England Trip - July 30th, 1983

We left Canterbury and drove 73 kilometers South South-West to Brighton on the Southern coast of the island. It was another hot, sunny English summer day and after a quick lunch, fish and chips in a rolled up newspaper, we walked down to the beach to take in the Atlantic Ocean.

I knew Brighton was the setting for the movie Quadrophenia, but to see it person was another thing all together, especially the beautiful Brighton pier. Not that it had anything to do with the movie, in fact I've never seen Quadrophenia. Something about seeing Sting ride a motor scooter turned me off, but I'll get around to it sometime.

I hung out at the beach until it was time to return to the bus. There aren't many beaches in England and there were German tourists in speedos three sizes too small and that's always a crowd pleaser, plus a few topless ladies, can't be bad.

Next stop: Petworth, a National Trust heritage site. It's is a fortified country house; half-castle, half manor. We toured the grounds that included lots of tall windows, paintings, and a children's folly in the rear garden.

Our last stop of the day was Winchester, home of the Winchester cathedral that Graham Nash sang about, and a replica of the round table like the King Arthur crew may have used.

Off to pub for the evening; a couple of pints and a chat with the locals. I got silly on the way home and climbed a wrought iron fence. I put my shoe on top of the spike to get a better look across the yard and found out it wasn't decorative, the metal pierced the sneaker sole. I kept my balance with the other foot and unstuck the point without losing my shoe or impaling my foot.

I have no memory of the Winchester hotel other than to say it was an economy lodge with adequate facilities located near the center of town. Some of the hotels we stayed in offered privates baths to each guests, others had partial baths or occasionally, a loo down the hall. They all had tea pots though, and little chocolate wafers.