Monday 19 February 1996. The weather forecast for the week says snow will move in from the east. We decide that it would probably be best to go east today, before the weather comes too close!
A glance out of the hotel bedroom window before we venture down to breakfast shows us this dredger battling against the current as it makes it's way into the shelter of the harbour.
This is the delightfully deserted beach of Bognor Regis, whose inhabitants obviously were too wise to set foot out of doors. The sun was undoubtedly shining but the temperature was hovering around the freezing point. We didn't stay too long on the beach, I have to confess. I taped the surf onto Capt Slog (my portable cassette recorder) for a short while, but then a freezing cold wave submerged my trainers and the shock made me lose interest in sound effects...
Fran wasn't all that sympathetic as I explained what happened! We wandered back up towards the Promenade and found a cafe that was open. I thought the sign for ice-cream was a bit optimistic but we had a coffee in glass cups that instantly brought memories of the 1960s back to me. Of cafes with jukeboxes and milky coffee in glass cups and saucers and the sound of the Espresso machine behind the counter... So after the coffee we reminded ourselves just how cold it was and decided to bid farewell to Bognor Regis, reflecting that there was probably more life in the empty lobster pots!
After a warm in the car we found ourselves in Brighton, where I marvelled at the splendour of the Royal Pavilion, built at the whim of the Prince Regent, later George IV. It gave him an excuse to get out from the under the gaze of disapproval and spend his time cavorting with his mistress, Mrs Fitzherbert, or eating and drinking himself into a right royal stupor.
We toyed with the idea of walking round the Pavilion but a Closed sign changed our minds for us and we went off in seach of other equally splendid ways of keeping warm and amused. George spent a fortune - several fortunes - on it both inside and out with rooms wallpapered in specially produced Chinese-inspired designs. Only a couple of streets away from the seafront, Queen Victoria was later to hate it and the constant passing curiosity of locals and tourists.
We had a look round the town, which was pretty much deserted and very very cold. We came back to the Seafood Restaurant later for some tea.
The Palace Pier. Apart from a short length nearest the Promenade entrance it was closed, as was it's companion pier a bit further west and most of the seafront attractions. Shame really because I wanted to see the museum of antique amusement arcade machines. We found somewhere to have a coffee. Plenty of warm drinks and even the odd snack or bowl of soup were necessary to keep warm. Despite the sun which had been out for most of the day, the temperature was still stubbornly down towards the freezing point!
We went round the Sea Life Centre which I thought was supposed to be the biggest in England. lt may well be, but most of it was blank corridors with not even a poster to brighten up the walls let alone a fish tank. Most of it looked like the old dingy cinema that the building was originally designed for. Walking through the glass tunnel made me realise how spoilt we had been going to Sea World in Florida as here there were many more people in the tunnel than fish outside it. The biggest shark looked as though it would choke on a toe...
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