brighton is by and large one of my favorite english cities. it doesn't offer much in the way of tourism except the beautiful Royal Pavillion and sightseeing for Who movie buffs.
nevertheless, like salisbury (yet completely different), it's a perfect place to just experience a living, breathing english town. if you've ever seen Quadrophenia (and if you haven't you should)- it does not paint an altogether inaccurate picture. not that mods and rockers are thrashing each other in the streets or anything like that, but even walking the streets at 7 in the morning with shops just starting to open for breakfast and little more than the sound of the surf crashing on the coast and the clanking of tea cups and silverware, you can still feel a distinct pulse beneath your feet. school nights don't stop teenagers and college kids alike from gathering on the rocky beaches at sundown with blankets and pints to watch the lights from the pier's amusement arcades until late into the evening.
i remember our visit there vividly. our chatty, efficient, and incredibly sweet cabby who got us from the station to our b&b by way of all the pubs she felt we shouldn't miss and the look on her face when i tipped her (i didn't read the part in my travel books where it said people don't really do this in the uk)... an afternoon in the park watching the skater kids - i had never seen ramps and fishbowls designed for a park like that and i was so in awe... my first taste of mushy peas from a chip stand on the pier and the love affair (with mushy peas)that ensued after... justin being asked for directions by a brit on holiday and the look (of mortification) on that guy's face upon discovering he'd just asked an american... and the best english breakfast i ever ate outside of the penny lane pub in liverpool. doesn't sound that excitin, really, but to me it was probably the equivalent of paris to most people.
maybe it's just an english city, but it's a great one. and a youthful one, no matter how old it gets.
and maybe supergrass is like that too. those guys are getting older, but they are still, in my humble opinion, the most fun and gifted at making being so, rock and roll band from great britain thus far. never taking themselves too seriously and yet never dispassionate about what they are doing.
yep, maybe they're from oxford (which we bypassed on our rock and roll tour of england in favor of swindon, and even we aren't sure why - well, that's a lie...), but when i hear supergrass i still pine for brighton.
posted by trixievw @ 10:38 AM
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