1ST BRIGHTON MARATHON - 18 APRIL 2010

We had a busy weekend with familes and partners of the entrants to the first Brighton Marathon. A big congratulations is due and they all made it round the 26.2 miles! Must be the Avalon breakfast although the runners came down at 7am and mainly had cereals, toast, coffee and juice. I suppose that distance on a full English would be even more of a challenge. Here they are, the Avalon Heroes of April 2010:

• Number     808   Iain Frazer Lee         4:42:07
• Number    4765  Dean Lear                3:47:28
• Number    7321  Gillian Eve               5:11:50
• Number   10836  Phil Durkin              3:42:12

• Number   10875  John Ridge              4:54:02

It was a brilliant day and we look forward to welcoming more of you next year.

SEAGULLS

It's that time of year again when Fred and Rose return from warmer climes to mate in full view of guests in the rear rooms of the Avalon, and go on to produce a brood of chicks with remarkably antisocial natures.

I got some early intervention underway - a plastic falcon which I filled with cement and then cemented into a plant tray and placed strategically on our flat roof staring straight at their ledge. They came back two weeks ago, squawked alarmingly and left.

Yesterday they were back but today, the workmen arrived for the lady who lives in the house and covered the small flat roof they call home with netting. So they cannot land!

I'll keep you posted but it would seem their nesting site for some years has been closed down and rendered unusable.

I have to admit to not feeling too sad about this!

More Doggy Doings...

Our George is not a big fan of a certain dog in an insurance advert who goes "Oh, yes!"

So here's a picture of him with someone spookily similar...

Lasagne

Last night I made lasagne. This always looks lovely served up at the table in a nice earthenware dish. Simple fare, from the sun-drenched countryside of Italy.

However that's the tip of the iceberg...

OH LASAGNE, LASAGNE
SO DIFFICULT TO GUAGE
YOU SPREAD YOURSELF SEDUCTIVELY
ACROSS THE CENTRE PAGE

WITH A BUSY DAY BEHIND ME
(SO A LITTLE TIRED I FEEL)
YOU SELL YOURSELF QUITE SHAMELESSLY
AS A SIMPLE, ONE POT, MEAL

BUT LIKE ANY STUNNING TEMPTRESS
WITH YOU THERE IS A STING
TO GET YOU SAFELY IN THAT DISH
USES EVERY BLOODY THING!

TWO BOARDS, A JUG, SOME SPOONS, A WHISK
AND KNIVES OF EVERY KIND
THREE SAUCEPANS, BOWLS, A NUTMEG GRATER
(THAT WAS HARD TO FIND)

OH HOW YOU LOOK SO GORGEOUS!
“COME JOIN ME IN A DRINK”
JUST MAKE BELIEVE THAT’S NOT A PILE
OF WASHING IN THE SINK

BUT HOWEVER MUCH YOU PUNISH ME
HOWEVER MUCH A CHORE
TIME AND TIME AGAIN I KNOW
I’LL STILL COME BACK FOR MORE

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It's only when you look back on a decade that you realise how much has changed. We started 2000 as Londoners, in steady jobs, plodding along from year to year.

Then in 2001 we took the decision to move to Brighton and, in December 2004 take over the Avalon so are now in our 6th year. I am still waiting to wake up and there's nothing to do - I could make a list of 10 things each day and manage perhaps half of them!

I cannot even begin to count how many new friends and acquaintances we have made in that time (or indeed during our time in Brighton). It's delightful that the nicest people keep coming back time and time again. They are all lovely, keep a keen interest in our wellbeing, and us in theirs, as families grow up and so on.

Doubtless we shall meet more until we finally decide to pack it in and move on.

So at the start of another year, another decade, we look forward to seeing you again soon to share stories, triumphs, tragedies, secrets and pleasures. A very Happy New Year.

New Technology

Have you got the knack?

At the Avalon you get two keys one for the front door and one for the room. At a bigger, swankier joint, you get a card with holes punched in it, or with a chip like a credit card.

One drawback is that your room number is not always printed on the card - these things are recharged or reprogrammed by the front desk check-in staff so presumably they are interchangeable.

This is OK if you have a good memory. I'm usually OK because I don't stay away much so if I'm in room 236 I'll remember it as the last time I stayed in room 326 but that was 4 years ago and in a different hotel / country. But what if you travel daily and have to remember each day a new room number especially as big hotels have a frightening similarity to each other? Getting up for the loo in the dark is never a problem because the facilities are usually in identical places (don't quote me on this, though!).

And there's 'The Knack'. Tom just slots the card in and expects the lock to release - oh no! It's a quick flick in and out before that reassuring green light or click to say you can get in. Give me a key any day. Even if I have to leave it behind reception because it's got something akin to a ship's anchor attched to it - so be it.

And while where on technology - shopping. Argos 'pay by machine' is good. My record in and out of the store at Brighton is under 2 minutes. Remember those days when your number was 479 from point A and the current one on the screen was 132? It all seems quicker now.

But supermarket checkouts I'm afraid are just a bit too complicated. I just commented on the BBC website about these but basically to be asked 'Please Put Your Item In The Bagging Area' when you have already lobbed it in twice with the force of a fast bowler is a tad annoying.

And why are there so many items unrecognised? I felt I'd tried to put a whole load of Waitrose groceries through the ADSA checkout.

So rest assured - your key at the Avalon will be a proper key and so that your fruit is not bruised I'll go through the human channel at the shop.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. Now there's a thought - imagine being one of those people you see with a trolley in the supermarket just before Christmas who have obviously shopped for a local army base of about 300 soldiers. Then to get that lot through self-service ... somebody please try!

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!