It's been a long, long time ....

I don't suppose many people keep diaries anymore now that Blogs have taken the limelight. Barely a day goes by that another entry from a famous Blog is reported on - Barack Obama for instance. How does he get the time? I find it hard to put aside 30 minutes now and then to bring this one up to date and that's just running a guesthouse, not as guardian of the free world!

I kept a diary when I was 17 for some months. Of course, I had to write it in code so that my mother (who was bound to find it) would never unravel the goings on of her teenage son. Even Bletchley Park would have taken a while. But as the sultry summer of 1980, interspersed with a landmark holiday in Greece, came to a close so did the diary.

For me it's the same with a Blog hence my long delay in coming back. And that's without me Twittering or updating Facebook! I haven't really cottoned on properly to these yet although I'm trying. Presumably it's like a round robin every day so that people can keep up with the minutiae of your daily life - 'I thought I'd be bold and wear red socks today'. How lovely.

Not that anything's come to a close here, oh no. We had the most exquisite time in Paris despite it being about twice as expensive as Brighton. We just changed our habits and ate at home (we booked this charming little flat in Le Marais on the Rue des Rosiers - the heart of the Jewish Quarter - opposite was a Kosher Pizza parlour). And this time we paid upfront for everything - those Pre-Paid Mastercards are great because you already have the money and they are so much more convenient than carrying substantial amounts of cash. We did eat out at night of course but still managed to spend about half as much as the last time.

Here at Avalon Brighton we've had the Labour Party Conference too - a great bunch of people but you get the feeling they are not overly optimistic of success in the near future.

We have the signed Gilbert and George prints (one person thought they were pictures of me and Tom).

Two good friends have sadly left us. Linda was taken ill on a break in Brighton and died very suddenly.

Ken Wynn (pictured at the top with the delectable Miss Sophie, Martin's Jack Russell and also on this Blog last year for Trafalgar Night) - so sad that we only knew him as a good friend for the last three or four years - passed away last week and his funeral was on Tuesday. I want a funeral like that - the right balance between respect, solemnity, mischief and sheer fun. Martin spotted me across the room upstairs at the Pumphouse in the Lanes handing an Avalon card to someone (who asked me for one) and hissed: 'Have you no shame - carding a wake?!'

Not really.

And so the Avalon Brighton today sails slowly into winter with a full complement of Belgian and UK martial arts enthusiasts. Tom has taken George to the cinema to see Saw 6 (George loves these movies where people are turned into joints of meat - give me 'Room With A View' any day).

So I find myself with half an hour to bring things up to date - well it's more pleasant than digging out all my tax info for the accountant but don't worry Geoff I'll do that in the morning. Anyway there's a postal strike!

We've had so many lovely people stay again this year - many new friends to add to our Christmas Card list (that's a metaphorical one because we usually forget to send any). Keep in touch through this Blog or on brian@avalonbrighton.co.uk to let me know how things are going.

And I dedicate the week to the lovely Romany Van Bosch, longtime friend of Ken's, tirelessly helping him in his later years as his illness and age took their toll, being an absolute diamond to everybody, organising things and generally being a star. I watched her walking up St James's Street the other day and didn't recognize her at first as I thought it was someone in their 20's! Romany if I can have only half the zest for life you have it will do for me. Ken must be immensely proud to have picked the right friend all those years ago (around the time of the Queen's Coronation) and for that friendship to have survived through its ups and downs but intact and as strong as ever at the end. God Bless You!

A Good Weekend in Prospect...

This weekend it's WhiteAir in Brighton. This is an Extreme Sports Festival which encompasses all manner of events and live music.

Headlining band 'The Cribs' have apparently outsold the Beatles this week (although not Vera Lynn I hasten to add).

Check out their website on http://www.whiteair.co.uk/ for a full programme of events.

We've got tickets and can engage in some extreme sports ourselves if minded to. There's a Red Arrows display and the RAF, Royal Marines and Royal Navy are all out and about. You can also elect to participate in some of the sports. Like bouncing from bench to bench on a mountain bike or skateboarding through a crowd - I imagine young Britons are pretty good at these as they get so much practice!

The 'C' Word

Somebody has finally chosen to fight back. August Bank Holiday (tomorrow) is usually the date the starting pistol is fired for Christmas.



One year it was a hot September day and wearing shorts and a t-shirt I wandered into BHS (in Churchill Square, Brighton) and the whole of the front section was given over to gifts, cards, decorations etc PLUS Paul McCartney singing 'Simply - Having - a - Wonderful - Christmas-time'. When I mentioned it to the staff they had already desensitized themselves to it. I genuinely avoided the store until week 2 of December!



In Leeds someone has threatened to superglue shop locks if they put out the Christmas cards before November and I can appreciate their sentiment if not their means.



There are some reasons for bringing the word out early. Saving for Christmas for example - putting a little aside each week to spread the cost over the year. Most supermarkets have such a scheme and some offer rewards. How times have changed! As a child in the 1960s and 70s my mother used to collect stamps in her 'Christmas Club'. Then the 1980's onwards saw the borrowing boom and it was OK to put Christmas on the cards and pay it all back later. Wasn't this the case until a year ago but what's the betting people are saving again or planning a more frugal festive season? No harm there!



