Seagull Heaven

12 July 2006 ~ 23:15

I took Friday off work and after taking Autumn to the vets for her injection to kill mites - during which she was very brave and didn't even squeak - and her scabs are now nearly all gone - we took the train down to Brighton.

We checked into our hotel, The Queens right opposite the pier, and went to a Mexican-type restaurant called the Santa Fe for a bite to eat. We then went for a stroll along the pier. We had a couple of tokens for the rides left over from our last visit to Brighton and we bought some more. Mark went on a ride that pulls you back and forth and spins you around at the same time, then we both went on the dodgems (bumper cars). I paid for Mark to have a henna tattoo of a wyrm (a sort of dragon with no legs) on his arm. It looks good and is supposed to last two to four weeks.

The room was terrific. Very modern with a black leather armchair and black furniture, square lamps and a wonderfully fancy chandelier on the ceiling.

But the best thing of all was that our window looked right out onto a roof where we could see two adorable baby seagulls, with mother seagull perched on a chimney pot watching over them. They were all fluffy and speckled with long legs that looked too big for them.
I took plenty of photos with the 160mm zoom and I hope they turn out.

We got changed and went down to the fitness centre. Mark worked out in the gym while I watched, then we went for a swim. The pool was great, and there was also a sauna (the steam room wasn't working).

After the fitness centre we went back up to the room and chilled out, watched Scottish detective series Taggart (set in Glasgow), talked and finally went to sleep.

On Saturday we went down to breakfast, which was great as we were sitting by the window looking out at the sea, then we caught the bus to Lewes. The journey is through some very nice countryside and when we got there we had a ploughmans lunch (that's a British meal of bread, cheese and pickles)in The Brewers Arms pub. We went up to the castle where we climbed to the top, tried on some medieval clothes and took photos of each other in them. Then we played fisbee with a frisbee we had bought in a souvenir shop in Brighton.

On the bus ride home, we had a bit of a falling out. I was chatting to Mark and he half closed his eyes in a way he has that basically says 'Shut the fuck up.' Charming, I thought, so I immediately clammed up.

When we got off the bus - the ride on which was spoilt for me despite the picturesque countryside and wild bunnies to be seen - Mark sat me down (I think realising I wasn't speaking to him) and told me that sometimes I talk too much and he just wants to be quiet. Fair enough but you'd think he'd have a better way of saying it.

I was tired and went for a lie-down back at the room. We still weren't speaking and never went out to dinner. Mark said he wasn't hungry. But eventually we made up and both went down to the gym, had a swim (the water was a lot colder than Friday) and used the steam room and sauna. We got back to the room and put some bread out on the window ledge and the seagulls came and ate it! It was great watching them. Even one or two pigeons got in on the act! I do love seagulls so much. When I hear them screeching it sounds to me like a baby criying to be fed and I just want to feed them.

Anyway, we missed breakfast the next morning (Sunday) and just had time to pack up and check out. We would have stuck around as Mark had the night off but it was raining and so so windy. I wanted to go to the park and feed the gulls but it would just have been miserable, so we got a taxi to the station and caught the train home.

All in all it was a nice get-away. The forecast had been for cool and cloudy but Friday and Saturday were much better than we thought they'd be. In fact Saturday was gloriously hot and sunny.

Seagulls rule!


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