern is almost identical to the curtains I had in my bedroom when I was six (except they were purple).

I can't remember the last time I found somewhere where I really like almost everything they make - I can be a picky gal (loved ones, please note: THEY DO GIFT VOUCHERS). And it's all so well made - the bags are all fully-lined and have a matching purse inside on a detachable fastener, and the fabric ones are coated so they're wipe-clean. A bit out of my league when full price, but still great value - you can pay the same elsewhere for complete tat.

This (below) is the next bag I've got my eye on - originally £45, now £32. So still out of my price range, but maybe I'll pop back in a week and see if they reduce it any further. Mmmm, squishy mint green velvet...

* SONG OF THE DAY:  George Baker Selection – Little Green Bag *

'We should take a bus to somewhere else, to something new....'

(c) Gordon Dinnage, T/A Dinnages Transport/Picture Publishing

'We should take a bus to somewhere else, to something new,
Thank God we're alive and bite off more than we can chew...'

After my physio appointment this morning, I was waiting for the 5A to get me from Hangleton back into town. And when it came, it was a 1953 red and cream Southdown double decker, complete with conductor writing out tickets! Apparently HAP985 gets a day out every year on its birthday. So I and the pensioners of Hove rode into town in vintage style, waving at bemused pedestrians and feeling very fancy.

Oh Rock of Ages, do not crumble, Love is breathing still

It's gale-force out there, and the middle section of the West Pier has finally crashed into the sea. You can get an (obscure) idea of the damage on BBC Southern Counties' webcam.

If it ain't got that swing...

Woohoo! Got my photos through of the Streets of Brighton performers on 7th May. Three films' worth, which I will be sorting through and raving about bit-by-bit of my next few posts - but first in line is Swizzelshaker, a great comedy/juggling/dance act we stopped to watch in New Road. It was so much fun to watch - in fact I was itching to join in. I loved watching the smiley faces of the two old ladies opposite me - who would have wore those clothes and danced like that in their youth.

And I fell in love with the guy, just a little bit. Cute, funny AND he can dance? (And the chances of him being straight, single AND a Christian are? Laughable. Darnit!)

Mosaic fun at Hove Museum

 

Had a really good time at Hove Museum the other Saturday at a workshop run by mosaic artist Anna Tilson. Got up to my elbows in tile chips and grout, and came home with a tile which actually looked like something a proper artist might make! Am now eyeing all flat surfaces at home with a view to taking this to the Next Level...

You turn your back for five minutes...

The Gorgeous Blonde informs me that on Saturday, whilst enjoying a birthday weekend with our folks, I missed, '...a 6-foot tall rabbit outside the Komedia dancing to 'A Message to you Rudy' in a storm of fake snow...'. Darn it!

Lenny Henry

Got to see Mr Lenny Henry's gig at the Gardner Arts Centre on Friday - free, courtesy of Virtual Brighton! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you My First Byline.

You can't beat the Meat

A totally unsolicited email of gorgeousness from my dear friend Uncle Meat this morning:

'Hello. Just to let you know you are lovely.
And it's such a fabulous day.
No, I'm not drunk. LJX'

The Blonde is back!

This makes me very happy: Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde!!! Although Legally Blonde 2 Barbie makes me slightly uneasy...

Isn't she pretty in pink?

Blair gives religious employers the right to sack gay workers
This makes me very sad, and regret that this is being done in the name of faith - my faith. Will they be sacking heterosexual staff who engage in pre-marital sex?

Pier fire flares up again
This too is very sad indeed. 'Firefighters have said a fire at Brighton's West Pier, which was probably started deliberately, has flared up again.'

West Pier: Arson Suspected

Station Officer Phil Thompson, of Preston Circus fire station in Brighton, said this afternoon: 'The fire is definitely of doubtful origin. There is no way it could have started on its own.'

West Pier fire nearly out

Just been onto the prom. The fire's just about out now, as it's down to bare metal and has run out of fuel. They don't seem to have intervened at all - I suppose when they realised it was going to die down there wasn't any point in trying to get fireboats out there.

And now there's a suggestion it might have been arson:
Dr Geoff Lockwood, chief executive of the West Pier Trust, said: 'I am extremely curious about how a fire could have started on the pier which was not accessible from the land. There was no electricity or combustible material there.'

Fascinating photos of the West Pier

Fascinating photos of the West Pier (pre-fire) by diver/engineer Sean Clark.

The West Pier's ON FIRE...

The West Pier's ON FIRE...

Party hard

Imagine, if you will, a stunningly beautiful summer Sunday afternoon by the seaside in Brighton. The sky is blue, the sun is blazing, the sea sparkling. The beach, the prom, and the pavements are covered in 60 tonnes of crushed cans, plastic bags and broken glass and the stench of stale piss hangs in the air. Don't get me wrong - I like a boogie on the beach as much as the next girl, but what, in the name of Norman Cook, went wrong?!

BBC: 'No repeat' of Fatboy chaos

Baby love

A *10lb 1oz* baby girl arrived at around 6.20pm yesterday at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, after a good 14hrs hard work from the stoic and very lovely Rachel.

Mum and baby (no name yet) are doing well, and Dad is incredibly proud and happy - muttering 'I've got a daughter...she's really beautiful...', over and over, besottedly.

