Baths, Bonfires and Stardom!

In an attempt to be disciplined I'm not leaving it another 10 months before adding to this blog!

Graham and I went down to the flat in Eastbourne last weekend to do some more work whilst enjoying ourselves just a little bit as well!

In a town which has the competely erroneous nickname of 'God's Waiting Room' due to the amount of elderly living there ( completely unjustified I may add!) Eastbourne is often a lively and interesting place and this last weekend proved my point.

The film 'Brighton Rock' is being re-made there and they were busy filming on Friday and Sunday. It stars Helen Mirren and is directed by the same guy who did Atonement ( sorry name escapes me!). On Friday they were filming the fight scene between the Mods and Rockers on the beach below the pier. Graham and I did amateur theatre for years so the slightest hint of sparkle and greasepaint and we're like moths to the flame! Graham likes to recall his 'extra' work for the BBC when he worked on Poldark and The Brothers......his hands had a starring role in the latter when they were 'stunt doubles'(!) for a close-up of one the actors removing a packet of frozen peas from the fridge............and of course there was also the time when he played a dancing conifer for a BHS Christmas advert..................stardom has always been in his sights.....he's never caught it mind you but it's always been in his sights! However,I digress!

Anyway we were allowed up onto the pier (which suprised me) and looked down on the Mods and Rockers clash and even joined in with the yobbish chanting.....just beyond the camera's lense! I wanted to take some pictures but a burly security guard with forearms like Popeye said I couldn't and I wasn't going to argue with a man built like a brick outhouse! They'd turned the pier into a 1960s wonderland with vintage arcade games and rides plus loads of authentic looking posters for seaside variety acts. The fronts of the stalls were brilliant but as soon as you went around the backs the chipboard and tintacks showed the artifice - very clever and it really is this creating of an illusion that I find so compelling about theatre and film!

Graham dragged me away as we had to go and do some serious damage to an old metal bath which needed to be 'smashed' and carted off to the council tip and I'd got some wallpaper to remove!

"What have I done?"

"Too late to think about that now mate!"

After another days hard work on Saturday it was time to have a bit of 'enjoyment' again! That night there was a spectacular celebration by Eastbourne's Bonfire Society which involved a torchlit procession ( burning torches not battery operated!) along the prom by members of the Society and other local Bonfire Societies. The marchers were all dressed up in amazing costumes and make-up ( back to the theatricals again you'll notice!) and were accompanied by a piper and some wonderful local drummers called 'The Pentacle Drummers'. A bonfire was lit on the beach and the whole thing was rounded off with a magnificent firework display.

We thoroughly enjoyed the whole event - there was something magical about watching this procession of flame red torches along the seafront next to a black tide and overlooked by a silvery crescent moon casting a faint tin foil ripple across the sea.. The drummers were breath taking and the beat was mesmeric - there was definitely something very 'pagan' about the whole event. Eastbourne enjoys a large and colourful Lammas festival in July and I've heard The Pentacles in action there. There were street sellers offering illuminated batons, glowing jewellery and brightly lit rabbits ears on headbands.........I soooooo wanted one of those but common sense prevailed.......'til next year! Here are a few pictures although they really don't do justice to the evening.

"Excessive make-up........ because I'm worth it!"

" Don't you just love Primark?"

"Anyone got a match?"

As well as all this ,Eastbourne hosted the Beachy Head Marathon on Sunday..............but since neither of us has a single 'exercise loving' gene in our bodies I have no pictures!

It was great weekend and after a meander to the Council Tip on Monday morning to dispose of the body....sorry, bath,... ( is there no end to how much one couple can pack into 3 days!) we went for a walk on the prom and then packed ready to go home.The weather was really mixed - Friday diabolical but Monday glorious! The Pampas grasses at the head of this posting were taken before we left and the sea was twinkling just enough to persuade me to have a paddle............

'Til next time.........