Getting the message across on civic responsibility

No, this is not an April fool.

We came across this wonderful leaflet recently while in Catalonia, just south of Barcelona. It's all about keeping your neighbourhood clean. It actually covers all forms of litter and rubbish, but I loved the direct but humorous approach adopted in the picture, which shows a group of happily dancing dog turds!

You couldn't imagine that approach being adopted in the UK...

Do you know what you are wearing?

Escaping the cold of the UK for a little warmth (relatively speaking) in off-season Spain, we came across several examples of a rather puzzling Spanish phenomenon which you don’t normally see in busy resorts: clothing with bizarrely inappropriate English phrases on them.

In a rather cosmopolitan bar, the owner had a T-shirt proudly suggesting, “Kill the yuppie bastards”; in a busy shopping street, a rather conservative-looking middle-aged man proudly sports a pullover emblazoned, “Doggy Style”; and, most bizarrely of all, a handsome father, young son in hand, who walked towards us on the beach wearing a sweat-shirt boldly proclaiming, “I take it up the bum”.

Now, said father may or may not indulge in this particular practice, but it strikes me as bizarre that it wouldn’t cross his mind to check the meaning of the words proclaimed across his torso to the world. Perplexed, we asked a Spanish friend to explain what we had observed, and he confirmed what we suspected: that English of any kind on clothing is regarded by some as fashionable; that they trust the manufacturers not to play games at their expense; and that they don't have a clue what the words on the garment actually mean.

Which prompts us to consider the motives of those who design such products? Do they really intend to humiliate their customers, or do they regard it as some sort of huge sartorial joke? Is it the revenge of a slighted designer upon a monolingual wholesaler, or a bored youth in the Far East wondering what he can get away with? Whatever the answer, some of the said customers are going to get a nasty shock one day but, until then, are hopefully walking around in contented, ignorant bliss.

Which reminds me: some years back, I brought my other half a gift from Japan in the form of a light cotton day-kimono, or yakuta. It is emblazoned with Japanese characters, the meaning of which, of course, I am ignorant. Perhaps I should check them out…

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

One thing I did not expect in moving to the sunny South Coast was to find myself housebound by snow. But the week-end before Christmas, that is exactly what happened. We had around 5 inches of snow on Thursday night, which then thawed slightly, and re-froze.

I managed to get out happily enough on the Friday, thanks to a good pair of boots, as I had to go to London. For once the railways had got their preparations right, and the trains ran almost on time, albeit with a slightly reduced service frequency. But over the weekend, the lack of preparation in Brighton itself showed with a lamentable lack of snow-clearing from the roads and pavements except for those in the centre. As a result, our street was a veritable ice rink, and remained so until Monday afternoon.

Still, for a while, it made the town look very festive in the run-up to Christmas...

Brighton Architecture II

The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Victoria Road, by Bodley and Burgess, contains notable pre-Raphaelite stained glass.

Brighton's other important architectural legacy is its stock of Victorian churches. Brighton had a frenzy of church building in the mid to late 19th Century. A significant number of these were the result of the efforts of the Wagners, father and son. They were keen exponents of the Tractarian tradition, which reintroduced traditional Catholic ritual to worship and liturgy, and they used their considerable wealth to build over half a dozen churches. The most important include St Paul's in West Street with its collection of stained glass by Pugin, and the astonishingly vast St Bartholomew's in Ann Street.

The city has an interesting range of earlier Victorian churches, reflecting the change in tastes from Classical to Neo-Gothic architecture, as well as a stock of very early (and often quaintly humble) mediaeval churches from villages it absorbed as it expanded. A good example is Ovingdean, below, founded during the Anglo-Saxon period.

Brighton Architecture - part I

One of the joys of Brighton is, of course, its architecture, from the famous terraces of Georgian houses to an impressive stock of Victorian churches. Some of the best set-pieces are, of course, in Hove (actually) rather than Brighton itself, but now that the former two towns are a joint city, I feel able to include them both!

...and hello to the South Coast

Well, here I am in my first week as a Brightonian. Although I have spent a lot of time here, this is the first time that it has been my main home. The 60mph gales are a bit of a breezy welcome, but that's all part of the package of living by the sea. I was brought up less than half a mile of the Bristol Channel, however, so I'm used to it.

Anyway, attached is a photo from a slightly calmer day!

And farewell!

So, after a few months of to-ing and fro-ing, yesterday saw us at last move out of the flat in Earl's Court that we have called home for the last 13 years. The stairs proved a challenge for our removers, especially with the large wardrobes, but they triumphed in the end and all went smoothly.

So, it's good-bye to London and hello to Brighton! Thanks for reading - and watch this space as it may transmogrify...!