Just a Tribute

2 Days, 2 (Straight) Friends, 2 Cameras, 2 Livers

I am always bemoaning the fact that all my holidays are now to the UK. My most recent "holiday" had all the usual ingredients; uncertainty about the weather, visiting my parents and a night out drinking with the friends I'd left behind in my home town. This time it really did feel like a holiday. I didn't do any cooking, ate out in restaurants (or at least fast food joints) and completely avoided doing any work.

In order to save a few pounds (both monetarily and in terms of weight) I travelled with only hand luggage. This also saved me time by avoiding check in and baggage reclaim. I just about managed to cope with the limitations for my six-day trip. I wasn't able to take any alcohol with me, which was my only regret. Next time I'll take a couple of extra changes of clothes or buy something when I'm there.

I had timed my trip to coincide with the Pride Parade and Festival, which was the main focus of the trip. It was to be a fabulous photo opportunity with lots of friendly and colourful characters around and a fabulous drinking opportunity at the street parties and in the numerous bars. Pride turned out to be merely a side attraction. I had invited a friend to share the Pride experience with me and we were too busy having a good time to join in the gay festivities. We saw practically nothing of the parade itself and only the aftermath of the street parties.

In addition to plenty of Facebook check ins we documented the whole thing on our cameras; drinking, eating, as well as hanging around at home, on the beach or on the lawns at the Royal Pavilion. I took nearly 400 hundred photos, about one in ten of which I ended publishing on Facebook. Some of them were great, really great. I was using an excellent camera, the locations were inspiring and, most importantly, my "model" was photogenic and in good humour. The photos serve as an excellent reminder to what was a fantastic weekend in Brighton.

Not all of what transpired was recorded graphically. The evening in the Irish pub Molly Malone's, complete with crazy Irish band and even crazier toilet attendants springs to mind. And after drinking our fill the dash home through the side streets in the rain with only a flimsy wrap for protection.

To sum up (paraphrasing Stachura) "Ciężki był urlop, ale też i bezbłędny." Which roughly translates to "It was a tough holiday, but flawless too"