Day 55 (13th August 2022)

 Busy day ahead with a fair few miles as well, so up early, only to find  I had an ant infestation.  They had formed an orderly queue up my electrical hook-up lead and down into one of my little cupboards where they were faced with the choice of honey or porridge oats. Took me ages to flush them all out, and for the next hour I was convinced they were still running up my arms and legs!

The radio warned of extra busy roads due to industrial action on the railways (of which I fully support as it happens) and even before 8 am, they were right.

My first destination was one of those where there is pretty much only one way in and out - Stop #118

SELSEY BILL

I would liked to have explored Selsey itself a bit more, but the proximity of Chichester and its epic Cathedral beckoned. 

I was the first and only visitor for most of the hour I was there, but one of the volunteers hovered around the choir section keeping an eye on me so I was unable to expose a single misericord. Sadly the gift shop didn't open for another hour and I had places to be, and still hadn't written my blog entry for yesterday. The last time I was in this Cathedral was for the funeral of my dear friend Rachel's father Rev Ken, so it felt special to be thinking of him again.

Back on the road, I was sorely tempted to visit Arundel Castle as I've never been, but they are having  an open day and there were lines of people making their way up the hill. Another time maybe.

Obviously my next destination was Brighton, but if you look closely at the Mug / T, there is one stop #119

PORTSLADE

The place I have chose to be forever linked with Portslade is the Ferndown Tower, a converted Edwardian water tower that apparently houses a camera obscura. I say 'apparently' because...

I drove further down the road to make myself a cuppa and hang out with some horses for a bit.

Next stop Brighton! Prime Sea Power real estate as it were. First thing I had to do was have a dip in the sea, then I headed across the road to stop #120

THE HAUNT (KRANKENHAUS)

Oh so many good memories (despite my face looking like a slapped arse)

Then a 15 minute walk past my bothers old flat;

Opposite St.Peter's Church to the now closed site of stop #121

THE FREEBUTT (CLUB SEA POWER)

I wasn't around for any of these legendary nights - my first Sea Power gig was at Ally Pally when they supported The Strokes - a night that made me decide I would never miss the opportunity to see this band play live if I could help it. The sad state of this venue makes me wanna weep.

As I was going to be staying with my sister and brother-in-law tonight and as time was flying, I decided that I could do one more stop, and this one was at a place I had a ticket for but couldn't attend as my partner Bernie was seriously ill with a brain tumour... stop #122

NEWHAVEN FORT (FORT ROX)

Sadly none of the staff on duty were around for this legendary event. I bought the 2 Ts from the Fort Rox day despite not being able to attend - I was there in spirit of course.

I did try to drive straight to my sister's but there is this road between Newhaven and Seaford that has a tantalising sign to "Bishopstone 1/4 mile" and is a dead end. I must have driven past this sign over 100 times, and today, finally, I decided to go have a look.

What a find. The St.Andrew's  church dates back to Saxon times. There were strange video game noises coming from the inside, but it turned out to be Chris playing a game on her phone. Chris is probably old enough to be my mum, but has bright blue hair and kept me chatting for at least 45 minutes about churches, religion and whether Quakers are Christians, as well as Saxon vs Norman ecclesiastical architecture, the old vs new Coventry Cathedral and the joys of undertaking trips around Britain by yourself. I now know why the graveyard around the old church has so many big tombs!

It was genuinely hard to tear myself away, especially after Chris has showed me the difference between the wooden and metal organ pipes of the church organ. If only there were more people like Chris working in Cathedrals. I'm sure she wouldn't even hesitate in letting me look at all the misericords!

I arrived in enough time to hang out with my brother-in-law before he had to head off to work, and celebrated my return with some delish vintage champers and those conversations siblings have that move your world!

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out