Friday, August 24, 2007
8th August Ekatarina on Brighton Pier
We took a stroll on Brighton Pier in the sunshine.
The pier is brash and noisy full of kiosks selling all manner of nicknacks and foodstuffs, bars, amusement halls with penny in the slot machines (except these days it is probably more like 10p in the slot) and fair ground rides on the end of the pier.
In younger days we would have called this pier The Palace Pier for there used to be 2 piers at Brighton. The West Pier fell into disrepair many years ago, but pier lovers raised money to renovate it. And then more recently there was a bad fire and only a shell remains.
It can be a good place to sit and read the paper or your book or even to have a snooze, whilst enjoying the fresh sea air and the view.
The carousels in fairgrounds are normally traditional with gaudy painted horses which rise and fall as the roundabout turns. I was looking forward to a ride with Ekatarina - and she thought she was looking forward to it too.
We waved cheerily to Grandad.
Here is Ekatarina the mermaid and a slightly odd looking diver!
Ekatarina spied a couple celebrating their marriage - the bride looks radiant doesn't she?
This bride seems to have been left at the altar.
The pier is brash and noisy full of kiosks selling all manner of nicknacks and foodstuffs, bars, amusement halls with penny in the slot machines (except these days it is probably more like 10p in the slot) and fair ground rides on the end of the pier.
In younger days we would have called this pier The Palace Pier for there used to be 2 piers at Brighton. The West Pier fell into disrepair many years ago, but pier lovers raised money to renovate it. And then more recently there was a bad fire and only a shell remains.
It can be a good place to sit and read the paper or your book or even to have a snooze, whilst enjoying the fresh sea air and the view.
The carousels in fairgrounds are normally traditional with gaudy painted horses which rise and fall as the roundabout turns. I was looking forward to a ride with Ekatarina - and she thought she was looking forward to it too.
First she checked that she was tall enough for the ride. In fact she is just tall enough to ride alone.
So I helped her onto the horse and climbed on, full of excitement. But then Ecky panicked - it felt so high up. She just had to climb down. I was all for getting our money back and finding a more suitable ride, but Ecky saw the wooden seats on the carousel and sat down there, so I joined her.
We waved cheerily to Grandad.
The ride proved to be an expensive jolly sit down. We each had to pay £3 each and it lasted hardly more than 2 minutes.
Then we moved onto some free laughs.
In days past visitors to the pier would have paid a photographer to snap them in funny poses. Now we all have our own cameras.
Here is Ekatarina the mermaid and a slightly odd looking diver!
Ekatarina spied a couple celebrating their marriage - the bride looks radiant doesn't she?
This bride seems to have been left at the altar.
This was one ride that none of us considered taking.
