I am a London-based Digital PR/Social Media/SEO Consultant, music producer/anorak, deep sea diver, avid cyclist, worldwide traveller and football-loving technology bod! This page functions as a kind of online scrapbook/resource featuring my favourite blog posts and news items as well as my own personal reviews and recommendations in the worlds of music, sport, travel and technology!

Tuesday 26 February 2008

Dear Old Brighton

I had to go down to Brighton yesterday for a meeting and to catch up with an old friend who I haven't seen in years. Easy drive - just a bastard getting out of Croydon with all the chavs queuing up to buy their new sofas from Ikea so that they can sit back all weekend and stuff their faces while watching Eastenders and moaning. Everytime I go down to Brighton, an overwhelming sense of relaxation always hits me as soon as I drive through the arches. There is definately some kind of undescribable magic down there - something lifts all the stresses and strains of London from your shoulders. It purifies you. Maybe it's the sea air, the seagulls flying all over the place or just the sense of freedom. Considering it's only an hour's drive from London, it really couldn't be a more different place. Such a mix of people from all walks of life - a mixture of Bath, North London, Notting Hill, France, Brixton, with a dash of San Francisco and it's own unique personality all rolled into one. Students walking around high on weed without a care in the world, musicians sitting in cafe's discussing their next album, hippies walking their dogs on the way to their art studio, uber-trendy media boffins sipping £3.00 latte's over their laptops...oh, and property developers.....fuckers...It really is an interesting and vibrant place - a place with an edge but yet so chilled. People just seem to float around and live in their own bubbles down there..they have this kind of love affair with their city.. I used to spend a lot of time in Brighton in my mid-twenties going to the Concorde 2 and the infamous illegal 'Positive Sound System' beach parties with my mad Irish ex-girlfriend and her mates. I practically lived down there for a year or so visiting various people and partying so it bought back a lot of fun memories. It's a shame I never got into Brighton or Sussex Uni as it has to be one of the best places to study in the UK. A LOT of fun to be had there as a student that's for sure.. I did for a minute think I'd love to move there, but then realised that ultimately it's the kind of place you can live for a few years then move back to the big smoke from. There doesn't seem to be much opportunity there compared to London if you work in the media like I do but the quality of living and people really seem to make the place special. It's more about a way of life and an attitude in Brighton that the locals seems to adopt. They don't live for material means, but rather to have a simple, stress-free life..if I made music full-time I could live there very comfortably but ultimately for me, it's great for a weekend away, but not to live....I think...although I'm not sure....maybe I should give it a try??? Nah, that's not gonna happen.. Anyway, on walking back to the car after saying goodbye to Lloyd and Sarah, I picked up a leaflet that had the following poem on it which I thought was quite funny: SEAFRONT BRIGHTON You have no reservations the signs in your eyes say Bed & Breakfast

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