The sun returns to Brighton….

And with it returns our blog! The past few days have been the best kind of summer beauty. We’ve spent these past few weeks hiding from the dreary, rainy cold-sorry about the absence. It wasn’t too inspiring, and we made good use of our Netflix account and the 2 for 10 meals at M&S, believe you me.

Anyway, it’s been decided. Brighton is without a doubt the best place to be when the sun is shining. On Saturday we checked out a  few Brighton institutions (okay…I don’t know if they can really be called “institutions”, but they should be!). These included Lick for frozen yogurt (topped with kiwi, raspberries, and dark chocolate chips), Brighton Pier for some good ol’ fashioned beach sitting/people watching, perusing the wares at the Saturday street market in the North Laines on Upper Gardner Street, and a pint at Craft Beer Co right around dinner time, which we will most certainly be frequenting again. Check it out if you haven’t-it’s where The Florist used to be on Upper North Street.

What have you been doing now that the sun’s come out?

Is this summer?

Man you guys-I don’t know about you, but we have been enjoying this amazing weather immensely! Lounging at the beach, chilling at the Royal Pavilion Gardens, long walks along the seaside and sitting in pub gardens for a few pints…it really doesn’t get better than this-and it’s not even June yet! Let’s hope the sun and heat sticks around for the whole summer, shall we?

Some pictures we’ve taken lately, whilst out enjoying ourselves: sunset from our spot on the beach, Brighton beach 2x, the dilapidated West Pier (which I love to take pictures of, haha), the Royal Pavilion,  the Royal Pavilion Gardens, watching some ambitious fisherman at high tide, and a very crowded beach on a recent hot day! 

What places have you been enjoying now around beautiful Brighton now that the sun’s come out and the rains have disappeared (for the time being)? We’d love to know!

A suitable tagline for Brighton

I caught wind of an interesting conversation on Twitter today. Brighton digerati Andy Budd had kicked up a mild stink by suggesting that Wired Sussex’s proposal to give Brighton a new “tagline” was “probably a waste of money”.

Looks like I’ve been causing trouble again – twitter.com/andybudd/statu…

— Andy Budd (@andybudd) May 22, 2012

This was quickly turned into a mini-meme as people suggested alternative taglines for our fine city. The current tagline, for those wondering, is “The location that makes business sense”. I should point out that this is a tagline specifically for attracting business – it’s not designed for tourists or prospective residents – that would be stupid (almost as stupid as a city hiring a consultant specifically to come up with a new tagline to attract new businesses).

@andybudd how about “Brighton. We’re by the fucking sea, for christs sake. What more do you want?”

— Matt Locke (@matlock) May 22, 2012

@andybudd Or ‘Live in Brighton, work in London though cos the opportunities and salaries are better’… — Steve Evans (@steve_e) May 22, 2012

How about “Brighton, the place where business’s connect” followed by a spinning beach ball logo — Andy Budd (@andybudd) May 22, 2012

 

@andybudd “Brighton… The San Francisco of the UK, what it lacks in size, it makes up for in tweed.”

— James Seymour-Lock (@JamesSLock) May 22, 2012

@andybudd. Brighton – Pelican Valley

— Mat Venn (@matvenn) May 22, 2012

 

@andybudd What about… “Brighton: Time To Get Businessing!”

— Jason Garber (@jgarber) May 22, 2012

I’m not sure which is my favourite, although the last one certainly has a ring to it.

As for the proposal itself, I think to attract digital businesses (speaking as someone who works for one of the largest in town and is reasonably well involved in the “scene”) Brighton needs a better availability of high-quality office space to be taken advantage of by well-funded startups, as well as a significant infrastructure overhaul to make internet speeds in the centre of town at least reasonable.

We could also do with some kind of “showcase” annual event. There are plenty of great conferences – SEO Brighton, UX Brighton, Brighton Digital Festival, Develop, dConstruct – but no real show-stoppers. This might be due to a problem Mr Budd himself points out – that there aren’t any international-standard conference facilities to be had in town. What we need is a South By South-East – something that will attract people from around the world.

