Bloggo Piccolo: A Day in Brighton

I just learned something I had not known about one of my favorite plays, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. Those theatre buffs among you will know that Ernest (in town) or Jack (in the country), Worthing has not lost his parents. Instead they seem to have lost him. When Lady Bracknell grills him, he explains that he was found in a handbag ("a handbag!?") in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, by a kind old gentleman who named him Worthing because he had a first class ticket to Worthing in his pocket at the time. The exchange, which occurs because Jack/Ernest wants to marry Lady Bracknell's daughter Gwendolyn, ends in one of the wittiest lines Wilde ever wrote, when Lady B quashes his hopes : "You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter -- a girl brought up with the utmost care -- to marry into a cloakroom, and form an alliance with a parcel. Good morning, Mr. Worthing!" During the conversation that went before, Ernest/Jack reveals that Worthing is a seaside resort, and on the Brighton Line. What I did not know is that in late nineteenth century Victoria Station consisted of two separate terminus stations, one not very nice, the other, which included the Brighton Line, much more posh and fashionable than the first. 


Beyond that bit about Brighton I knew nothing more about the town except that it is a seaside resort, and that its chief features included a great long pier 

and a wretchedly excessive Pavilion.

Imagine my surprise then as I discovered the other pleasures of the town, which lie primarily in "The Lanes," a network of tiny roads along which now lie some of the most intriguing shops and unique restaurants I have seen. 

The other great pleasure for me was that my personal tour guide through the lanes was alum Bridgett Ane (BA) Lawrence, with whom I've kept in touch and seen on several occasions since her graduation.

It wasn't all a private tour, The trip to Brighton was a one-day excursion planned by the London Center, and Bill Sheasgreen led it well. We left London from Victoria Station, still shuttling people from the huge capital to the charming seaside resort, where we were met by BA, but it was Bill who started us out with a stroll through the Lanes. 

In this fun shot, BA and DJ
clown in her yoga studio

BA took us up to the very impressive Bikram Yoga center that she owns, runs, and actively teaches in, and a few of the students indicated that they might well return for a class before the semester ends. Then Bill led us from the Lanes to the sea. It was a cloudy, somewhat blustery day, and the channel was a bit choppy, but the students took to the beach delightedly. One of them said that she had been living for months on an island, and had never until now been to its coast.


From the pebble-filled shore we walked to the pier, a wonderfully tacky place, with fairly usual arcades, amusement park rides, and places to eat. Very little of it was open for business on a pretty but brisk November day, and a weekday at that. But the students seemed to enjoy it and I certainly did. 

Group shot on the beach, pier in background

Our next stop was to the Pavilion, an extravagant pleasure palace built for the Prince of Wales in the late eighteenth century. 

Students outside the Royal Pavilion

When Dottore Gianni first cast eyes on it his  initial impression was that it must have been modeled in part on the Taj Mahal, indeed it seems that primary architect John Nash was inspired somewhat by India, somewhat by the vogue for "chinoiserie" rampant in the 18th century -- the Orient constructed by people who had never seen the Orient. This fantasia on the "oriental" world that will strike some as a lovely dream, and others as a scary nightmare, some as exquisite, others as ridiculously tacky.  No photos are allowed inside, but if you happen to be in London you too might desire such a day trip -- you can easily take in the beach and pier, The Royal Pavilion and the Brighton Lanes from mid-morning until late afternoon as we did.

BA and DJ at The Basketmakers Arms

After the Pavilion I had BA to myself for a while, and she took me through The Lanes via the Theatre Royal to a wonderful little pub called the Basketmakers Arms. The food was excellent as was the local ale -- we had the amusingly called Buttcombe Bitter -- but the neatest thing about the place was on its walls. These are literally packed with vintage signs, photos and other bric a brac, including a wide variety of little tins which, when opened, will frequently reveal a message written by a previous customer. You're welcome to leave your own message as well, and if I hadn't been so taken with BA's conversation I would have done so. But we were busy catching up and I'm not sure what I'd have written anyway - whatever takes your fancy! Next time...


After lunch we strolled through more of The Lanes, and had a very nice cuppa tea, sitting outside on a day that had turned not sunny but wonderfully mild. Some students bumped into us there and had a short chat with us as well, and then BA took me back to the train station and I caught the 4:19 back to London.


No "Worthing" on this journey, and the Brighton Line is not what you'd call an up-scale service today, but the city, the sea, the lanes, even the crazy pavilion in Brighton are not to be missed.


One last note about the theatrical aspect of the Brighton Line, that only the best and brightest of theatre buffs will know: Dottore Gianni played Jack Worthing once many years ago -- and he was very good!