Brighton

A few months ago Mikaela and I went to visit Phillippa Milton, one of Mikaela’s best friends while growing up in Zimbabwe, in the famous coastal city of Brighton.

Brighton is located about an hour’s train ride south of London right on the shores of the English channel: just a hop, skip, and a few splashes from northern France. It was a holiday/resort town during the latter bit of the 19th century, a place where the royalty and aristocracy alike would go to benefit from the invigorating effects of both the fresh sea breeze and the occasional swim. More importantly, it was a place where people could escape the grey bustling streets of London for some sun, a change of pace, and place to see and be seen.

In Brighton, we met some of Philli’s friends from her “uni” (the pan-British abbreviation for “university”) and went down to the famous Brighton pier. One of Brighton’s main attractions, the “pleasure pier” as it is formally designated, stretches over 500 meters into the channel providing pedestrians stunning views of miles of uninterrupted English shores on either side. To the west, you can see the rotting bent beams of the previous pier biting through the waterline, and looking inland, you can see the city of Brighton combing the low lying coastal hills with rows upon rows of neatly connected houses.

As you walk onto the pier, the whitewashed and windswept charm of the Victorian seaside is abruptly ruffled by flashy noisy penny arcades. Walking past the barrage of noise, we were greeted by the lowering sunset and had a gorgeous view of the horizon over the channel. To make things even better, we found a South African biltong hut and were reminded of Zimbabwe as we chewed away on our favorite snacks.

Philli had some other friends staying with her that night, and I was designated as the chef for dinner (Philli: I don’t know what to do… Christian, you can cook, right?). With everyone’s help we were able to put on a decent Mexican meal of fajitas, guac, salsa, and Mexican rice.

No matter where you are in the world, Mexican food always tastes good!