It’s s grey, cloudy day today with s continual threat of rain. There is also s gusty wind making it feel chilly.

Crêpe Affaire

For breakfast, we went to Crêpe Affaire, making a change from our usual.

Preparing the crêpes

Preparing the crêpes…

My crêpe is served

…and here comes mine!

Aboard the 12X

We boarded a 12X (‘X’ for “Express”) bus heading east.

Passing through the Southdowns National Park

We passed through towns and villages but also through rolling green countryside, including the Southdowns National Park.

Down the hill to Eastbourne

We at last came down the long hill into Eastbourne. Like a younger sibling, Esstbourne languishes in the shadow of Brighton but to those that know and love it, this genteel towns has charms of its own. Some prefer its quieter demeanour to Brighton’s livelier spirit.

Eastbourne Railway Station

The bus carried us past the railway station (which we often use to visit the town) and…

Revamped Hyde Gardens

…dropped us in Hyde Gardens, in the heart of the shopping area. We were somewhat surprised because it has been completely revamped since our last visit and a one-way system installed. I find the black and white tiling rather hard on the eyes.

Street market

There was a street market in progress and so we went for a look. And yes, I actually bought something! My old handbag was in a state because the lining had come adrift and all the zips had stopped working. Things would end up in the wrong places making it hard to find what I wanted, especially if I was in a hurry. I at last found one I thought I could live with and bought it. So far, it seems perfect for the job.

Coffee Republic

We went into Coffee Republic to take refreshment and to move everything from my old bag into my new one, being carefully to leave nothing behind.

Aboard the bus to Seaford

We then caught a bus to Seaford. Why Seaford? Well, it was somewhere we had not explored before and going there was taking us in the right direction – i.e. back towards Brighton.

Cross Way Methodist Church

The bus dropped us here, on the main road near the Cross Way Methodist Church.

Seaford, Broad Street

We walked down Broad Street, looking to see what there was to see.

Chloe’s 1940s Cafe

All in all, the most interesting thing we could think of to do was to have lunch. For this we went to Chloe’s 1940s Cafe.

Wartime memorabilia

As the name suggests, the cafe is decorated with WWII memorabilia and songs from that period play over loudspeakers. Staff dress is also suitably styled. The food was OK. I don’t know whether this was part of the theme but the cafe accepts cash only. Unfortunately, 2022 prices are charged, not 1940s prices.

High Street

Afterwards, we went for a ramble around town. This is the High Street, no doubt once the centre of town but now feeling rather forgotten.

Victorian drinking fountain

We discovered this rather strange drinking fountain like no other I have seen if this period. The inscription tells us that it was erected in celebration of Queen Victoria’s 50 years on the throne, that is, in 1887.

The Little Theatre

Seaford has a little theatre and it is called, appropriately enough, the Little Theatre. I assume the actors are normal size and not puppets like those of Islington’s Little Angel Theatre.

Church of St Leonard and St Luke

It may seem perverse to visit Seaford and not go down to the sea. The grey and chilly weather was one disincentive, perhaps. Anyway, we saw a Brighton bus at the stop and ran for it.

Passing Roedean School

This bus was not an ‘X’ and stopped at regular bus stops along the way, making for a slower journey. Not that it mattered as there was plenty see from our upstairs windows. (In the photo we are passing the famous Roedean School.)

North Street

Arriving in Brighton, we stayed on the bus to the stop in North Street because we intended to go shopping for our supper.

The Co-operative

For a change, we did our shopping at the Co-operative supermarket (or “Co-operativ”, according to their shop sign). The result is much the same except for the different name on any “own-brand” products.

On the day we arrived here, as we were settling down for the night, there came a hammering on our door. The room below ours had water coming in through the ceiling and our shower unit was the suspect. We said that we had not used the shower yet and this was enough to send the accusers away.

Today, however, we were asked if we would be kind enough to move from our room to the room next door so that the leak could be thoroughly investigated. We agreed, of course.

We have a bay window
Photo by Tigger

We have done rather well by the exchange because we have a much nicer room. The bedroom has a bay window with a view of the sea and the bathroom is palatial – it has a bathtub as well as a shower!

Are we surprised by this turn of events? Actually, no: we had water leak problems in two other hotels, in one of which we were moved to another room as we were here. Water leaks seem to follow us around!