Overheard

Overhead in Boots this morning: "Hello - do you have a moth spray called 'Doom'"?

Radio 4A

Yesterday I switched on the shower radio during my bath and found myself enjoying a surprisingly great programme of ska, cajun and South African music... but with no idea of what station I was listening to. Then the DJ came on and thanked me for listening to Radio 4A - hey, the local pirate station, clear as a bell in my bathroom!

One trip to the shops later and I'm back at my (communal) front door, pulling a yellow docket out of the letterbox. 'Receipt for seizure', it said. 'Transmitter - Radio 4A, found in loft.' So, one of my new neighbours is one transmitter lighter and the shower radio is back spewing out AOR and ads for double glazing... shame.

Applaud the DJ!

Just popped in to give brief but heartfelt applause to whoever chooses the playlist at Safeway on St. James Street in Brighton.

During my dinner break dash round the supermarket I was treated to The End Of The Line by The Travelling Wilburys, followed by Candy by Mandy Moore and The Divine Comedy's Becoming More Like Alfie (which was a fantastic, if sad, reminder of how good they used to be before Hannon went Radiohead...). It's the first time a DJ's saved my lunch hour...

A trip to Southampton

Trip to Southampton to see the Gorgeous Blonde. She had to get her usual fix at Shakeaway - Yule Log flavour, wouldya believe?! Sadly, the usual crowd of nu-metal kids usually to be found hanging out in the Bargate Centre were nowhere to be seen. Possibly at home washing their Korn hoodies. Having at least ten years on these kids, I have a little chortle to myself. I don't know why - when I was their age, me and my mates were suffering from the effects of grunge - all flowery skirts and big cardigans. What they now have in common with us then is Nirvana. These kids wear a LOT of Nirvana T-shirts. Sometimes I have to resist the temptation to go up to them and point out that they were about 8 years old when Kurt Cobain shot himself and why don't they let us grieve in private?! Their dress seems ugly at first - flares which Bez would find excessively wide, assorted ironmongery, quantities of eyeliner which Robert Smith would flinch from. But a lot of it is really beautiful. I was talking to a shop assistant in one of the North Laine shops in Brighton a few weeks ago, and kept being distracted by her hair and make-up. Pink spikes of hair interspersed with cute hairslides, electric blue eyebrows and glittery red eyeliner. Gorgeous.

Only when I laugh

Would anyone else be freaked out by walking into a pub to join a birthday celebration, and finding yourself introduced to your GP, who turns out to be the girlfriend of one of the birthday girl's friends? No? Just me then...

A fine Saturday night was spent at Brighton's Komedia, at the Krater Comedy (or is that Komedy?) Club, compered as ever by the ludicrously energetic Stephen Grant. Favourite act was Lucy Porter. Never heard of her before, but she was brilliant - and managed to totally win over the crowd despite being (a) five foot nothing (b) on first, so folk weren't that drunk yet. Cute AND funny - I hate people like that.

Yesterday I saw Harry Potter. Well, why not? I'd never read any of the books, and had avoided the movie hype, but even so it's pretty good fun, if a little long. Lots of top-notch actors - including a bizarre cameo by John Cleese and 20 seconds of the wonderful Julie Walters. Folk flying, folk turning invisible, secret rooms and fantastical monsters - made me realise how much I miss reading fairytales - might have to have a Grimm session sometime soon. Also made me realise how much my movie-going companion looks like Harry - not an insult, dear - honest!

Lewes Bonfire Night

A bunch of us went to the Lewes Bonfire Night, guests of the very fine Uncle & Mrs Meat. I'd never been before, and it's quite a experience. Lewes has five bonfire societies, and each tries the outdo the others with a parade, firework display and bonfire, at sites across the town. Hundreds of folk in fancy dress roam Lewes' winding streets, carrying flaming torches, throwing bangers at each other and chucking flaming tar barrels into the River Ouse, when the fancy takes them.

So, some fiery fun, friendly hospitality, a wee nip to keep out the cold and later, an hour's wait behind crash barriers outside Lewes station before we could get a train, joining hundreds of others in a Lennon & McCartney medley. And now all my clothes smell like BBQ crisps...

A rare flash of credibility

On the beach this lunchtime. In a rare flash of credibility, the Palace Pier DJ is playing R.E.M.'s glorious At My Most Beautiful. What's got into you, man - lost your copy of Toto's Africa?!!

I love this town

Yesterday I saw a lady in her seventies coming out of Asda wearing a Mel & Kim T-shirt. I love this town.

How did one of my socks end up under the wheel of a car five doors down my road?

Possible scenario 231: The sock fell out with its partner sock and went out into the street for sulking / 'making a point' purposes.

Possible scenario 452: A spider dragged it out of my room and into the street to perplex me, as revenge for me hoovering up his brother last week.

Possible scenario 628: Aliens abducted my sock. Then discovered it didn’t fit and discarded it.

Possible (and much more likely) scenario 874: My sock somehow fell into my bedroom bin. It was then parcelled up in the household rubbish, and placed out in the street on bin day. As per usual the binmen didn’t turn up, and seagulls tore the bag open looking for lunch. They found my sock and trailed it down the street, dumping it once they had deemed it unfit for consumption or nest-lining purposes.

The truth is out there. The sock is going in a hot wash.