Even at the Avalon, Brighton, I have to bring the word up soon. We need to decide when to open, what days to string together as a mini-break, what to offer as extra to make a good value holiday etc.



Rest assured however the reindeer won't go up until the very last minute. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking it was only a short while ago that I was putting all the stuff away in the loft!



When did all this early Christmas stuff start? Again I don't remember as a child hearing much about it until mid-November when we started preparing for the school carol service. Even when I was in St John's choir, Woking, we didn't start rehearsals until November. The festive season used to last about a month - not four.



We all realise when watching Christmas Specials on TV as the season genuinely gets underway that recording took place in the late summer or early autumn. All that fake snow, jumpers and sitting round a log fire took place as we baked outside (well, theoretically as baking weather seems to have deserted us of late). Perhaps it spread out of one of those recording studios. The audience left in festive spirit and gave an impromptu August carol singing concert somewhere near Wood Lane, Shepherds Bush and like Swine Flu it spread across the nation.



Seasons Greetings to you all, this August Bank Holiday - and get that Paul McCartney song out of your head right now!

Paella

Now there are only so many times you can have a succession of suppers (dinners if you're posh) of spaghetti bolognese, lasagne, chilli-con-carne, burgers, fish pie, steaks, chops or chicken.

Sharing a household with somebody with Asperger's Syndrome (a newsworthy topic at the moment) means that we have to take turns at choosing the meal for a particular night. There are three of us, and at the beginning of each new year our inititals are carefully put in the diary for each day and that's that - the nights are set and (without banana republic scale bribery) we must stick to our turns. If my birthday falls on George's turn and I choose to eat out I must miss my next turn because he missed his, regardless of whether we - including him - eat at Rules in Covent Garden for £300.00!

So I try to vary what we eat from time-to-time and come up with exciting stuff. Sometimes to great effect, sometimes disaster. I've already mentioned Delia's 'How to Cheat at Cooking' book and have tried something from that. Well, the result was good, but the cost! I suppose you pay more to cheat but Braised Steak with wild mushroom and Madeira Sauce? We may as well have flown to Madeira for the experience.

In between were spaghetti bolognese and chicken so my next effort was Paella. Have you ever tried making this? For a start the shopping list easily fills an A4 sheet, possibly more, and that's with about 6 or 7 items already present in the spice rack and storecupboard. Not saffron sadly - highly expensive and I'm not convinced it adds much to the overall taste when you put in a 'pinch' - itself adding another £1 to your meal. George nearly took the jar to Customer Services to complain someone had already taken the saffron out but no, if you look closely, there's a smattering in there in orange cellophane. Raw prawns, squid, clams (there were millions on the beach last week where those rock pools were but I'm not sure I fancy anything from the sea here), chorizo, chicken thighs, dry white wine, hot chicken stock, fresh parsley, thyme and so on...

I started 'preparation' as Mr Worrall Thompson euphamistically puts it - 1 hour he says. Maybe, with a team of eager apprentice chefs keen not to be shouted at. About a week is what it felt like. I put together spoonfulls of this, pinches of that etc but after an age barely seemed a quarter of the way down the list.

I tried one of Delia's 'cheat' devices - the Mini-Chopper - instead of chopping a large onion and a red pepper by hand. After searching the kitchen for whatever valued space I'd stored it, checking it thoroughly to make sure it had gone away clean the last time, clearing an area to use it near a socket, actually peeling and quartering the onion and de-seeding the pepper by hand, using it and watching it dice the onion apart from two wedges that seemed untouched but once they too were chopped the whole thing was a puree - likewise with the red pepper which it treated in the manner of a juicer - dismantling and washing it, drying it and boxing it up and packing it back in the cupboard I could have done the chopping by hand and gone for a couple of pints in the process. Breadcrumbs, that's all it's fit for.

Eventually the last ingredients were prepared - not cooked - but ready to start and I went to join Tom and George in the pub much later than planned. We got back an hour later and, yes, Anthony was right it took about 30 minutes to cook. The 'one pan' meal used a couple of others for the prawns and squid and apart from welding a couple of tablespoons of rice to my proud new stainless steel heavy-based deep frying pan the whole thing was delicious. I should have taken a mouth-watering photo (is there such a thing as a mouth-watering photo?).

While maybe not regressing to Vesta's packet Paella (a real treat in 1971 Woking and I wonder how much saffron it has in it?) I think I'll have to come up with something of a cheat's version since Delia missed this one out of her book. One that recognises we have both limited lives and pockets. Or maybe I should just accept that we do not live in Spain where all this stuff is readily available and stick to what I know.

Tonight it's my turn to choose again and we're having chilli-con-carne with hand-chopped onions, chillies and garlic. Less than a fiver too and with some giga-hot chilli flakes from 'Chilli Pepper Pete' in Brighton Marina that knock your socks off...

