A fellow Brightonian read my previous post on Brighton and asked me why I like the old place, in a bit a more detail. We had a long conversation that ranged from the general to the specific and the arcane to the absurd. So, why do I like it in Brighton? Here are some incomplete and random thoughts that can be blogged.
– You can still get proper Fish and Chips.
– It is, for my money, the most convivial city in Britain when it comes to getting shitfaced. It’s easy to drink and get drunk in Brighton.
– Live music. There are just so many venues and gigs and festivals and happenings to choose from. Moreover, gigging is cheaper, more pleasant and less stressy than in our nation’s capital. Great gigs this year? Duke Special. Vampire Weekend. The Great Escape Festival.
– Normal isn’t necessarily nice. Be a freelance. An artist or a schemer or a dreamer, and you aren’t necessarily laughed at. Ploughing an unconventional furrow is celebrated. The people who are pitied are the ones who trundle to and from Londinium every day.
– Counter-culture. Brighton is Britain’s San Francisco and not just because of the gay community. San Franciscans are proud of their love of liberty and live-and-let-live attitude. That feels like Brighton too.
– I like being close to my roots.
The council should hire you – you make it sound fab.
The beer garden at the Battle of Trafalgar.
It is a lovely beer garden.
I have just moved from London to brighton for these very reasons!