UK Coast: Bognor Regis

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

I went to Bognor Regis, and I had a good day.

Bognor Regis is much smaller and therefore much less touristy than Brighton. The weather was marvellous, and I haven’t done much more than walk to a nearly empty piece of the pebbled beach, sit/lay down, stare over the beautiful blue sea, sniffed up the fresh sea air, waved at Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, and read my book.

Bognor Regis is typical example of a British beach site: a long promenade, several fish and chips shops, ice cream, a (not very interesting) pier, and lots of pebbles.

Pebbled beaches are so convenient. You have to wiggle a bit to find a comfortable place to sit/lay down but: no sand in your shoes, bag, book or socks!

On my way home from the nearly empty train I spotted:
42 cows
149 bunnies!
2 foxes

But no sheep. The sheep on the picture are walking around on the Isle of Man. I took several photos of the sheep there, and funny enough, on nearly every single one of them there is one sheep looking directly into the camera, as if to say:

“What are you looking at?”

Or “You are wearing such a weird coat!”
Or “Why do you have only 2 legs?”
Or maybe “Why are you not eating grass?”

If the weather stays like this next weekend, I’ll be off again. Littlehampton, Rye, Portsmouth and many more places are waiting out there. It’s good to live on an island.

Fess up Friday and some random bits

thegirlinthecafe 6 Comments
  • I saw this over at Bloglily, and also on The Public, the Private and Everything In Between. And I have decided to join. It’s an idea from the literate kitten and the idea is that you every Friday will have to confess why, in my case that is, I again haven’t done any writing. And if I ever get my act together again to actually go and do some writing – I will use the Fess up Friday to pen down that I did!

    I haven’t picked up a pen (or rather haven’t touched Billy Mac for writing purposes) since I finished my feature script, and that was some months ago.

    It’s not that I don’t know what to write – I do.
    It’s not that I don’t have the time – I do.
    It’s not that I don’t know what to write it on – I do.
    It’s not that I don’t know which cafe to go to to write it – I do.

    Then why is it so hard to get started?

    I am going to try to write a tiny little scene before next Friday, just to get started.

  • I just finished my second Henning Mankell book: Sidetracked. I love his Kurt Wallander books (they are detectives), they are very well written and very clever too. (The BBC is making some of them into a drama series with Kenneth Brannagh playing Wallander, which I think is a good cast)

    I also loved Firewall, which I bought on the Isle of Man for £1.50 in a lovely second hand bookshop in Peel. Both books will now go on to readitswap it. And I have just swapped one of my other books for a third Mankell book which is on its way to London.

  • Planned for the weekend:
    • watching a film: either Gone, Baby gone (Ben Affleck’s drama starring Casey Affleck) or The Waiting room (Brit rom (com)). Will catch the non chosen one later next week.
    • Back to the coast. Again. Southern has this great ticket called the downlander which let you travel through the south east of the UK all day for £12.50. That’s a very good deal. You need to book it 2 days (no more no less) in advance though, and print your own ticket.

      I am currently considering to either go to Bognor Rigis or Littlehampton. If there are any other tips I would love to hear them!

Have a good weekend.

Bring on the night

thegirlinthecafe 5 Comments

The Police and full supporting Bill

In September 2007 I saw the Police in Twickenham, with a delay of about 25 years. It was a fantastic concert.

My good friend made me aware of the fact that The Police is playing their final ever gig in Hyde Park on the 29th of June. The very last the Police concert? I did manage to both convince her to come along, and to buy tickets for it so on the 29th of June it will be “Every little thing he does is magic” for the very last time live.

Another reason why we wanted to go is because KT Tunstall plays that day too. As does Starsailor, The Bangles and The Stranglers – seems like we get transferred back to the 80’s all day!

But most of all we want to go because there will be a full supporting Bill. We love Bill, we really do!

(More on Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, London)

Love – the musical, Lyric theatre Hammersmith – review

thegirlinthecafe 4 Comments

LOVE - the musical

I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this, but I blindly bought a ticket on the title and poster alone. No regrets about that I can say.

Yesterday I saw Love – the Musical. And how refreshing to watch actors that are passed 60 and I think, without insulting any of them, some of them were passed 70 too. It was clear they enjoyed this play, and it was a huge cast!

The story was sweet:

Neville is approaching eighty and slowly wasting away in an unremarkable care home in a small English town. His life seems to be heading for an end until Margaret arrives. Brought in by her son for a short stay, Margaret is terrified of what will happen to her — until she meets Neville and he suggests they escape for a night out on the town…

There is a lot of singing going on, a lot of modern songs and it was a joy to hear them performed by people of this age.

