Brighton

One Friday around 3:31 only minutes after the last children of Marlee’s had left her hands she was on her phone with me planning our next adventure. I thought the weekend we would just do the regular grocery shop/laundry/watch downloaded shows off the internet/eat chips and dip sort of weekend. But being the smart guy she is, she decided that we should go to Brighton for the day. Me, being the adventurist I am quickly agreed that we would go on Sunday.
We quickly booked our bus tickets that were cheaper than a McDonald’s happy meal and started to think of what we would take. Since we were going to the beach and the weather was SUPPOSED to be up to 26 we thought it would be a good time to start working on our tan. We packed up the night before with everything from bathing suits to sun screen to a lovely picnic. We were stoked. But in proper English fashion we woke up to a rainy, windy, cold, dark morning. Needless to say, no tan was going to be established this day.
We took a coach to Brighton which took around an hour and fifty minutes. I couldn’t wait to get my feet into that ocean and check out the pier that we had heard so much about. We got off the coach and although it cold and windy at least raindrops were not wetting my do. First thing is we found the ocean which was near and second thing is we just stared. When you think of ocean you think of endless beaches full of softer-than-a-babies-bottom-sand, clearly if you are thinking this you aren’t thinking of Brighton. The city of Brighton I think is in the process of making their own sand over hundreds and hundred of years. The beach is made up of rocks the size of the lid of a 2 litre pepsi (dad..i thought you’d really be able to grasp that) and needless to say it’s not cosy. Of course those rocks get stuck in your sandal’s and hurt, but if you are bare feet it is as pleasurable as butchering chickens. We got to the ocean, and stuck our feet in. Yup-frigid. No wonder Rose froze from the Titanic, I would have too! It was really cool however to finally have my feet in the ocean regardless of the temperature. We had a snack on the beach and just sat and enjoyed the ocean.
Next, we went on the pier. From the road the pier does not look to impressive. It looks like it has a few different things, but overall, it seemed as thought it was pretty small. When we got walking on it however we realized it was the size of Endeavour. (I mean it IS a pier on the ocean pretty impressive) First you see lots of different shops selling fish of all sorts. I don’t think it gets much fresher if you are cooking it on the ocean. Sometimes you had to wait for your fish and chips while a little man with a green fishing rod casted off the pier trying to catch your meal. Sometimes, you didn’t eat if they fish weren’t biting. Also, there was basically any food that is bad for you but you can’t get enough of. From ice cream to cotton candy to chocolate to lolly pops to delicious pizza and Chinese noodles, the possibilities really were endless. You keep walking and come across these buildings the size of the skating rink FULL of games. A giant ruckers, was this heaven? We kept walking and then we found the Yorkton Ex part of the pier. From the road again, there didn’t look to be too many rides, but there was probably around 20 or so. We bought some ride tickets and we were set for the day.
Being the HUGE ride fanatic I am, you can imagine I was just THRILLED to be going on all these spiny, flippy, dizzy, bouncing rides. NOTE MAJOR SARCASM HERE. Regardless, I bought some tickets and was prepared to enjoy some of the rides, as long as they weren’t TOO scary. The first one we went on was this one where it is kind of like a rollercoaster in that you drive in these cards through the maze. The ride gets going however, and the next thing you know you are freaking out because it feels like you are going to fly off the edge and into the ocean! Next, we went on the rollercoaster, which looked like a ride through the country side. Although it was small, boy was it mighty! Next, we went on this ride that is like those tea cups but for grown ups. I think the guy working on it, spotted us and decided to make our life living hell. The ride started out not too bad, but when we got spinning I thought I may die in the cart. I noticed the guy doing the ride was snickering like my dismay was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. I just kept shouting at Marlee, “I don’t like this...I DON’T LIKE THIS...I DON’t LIKE THIS” as my head was glued to the back of the seat and I was reaching for safety. I’ve literally NEVER laughed so hard in my life after this ride. What can I say, the guy could sense fear in my eyes! After this one, Marlee still had some sort of death wish so she went on this ride that went up to heaven then spun you to hell then back to heaven in a minute. No thanks! Then we went on the log ride which was a blast, soo funny! Then lastly I worked myself up into going on this ride with marlee. It was called the Screamer. Basically, you got strapped into this mechanism and they raised you slowly over the ocean , just when you could touch the clouds, it plummeted going about 340830948 miles an hour to the ground. It wasn’t too bad, but certainly never again. I really though that my worst fear of falling into the ocean and drowning was coming true.
After this we checked out all the little shops along the ocean. They sold everything and anything you could possibly ever want. We then had some fish and chips and mushy peas, that were of course delicious. By this time, it was getting late and we were due to leave Brighton in an hour and a half. We were spent, but needed some activity to pass the time. First we got Jagua on our feet, (same thing as henna, just black) then just as we had half an hour left Marlee decided she needed the toilet. While Marlee was in the toilet, the people of Brighton Pier made me fall into a trap. I jiggled the change in my pocket and noticed that there was quite a lot. I looked teh other way and there shining in the light were millions and millions of pennies in those games where you add pennies and then some fall and you win prizes. I stuck all the pennies from my pocket in, then wondered over to the change machine and popped in a 50 p. I was just trying to win our trip back! Then, Marlee saw the fun and we were BOTH throwing pennies into the machine as if it was our jobs. We got so addicted that we almost missed our bus back!!

Overall, I think that Brighton is one of my most favourite places’ I have visited thus far. It was beautiful, it was the ocean, it was fun, it had major character and they had penny gambling machines. What more could you ask for in a day. It was great, I hope someday I will get to go back!