Ol' Brighty 3

Brighton

"I don't have to do anything. I just need to go to Canada." I came to see Manu now because Canada's quite a bit further from Kyrgyzstan.

It ain't Vegemite, but Manu's brekky is (almost) better than nothing.

Trashy

Brad and Amy's cul de sac. Manu advised us that the literal translation of cul de sac is bum of the bag.

Queen's Park

The dogs play football in this country

No, it's not marijuana, unfortunately.

Pippin the Cat

Manu was dying to get into this place

Good spot for a charging station, right by the parking spots.

One day we went to see Sue, a good friend for many years, who also happens to be the mum of Tondi, a really close friend I met in India many moons ago, and who now lives in the Byron area.

Great lawn for astrotravellers

Sue cooked us the most delicious lunch, we had blush wine and beer in the middle of the day, as the sun tried to be an actual sun. It was so great to catch up with her after such a long time, we chatted for ages with her and her boarder Sila from Sao Paolo in Brazil.

Full bellies and empty glasses

Sue is the most interesting woman, and appears to have been suffering from the bite of a travel bug for pretty much her whole life. She lived in Kenya for many years, brought up her kids there, and now that she's living back in England still gets away as much as she can. She'd just returned from Spain when we visited, and, s us sual, as the most generous host, offering us super delicious food, drinks, and the most sparkling conversation.

It was election night in the UK, the chance for Brits to finally exile the Tories, after 14 years of complete incompetence, and the systematic and blatant transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

And they did it with one of the biggest landslide wins in the history of the UK. Labour, under Keir Starmer, won an unprecedented 412 seats, and the Tories only a measly 121.

'Bout fucking time, that's all I can say. Many many people were celebrating, after an eternity of political and economic polarisation, nastiness and austerity.

We stayed up late to watch the results, especially Amy, who finally retired well into the morn.

The tv coverage was sorta weird.

Manu and I strolled about every day.

The Lanes is a very cool part of Brighton, a collection of laneways full of small hip shops, cafés and stalls, patronised by a large contingent of leftist commie hippy scum, like us.

Anyone know what this is?

I was surprised to see a place with the name Pamir. The Pamirs are a mountain range in Tajikistan that I might visit in a month or two. I got excited when I saw the sign.

The European Football Championships are on at the moment in Germany. England's been mainly winning, but not playing as well as people want them to. So, as usual, people have nothing better to do than to criticise the English team ad nauseum, despite the fact that they won their group and their first knockout game.

Brad and I watched part of a game between someone and someone else, I can't remember now. Someone won. I think. Or it could've been a draw, I'm not sure. Then someone would've won on penalties.

We also watched the England/Switzerland highlights.

Brad is a saint. I mentioned wanting to play a guitar, so what did he do? He went and bought one from a charity shop didn't he. For £15. It's a good guitar, but it was in a right state, which is what an English person would say if something is actually in a wrong state. The original strings on it were so old they'd actually lodged into the woodwork. True story. I restrung it and gave it a service, with Brad's help for the tricky extraction part.

The guitar was very happy, and so was I.

Brad cooking up the most delicious palak paneer in history. Yes, the boy can cook too.

It was Indian feast night. Hail Shiva, as they also got kulfi icecream for us all. Their kindness knows no bounds.

I gave it peace and love.

Manu's face when she saw the feast. You can tell she's related to a Leo, can't you.

I find your allure so appealing

My poor little heart's hit the ceiling

Dumbstruck with desire

I dare not enquire

If it might be a mutual feeling

Shonky dealers on the hustle

What Brighton looks like during a long long winter when you have no cash

Rest his soul

Brad unsuccessfully trying to hide his unfathomably long legs

The dragonflies are quite large around here

They hang around flowers

Dave, Jim and Bobby, looking very poparty

We used to put coins in these, and we could speak to people far away. For a really short while.

Apparently it's summer here

The famous Brighton comedian Max Miller. He looks cheeky. Plus he's wearing a sarong, so he must've been cool. Well, around here he would've been cold.

We had an amazing night at Tom and Rosie's place. Tom is the brother of Tondi, my friend from Oz, and he lived in Oz for a while many years back. He's the most beautiful man ever, plus he loves music and plays guitar. And he cooked up a feast too. Like Tondi and Sam, Tom grew up in Kenya, so we had no choice but to sit around and drink Kenyan beer, which, strangely, we could buy from the store around the corner from his house in Brighton.

Small world innit.

But I wouldn't wanna paint it.

This is their dog Jack

Tom and Rosie's oldest daughter Imani is so amazingly switched on and full of soya beans, she loves acting and playing music, and, surprise surprise, was besotted by Manu's voice and piano playing. Just like the rest of us.

Rosie is amazing too, but unfortunately she wasn't there, as she was in London for her final assessment. It must've gone really well, if her happy (slurred) phone call on the night is anything to go by.

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Go to Part 4