Hasta la Vista, Amigos

What Ferne Arfin REALLY does...

... is not write stuff for the New York Times. Not yet anyway but give it time who knows?

Ferne writes for http://www.about.com/: United Kingdom Travel . She corrected me on Facebook which it seems gets ever more popular. I now have 19 friends which is, of course, untrue.

So my bit of name dropping failed on that occasion. However I cannot resist regaling you with some of the famous people who have stayed at the Avalon, Brighton (if I have ever put this information in a previous post please forgive me but you will soon realise if you are out for a beer with me that if I have an amusing anecdote or snippet of information, telling it once is rarely an option).

We had the sister of the man who used to be the voice of Bungle on Rainbow. We had the understudy (and I think subsequent lead) for Michael Banks in the West End production of Mary Poppins. We've had a viola player from a Netherlands symphony orchestra.

I am really sorry if you have stayed with us and I have forgotten to mention you. Please remind me if I have missed you off our illustrious Hall of Fame.

In the 1960's - and I was not here then - allegedly Dusty Springfield used to come back to the Argyll Bar and stay 'til dawn, her famous beehive often precariously askew as she ducked under the front bay while tottering up the basement steps. The Argyll is what the Avalon was called. One previous owner fell in love with Bryan Ferry - from a distance you understand - and renamed the place after his hit song. We could have been the 'Let's Stick Together Guest Accommodation'.

England have just won the Ashes seconds ago...

We were in the Sunday Times

Wouldn't it be nice if they told us! There I was taking a booking from the man with a vintage Bentley (picture to follow at Christmas because we'll use it on our advert then assuming Windows doesn't crash and take my whole virtual world with it) and he told us he'd read all about us in the July 2009 Travel Supplement.

Today we received the said page in the post as promised. Susan d'Arcy (Resident luxury travel expert) had kindly mentioned us for a 'romantic weekend away with pooch' place to stay. Sorry I'll rephrase that in case of misunderstanding - that's a romantic weekend away but you can also bring your pooch.

I've never really thought of this place as romantic although when you are deeply in love even a 1970s caravan in a layby on the A3 would suffice. The romance in Brighton is the whole experience - sunset over the sea, a nice meal in the Lanes, a stroll along the pier, clubbing til 4 in the morning then back to the B&B ears ringing for several hours. OK scrub that last one.

I reckon a dog could possibly put the dampener on a romantic weekend away. Suppose Fido doesn't like your partner? Suppose Fido insists on climbing on the bed and taking the middle space keeping you apart? And refuses to move. The whole thing could get tricky.

Talking of travel writers I've kept in touch with Ferne Arfin who writes articles for GoUK (she's done stuff for the New York Times - that's me name dropping AGAIN!). She came to stay last year with Wallace - a little human disguised as a West Highland White Terrier - and wrote an article on Brighton. We were 'shabby chic' which, I have since read, is quite the thing in the States these days. She should go to Gordon's Wine Bar on Villiers Street by Charing Cross Station in London where it could be described as incredibly shabby, incredibly chic.

Ferne blogs her way around the world - she must spend many hours tapping away on keyboards - and is on http://gouk.about.com/b/ . Her articles are well written and thoughtful - you get a true traveller's perspective.

A little bit of the Kings Arms

This picture used to adorn a corner of the Kings Arms in George Street, Kemp Town, until a few months ago.

When Colin and Julie left after nearly 20 years the pub underwent a total refurbishment and is now a tasteful mix of beige and dark wood and soft lighting. Along with a tasteful mix of customers I hasten to add.

Beforehand it was like a pub we all knew when starting out in the 60's and 70's and the sad thing is you cannot find many of them around any more.

The Kings Arms had many fans (us included) and many detractors because it did not fit in or even try to fit in with the 'Gay Village' which sprung up around it over the years. It was also a very doggy pub - they had four large ones at one point. We loved it but that's because we got used to it.

I bought the picture from the new tenants yesterday and cleaned it up (enough nicotine on there it should have come with a health warning) then popped it in Nelson's place (sorry Horatio but you'll soon be above Lady Emma Hamilton, as it were).

If anyone knows the name of the original please let me know (info@avalonbrighton.co.uk). It's a proper oil painting from the Faques Gallery (better than calling it Fakes I suppose) on Upper St James's Street and I have seen it online before. It looks decidedly Pre-Raphaelite to me. The damsel is tied to a tree but her rescuer in shining armour is just sheathing his sword having just run through the baddie. Thankfully she seems unharmed and the baddie only got as far as revealing a bit of her shoulder.

Also in our dining room from the pub is a ship in a bottle - the Mauretania. I was always convinced this was one of those ships that had sunk or been torpedoed but that was her sister ship the Lusitania. This one had an illustrious career until 1935 when she was scrapped due to the depression. There's a poignant photograph on Wikipedia showing her at the scrapyard beside the Olympic before being broken up. Just think, but for an iceberg 23 years earlier the picture might have been of three ships...