Pier to Pier

It's the first day since I've arrived that it's been sunny and wind-free for the entirety of the day. The warm air and the calm shore - combined with it being Sunday - is what brought Brighton to life today.

On my walk into the town centre I noticed someone wearing a silver shirt that was reflecting the sunlight and really shimmering. I thought it may have been a Sunday-morning-from-Saturday-night sequined bar clothing but I suddenly saw another! It turns out there was a marathon happening and what I saw were the reflective thermal blankets the runners had been given. As the day progressed I observed some really creative uses of the silvery material. Skirts, ankle warmers, togas, and capes.

I decided to head down to the old pier to take some photos of its demise. It's been steadily deteriorating within the last few decades due to storm and fire damage. Hard to believe a concert hall used to sit atop it when you see it barely stand today. Apparently it collapsed again a few weeks ago due to the high winds Brighton has been experiencing.

I walked some more and came upon about fifty dead starfish tangled in the seaweed and strewn about the beach stones. I'm not sure why they were so dense in this one particular area - I didn't see any elsewhere on the shore. These little five-legged mysteries made me a little sad.

I turned around at one point and looked back at where I had been photographing the old pier just a few minutes prior and saw a human bouncing in the air.

I trudged along towards the new pier.

Eventually I had a sit-down and examined the rocks. In comparison to Newfoundland rock standards, they're generally quite a bit smaller, and the body of stone as a whole is made up of a much different variety of rock - almost entirely flint. They are mostly yellow and blue, and have lots of little dents, dimples and dainty organic curves. You will come across the occasional bit of white chalk as well, which tends to be found alongside the bits of rubbish due to it's similarly lightweight body.

The beach garbage here compared to Newfoundland is generally identical. Plastic bottles, caps, shell casings, gloves, footwear, frayed bits of brightly coloured rope, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

There's also a ton of this black stuff. It, too, is very lightweight, and feels like charred chalk. It's like a combination of burned wood and rock. I can't really find any specific information about it. I carried a fist-sized chunk of it home with me.

I headed to the new pier near sundown and was greeted by a murmuration of starlings! You can kind of see it in the photo below. Waves of water AND birds. I'm a lucky gal.

On Brighton beach, the scent at any given time alternates between fried fish and chips, cigarettes, salt water, churros, and human fragrance.

These long-exposures actually make the new pier look creepier than the old one. I like them. A future scenario, maybe?

This looks like the setting of a choose-your-own-adventure Goosebumps book.

I really felt Brighton today; it was positively buzzing with energy. I found interesting details with every shift of the foot and the eye. The only thing today was lacking was a Will to share all of this and a beer with along the strandlines.