Brighton Pride [London on Sea]

It was brighton pride this weekend. So a group of us travelled down on Friday night to make the most of the weekend. Allan, Jacs, Helen and I stayed at the Old Ship Hotel down on the seafront (and very nice it was too). We travelled down with Northy and whilst he went to Richie and Tara’s to settle in we checked in and got changed before meeting at a restaurant for more wine than food.
We then moved onto Dr Brightons for more drinks and meeting up with yet more people. It seemed like half of London was down already.
Saturday morning and we were up early for breakfast and to catch the start of the parade. It turns out (having compared photo’s) that Jan from work and I were stood really close but didn’t see each other.
After being shocked to see some mates int he parade (in the police section) we headed to the bar for some beers. I made a detour to boots for some essential medicine and then we all headed to Preston Park for festivities. This was when we realised all of London was in Brighton.
It was one of the hottest days of the year so far and with no breeze to speak of it became unbearably hot. I was abstaining from beers as I was still under the weather from the previous week.

Circus Circus was our stop en route to the park and from it with lots of opportunity for people watching as the crowds thronged to and from the park.
Many people were looking slightly worse for wear by 7pm when we headed to the hotel for a quick change and to a party at Andy Roo’s newly refurbished flat in Kemp Town.

After drinks and food we headed back into town along the promenade – the pier was open late too and it was busier down on the beach than we expected.

Sunday was a day of relaxing on the beach and then for a lazy long lunch at Due South before heading to the St James Street Party.

Lots of discussions about clubbing together and buying a house/flat down there again this trip! I’m sure we’ll have the same ones when we head up to Manchester Pride though too.

weekend sans hyperlinks

It started early Friday evening with a trip down the dogs. Yes I ended up in South Wimbledon at the Greyhound Track for a friends 30th celebrations. Lots of fun it was too. Sarah and I spent a lot of time checking out the guys to see if there was any scally straight boy totty to be had. She threatened to fight me for one of them. I didn’t need to though as we had both been beaten to him by some blonde girl with very little visible sign of taste.
So then a few more beers later and ?15 down on the evening we headed back to Jacs and Helen’s to carry on the party.
By this time a bunch of drunken thirtysomethings decided to relive the eighties in music. So everything from Ultravox and Depeche Mode through to The Wonder Stuff and Japan was played very loud until the early hours.

Saturday I headed into Tooting to meet Matt as we were going house hunting. After a bit of research on the net we ventured into an estate agents and then met Mike before heading off to look at some potential areas. It started to rain around 4pm so we took cover in the Trafalgar. Not a good move to start drinking that early. Still it set us up for the night ahead. We headed into Clapham and had another drink before meeting the rest of the gang at the Admiral Duncan. The lovely Lee then joined us as we strolled to the Duke of Wellington for yet more alcohol and we were joined by some of the outintheuk crew including the ever chirpy Scally. (I’m so not wearing A&F there anymore).

To round off the evening we went to London Bridge and ended up in a car park the boys assured me was a club. It turned out to be a very nice club too. XXL to be exact. Luckily I was not the only one to have never been before so I kept close to the group 😉 Way too many sweets later (I love flying saucers and fruit salads)

A few hours later (well actually more) and Matt, Mike and I arrived back in Tooting to catch a few zeds.

Mike took his life in his hands waking Matt and I before midday. He did however offer cups of tea by way of apology. Neither Matt nor I are what you might call morning people! After catching up with Andy Roo we ventured down to the flat below to see the carnage that happens when you gut your flat completely. We’d worked up an appetite by this time and we headed back to the Trafalgar for Sunday Lunch – quite possibly the largest portions outside the US! The girls from Friday night had joined us and we had a laugh and a few beers before Matt and I decided we really should resume house hunting. We bade farewell to Mike and Andy Roo before wandering aimlessly around South London. Well not so aimlessly we passed every estate agent window in our travels and tooks some details of flats we want to see. Finally a coffee and catch up with the lovely PR Paulli before heading home for an early night.

How did I manage to cram so much in this weekend? It’s becoming a bit of a habit since Jack has been staying with Nigel. I should really be saving more since I am buying somewhere new.