We had two great reasons to pop down to Brighton for the weekend, the first was that Brighton is the current home to our friends Kirsten, Tom and their two bubs, Islay and Constance. The second was that Crowded House were playing at the Brighton Centre on Friday night.
As I have a more flexible schedule, I begun my journey from Newcastle on Friday morning, stopping for an hour lunch with Geoff in London, and then hopping on the First Connect trains south to Brighton. Kirsten came to pick me up from the train station. It has been at least a year since we have seen each other, and many years since we have worked together. It was great to spend a relaxing weekend catching up on the past year and also playing with two-year old Islay, resident dancer, harmonic player, gourmet foodie, chip snatcher and green pea server.
And sweet Constance, a most well-behaved baby, who loves to smile and laugh (especially at Geoff).
After a long week of work, Geoff, Mike and Ben found their way to Brighton, enthused to see an old favourite Crowded House.
The auditorium was at 85% capacity and we couldn’t put our finger on the crowd who we found somewhat reserved. We wondered how many Aussies and New Zealanders were there, feeling the same bouts of homesickness when Neil Finn and his band played the finale...
Sampling of the Brighton nightlife was interesting... to say the least. We begun with a round of bad 90’s music and then ended up having (surprisingly decent) food at another bar-restaurant-club.
Saturday was a rainy and windy day but we decided to head out to town for lunch. The wind whipped our umbrellas inside out and the rain started and stopped on our way to Carluccios, a brightly coloured family restaurant and deli which was a stark contrast to the cold, grey, rainy and windy weather. We filled up on Italian food, hot drinks and sweet desserts and spent the rest of the afternoon indoors relaxing reading and playing.
Kirsten and Tom whipped up a home-made chicken and mushroom pie for dinner and Islay served up peas for everyone. It has felt like a long time since we have had a family dinner. After dinner it was off to a small Brighton party hosted by Kirsten and Tom’s friends.
Sunday morning was looking promising, but our sleep in meant that the clear skies passed quickly and we set out under grey clouds again to explore a bit more of Brighton before catching the train home. On Saturday, Kirsten and Tom wanted to have lunch at the very popular Bills, but the lines were too long, so on Sunday we decided to try our luck and lucky we were as there were no lines and a 2 minute wait for a table. When our food came we realised what all the fuss was about. I’ll let our breakfast plates of pancakes and fruit, and eggs Benedict tell the story (and if you hadn’t guessed already the food was awesome!)
Back in London, it was time for Geoff to move out of Balham and into Mike’s, temporarily, while the guys find a new place to live. Mike’s is right on the Thames with views to Canary Wharf, reminding us that while friends and songs can remind us of home, we were very much in the big smoke of London.