I heard Blur, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, The Verve, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and many more.

I laughed and I cried. And was shocked and surprised when the old man with the rollator who seemed to live in his own world most of the time, suddenly started singing too. But mostly I enjoyed watching them, trying not to think too much about where I will be when I am that age.

It reminded my of Awakenings, the wonderful film with Robert de Niro and Robin Williams and I can highly recommend this play.

Reasons to visit the Isle of Man – III

thegirlinthecafe 1 Comment

Seals on the Isle of Man

On my first day out on the Isle of Man I drove to the Langness Peninsula, for a first light house watch. I had to ask my way several times. I could see the lighthouse, but could not seem to find the road that would lead me to it. So after crossing a golf course several times (there was a small road, I did not actually race over their green!) with the risk of having the car hit by a golf ball, I finally found the tiny road that lead to the lighthouse. After taking the obligatory pictures, I sat down on a rock beside it and found the book that was given to me by a good friend as a part of an Isle of Man “chill pack”.

Well it didn’t get any more chilling than this. There were no people whatsoever to spot anywhere near me, the sun was shining, I had a lighthouse just beside me on my left, and in front of me was a very calm sea. It was quiet and peaceful, all I could hear were some birds. I started reading.

I was completely lost in my book when my ears picked up a peculiar sound. It sounded like someone snorting, and no, unfortunately, it wasn’t him. I couldn’t quite see where it came from at first, until I looked right in front of me, and there he was – a seal! He kept me company for a couple of hours, diving down once in a while for a bite to eat, and popping up again for some air. If you look carefully at the photo you can see him waving his paw. I asked him to do that, because it would make such a cute photo. He was happy to do so. His name? No this wasn’t Bill, but Sam, his brother.

Sam was not the last seal I saw on the isle. I think I have seen seals every day. I saw quite a lot of them near Sound (also in the south) and the handsome fellow in the middle (number 3 and that is Sam’s brother Bill indeed) came greeting me in the harbour of Peel. Seals are a very common sight all around the island, but they kept Wow’ing me every single time. It is so cool to see them in their natural environment.

Reasons to visit the Isle of Man – II

thegirlinthecafe 7 Comments

Isle of Man - pebbles

If the beach is as empty as this (very empty) and the weather is like it was (very sunny) the pebbled beach on the Isle of Man is perfect for pebble play.

And if you are visiting – those masterpieces might still be there! (I made them near the Ayre visitors centre and the Point of Ayre lighthouse)

One thing I always wonder about is: why are there so few shells on the beaches in the UK? Or is it different on other parts of the coast?

The Isle of Man – the isle of incredible beauty

thegirlinthecafe 2 Comments

Tea on the Isle of Man

The older man walked up to me for a little chat.
“This is the best view of the island” he said to me.
“I believe you right away” I smiled at him. (and the picture doesn’t truly show it)
“So where are you from?”
“London”
“Ah” he said, and he didn’t need to say more, I got what he meant.
“First time here?”
“Yes” I said.
“And?”
“Definitely not the last time”
“I know that” he smiled.

I know that too.

I am back in London, but I am far from back.

Getting back on track

thegirlinthecafe 5 Comments

Dog in boat, IJsselstein

  • Never before have I been struggling this much to come up with something decent to write here. But in stead of waiting for the right inspiration to strike me, I am now just going to write something just to see if I somehow can get back into the groove.
  • I changed the layout here slightly. It is not exactly done yet, but I’ll give it a go like this for a while.
  • I did have a drivers lesson a week or two ago. And being lucky living around the corner of Parliament Square, and the Big Ben, that was exactly where he took me.

    The busiest traffic in London!

    I have to say that driving on the other side of the road was not really a problem, you just follow the flow of the traffic. Having the steering wheel and gear stick on the other side of the car is a bit more weird though. My biggest issue was to remember that the biggest part of the car now is on the left of me, in stead of on the right, which is really important to remember if you are passing parked cars in a street on the left of you. Don’t drive to close to them!

  • I tried to plan two more lessons this weekend, but seeing as all driver instructors seem to be away this weekend (it’s a bank holiday on Monday) I did not succeed. I hope the Isle of Man is quiet enough for my currrent car driving skills. I am sure it will be fine.
  • The Isle of Man is 10 days from now, and I am really looking forward to it.
  • Greece is the latest country for The Girl in the Cafe on tour, and that brings the number of countries on the list to 24.
  • And no this won’t be turned into a dog blog. There are blogs that are much better at that. But is he cute or what, this dog in a boat.