Well the dinner last night is having an effect, though not a particularly desirable one, so today I didn't stray too far from a toilet. After our aborted trip to Bath, we took the advice of one of the friendly guys in the hotel and booked a train to Brighton from Clapham Junction instead of London - it was about half price. We then caught a bus from Camberwell Green to Clapham Junction to meet the train there. There we learned another lesson about ticketing. After entering our purchase code we waited until two tickets popped out slooowwly, then grabbed them and raced for the train. Little did we know that, contrary to Holland where all info is on 1 ticket, British Rail issues 4 tickets for the 2 trips and returns. Let's just say that this meant a Q&A session at every ticket gate to Brighton and back while the 2 last tickets were still sitting in the tray of the machine back in Clapham Junction. We must say though, that the rail staff were very helpful and polite.
It was a treat to hear the seagulls (never thought that I'd say that) as we arrived at Brighton Station. We took a pleasant walk the approximately 1 Km down to the water, past the ornate Queen Victoria memorial. Maybe it's because we're Sydneysiders, but we found it somewhat comforting to arrive at the beach, see the water and stones (?). We knew the beach was stony, but they were a lot bigger than we expected. 
We walked along the seaside, past small shops and stalls selling such delicacies as fish & chips, smoked cod, crab sandwiches, fresh sardines, rollmops, whelks, jellied eel and olives wrapped in anchovies. Frances couldn't resist and had to have a rollmop. For real lunch though, we sat at a seaside cafe had a hamburger, chips and a beer!
The water was a beautiful green-blue colour and looked inviting, but was too cold for a swim, so we settled for a walk along the seaside and out onto Brighton Marine Palace and Pier (Brighton Pier). We had a little daja vu experience as we remembered the pier at Scheveningen in Holland. Although cool, the day was bright and sunny so we just enjoyed walking along the pier and taking in the ambience. A day at Brighton may be a cliché, but it was good to have a break from the intensity of London.
We took a roundabout route back to the station, past the quite bizarre Royal Pavilion, built in the 1780s in the style of an Indian palace as a royal retreat . There were also narrow streets that had a feel of Newtown in Sydney, full of interesting shops and interesting people - lots of goth, emo and retro in evidence. There was also one of the most interesting opportunity shops we've ever seen - great stuff at low prices, but no way to carry it all back. We did buy 3 tiny items though.We got back to Camberwell with a little time to spare before the mini cab we'd booked to take us to the airport. We had a coffee, chatted with the guys at the Church Street Hotel and then it was off to Heathrow for the flight to Abu Dhabi. Fortunately there were public scales at the airport so that we could weigh our bags and meet the 23kg limit for the flight. After some heavy rearranging, our bags met the limit, but we hoped they wouldn't weigh the hand luggage!
The flight was only about 2/3 full, so after take-off, there was a mad scramble to occupy vacant seats. We did OK so that we got some sleep for the 7 hour flight.
On our previous flights the food was pretty good, so we were anticipating this one - especially sine it was over 9 hours since we'd had lunch. And… it was great! Chicken braised in Arabic spices, spiced rice, spinach and chickpeas. This was accompanied by a Tomato Salad with Arabic vinaigrette. Some of us managed to get two (small) glasses of wine to aid digestion and slumber. Dessert was a warm apple and rhubarb cinnamon crumble with custard.
With only one choice, we had to pass up the Braised beef with rosemary jus, roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables, and, the Vegetable in masala sauce, biryani rice and sautéed spinach. Maybe on the next flight?
