bank holidays: not just for banks

we recently had a monday 'bank holiday'. no one seemed to have any idea what it was in aid of (labour day?, queen's birthday? anyone, anyone?) but who are we to argue with a long weekend?

friday night we went to the prince charles cinema near leicester square* and saw 'the life aquatic with steve zissou' which was actually very good. i say 'actually' because the trailers for this film did it no justice - we thought we'd give it a go even though it didn't look that great but it turned out to be fantastic - the story, the sea, the little creatures in cgi, the david bowie covers in portugese and a particular shade of blue used throughout - all quite surreal and different.

On Saturday we explored the local area and discovered that we can walk to Primrose Hill, Regent’s Park and the London Zoo. Primrose Hill is a park and also where apparently every London celebrity and their dog live. Our eyes were peeled but Jamie Oliver, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and little Apple were obviously all away for the weekend.

On Sunday the Notting Hill festival was on. This is the largest carnival in Europe (so they say) and takes over the streets of Notting Hill with Jamaican music, food, horns, whistles and parades. The place was just packed (1 million people attended over the two days) and it was a really hot day. After a few hours looking around and enjoying barbequed corn on the cob we realised we weren’t drunk enough to put up with much more, so headed to our regular late Sunday afternoon coffee/ paper session at Café Nero (a chain slightly less tragic than Starbucks – we are still to find a café we can call home).

Monday was another great day weather-wise so we decided to head to the seaside. We caught the train to Brighton. Because Brighton really came to the fore in the Victorian era, my image of the place was genteel ladies in petticoats, gentleman strolling along the pier in top hats and children playing quietly with buckets and spades. Okay – maybe not that delusional but we thought it would be nice. The reality is a little more, how shall I say, like this.

They have put a giant casino on the boardwalk so, as well as obstructing the sea views, you have these people, at the beach, inside, in the dark, playing the pokies. After some undercooked hot chips we ventured into the town. This was a whole other story – very trendy with really cool little boutiques, speciality stores, organic food cafes – a total contrast. It looked like we weren’t the only ones who noticed the difference. From what we could tell, the boardwalk people do not go into the town, and the town people do not go near the boardwalk. After sitting on the pebbles in the sun (no sand at all on the beach), and not even contemplating swimming (about 4 or 5 brave souls were actually in the water), then taking a long walk along the foreshore and feeling sorry for the bathing boxes perched on concrete, we caught the train back home – a very different experience to an Australian day at the beach indeed.

* bargain london tip: friday is 1 pound day** - movies, popcorn, drinks, all 1 pound.
**just noticed my keyboard at my new job does not have the pound symbol - a sign