Brighton Beach, with fishing boats - 26th May 2026 (excerpt)

It’s 26º and a half term which of course I could never have predicted when I put this date in the calendar in January, the leisure class are out in full effect, a carousel and a Thomas train ride for the kids, a man setting up deck chairs for hire, a couple having a heavy conversation, gulls, a man having a loud conversation on his phone ‘Yeah, I had a good nights sleep!’, a woman in sandals walking on the gravel beach, a jet ski heading west, a light aircraft heading east, a family man staring at me for an unhealthily long time, messages from work colleagues, screams from the rollercoaster on the pier, it’s hard to relax in to the moment with so many people around, I’m constantly looking out of my peripheral vision for potential encounters, the carousel playing ‘Hokey Cokey’, a paddle boarder, an open top bus, people on a double sea kayak slightly out of sync with their paddle strokes, a man that is ‘curious’ takes a CA card and then apologises for farting before walking off, a sight seeing boat full of people going dangerously close to the kayak and making it bob up and down in the wake, a large waft of herbage, a large waft of waffles, squeaky flip flops, four girls walking either side of the microphone, four boys walking to one side of the microphone, ‘Rocking All Over The World’, someone with a heavy foot driving a sports car, a group of teenagers with a boom box, an Enforcement Officer, a lady looking out to sea.