Public Libraries in Brighton-Joining Jubilee Library

        Back in March I finally made the effort to join a local public library around these parts. Let it be known that I LOVE reading. I always have a book in my purse, and I’ve been a ravenous devourer of literature since a young age. Jon-not so much. He reads non-fiction about stuff like the reign of Kim Jon-Il and Steve Jobs on the Kindle app on his tablet, only occasionally. In fact, we made a decision to read Game of Thrones-the whole series!-before watching the show, and he’s taken nearly 2 and a half months to get all the way through the first book and halfway through the second, which he then promptly forgot about and completely stopped reading. I gave him the head start because I read so much faster and I knew at some point we’d be stuck on the same book, and I’d be annoyed at having to share and/or wait for him to finish one for me to start it. TLDR: I haven’t started Game of Thrones yet, but I’m about to give up on sharing the experience with Jon:)

         Anyway, I now have a library card good for use at all Brighton and Hove libraries! My library of choice (not necessarily “neighborhood library” but close enough) is the Jubilee Library in the North Laines, as pictured above. Very modern. Pretty cool looking, right? And inside, they’ve got this for checking out-it’s space age and blows my mind. You plop your books on that little shelf and it automatically reads out your list in a few seconds and prints a receipt. Magical! The same thing happens with returns-come in, place your books on the shelf, beep through the bar code on your library card and then place the books on the shelf next to the machine. All self serve.

If you haven’t made the effort to join a library in the Brighton/Hove area yet, you have plenty-and I mean plenty-of choices as to where to go, depending on your own humble abode’s location. There are public libraries in Hove, Coldean, Hangleton, Hollingbury, Mile Oak, Mouslecoomb, Patcham, Portslade, Rottingdean, Saltdean, Westdene, Whitehawk, Woodingdean, and a mobile library.  Whew…what a list!  That list, by the way, can be found here.

I’m not sure how it is at other Brighton and Hove libraries, but at Jubilee I can check out forty books at one time. FORTY. I have no idea why I would ever need so many books at my disposal at one time, but it’s an option, if that’s a thing you’re into. I’m sticking with five or less.

Also, according to their website, the Jubilee library is the city’s largest library and the fifth most visited library in all of England. So that’s nice! Go become a patron of your local library. Free books guys. Free. Books. Enjoy!

An evening stroll down Hove seafront

Ashley and I attempted to take the edge off the fact that A MAN WAS FUCKING MURDERED ACROSS THE ROAD FROM US by taking advantage of the nice weather with a walk along Hove Lawns this evening. It was so nice to see some good weather again after the last week of rain. That, and the murder, had really left us a little glum.

Brighton seafront in 1970

I was pointed towards this excellent video this morning from British Pathé, which is nothing more than a car journey along Brighton seafront. It’s amazing how little has changed, except the Brighton Centre and an extension here and there. Go to around 3.40 for a really nice view of the West Pier as it was then.

Unfortunately Pathé’s embed code seems to have been written around the same time as the video was filmed, so you’ll have to click through to see it.

Starting a blog on a rainy day

It’s Monday April 9th – Easter Monday, in fact – and the rain is pouring. My good wife Ashley and I have been talking about starting a Brighton blog for a good while. Ninety percent of my professional life is blogging and writing columns, and Ashley has been maintaining a personal blog for more years than I care to recall, so it seems like a natural next step to start blogging about the city in which we both reside and love – Brighton.

On Brightonist we’ll be writing about the many restaurants we eat in, events we attend, shows we watch and other activities we undertake, all well illustrated through Ashley’s photography (and hopefully mine when I get my bloody camera fixed).

For such a vibrant, digitally-savvy city Brighton seems to be spectacularly under-represented in the blogosphere, and we hope our modest contribution can help address that balance.

Things we’re looking forward to doing:

• The Brighton Marathon (supporting those taking part, at least)
• Brighton Pride 2012
• White Night 2012

And things we’ve done recently:

Lunch at an “American diner ” was hilariously full of all the most unhealthy foods, plus requisite pics of Marilyn /Elvis etc. Nice.

— Ashley S (@YesImAshley) April 1, 2012

Visited the @BurningDesireHS stall at @BrightonFood festival today. Looking forward to sharing this little gem with my chilli-loving chums.

— Jon Norris (@Jn_Norris) April 6, 2012

Beautiful afternoon for dog walking! instagr.am/p/I_7JM-BJj3/

— Ashley S (@YesImAshley) April 4, 2012