Perhaps the biggest thing I took away from yesterday is that I have to get out of London more often. As epic as it is, for the last fourteen years the metropolis has been virtually my entire world, and I have sort of forgotten that there are other equally fascinating places to discover. I’m not quite sure how it came about, but yesterday morning Dom made a suggestion: why not spend the afternoon down in Brighton?

Naturally my reply was “Why not?” Spending some time at the seaside would be cool. Dom had some stuff to do down there, but he suggested that I came with him, just for a change of scenery. Thus, early yesterday afternoon, I got the tube to London Bridge, re-meeting Dom there before getting the train to Brighton. It was only a short journey, and in about an hour we were on the coast, walking down to the sea.

I instantly felt the difference: the architecture was so different, and things already felt far more laid back. We grabbed a quick lunch in a Wetherspoons before heading on to the beach. There, slightly to my surprise, Dom left me for an hour or so, saying he had something to do. That meant I was left to explore the seafront on my own, which was rather cool: there was so much going on, as well as so many interesting pieces of history. One thing which particularly caught my eye was a long line of old arches towards the eastern end of the promenade. Called Madeira Terrace, they are a series of about thirty to forty green cast iron Victorian archways. They had obviously been left to deteriorate for some time, but from what I read on the nearby information boards, they will soon be renovated.

Even more interestingly, towards the eastern end of the terrace, I found some kind of bar or music venue, from where I heard some cool music being played. Naturally I went to investigate, and was told that a Guns And Roses tribute band would be playing there later in the evening. Watching them would obviously be awesome, but by then it was time to go find Dom again.

A while later, I found him where we had agreed to meet. I told him about the Guns and Roses gig, but ultimately we agreed that, given we had to get the train home at about nine, it wouldn’t be worth the entrance fee. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying another beer on the beachfront, before getting the train back to London. It had been a very cool afternoon: naturally I thought of all the times I went to Brighton with Lyn, particularly this one, which now seem so long ago. Ultimately, though, it just reinforced my desire to get out of London a bit more – staying here week in, week out gets a bit much after a while. It’s time to see other parts of the country, and indeed the world.