Headlong into 2009

A Happy New Year to anyone reading. I've been away from this for a while but good old Avalon Brighton trundles on regardless.

We've said goodbye to a few local restaurants - Love's, The Saint to name two. I think the diehards- Donatello's, La Capannina, Hotel du Vin - will all come through these times.

Woolworths, several Estate Agents, Roseby's, The Pier (that really annoyed me as I loved the Pier) and countless small shops have disappeared. Tescos and Starbucks have moved on to St James's Street but that is good! Better these brightly lit, thriving stores than boarded up dingy doorways with people sleeping in them.

Our good friend Maruisz Wowra has decided to relocate to Dubai and work for Emirates Air. We first met him in 2004 when he was a barman only a few months in the UK and he became a good friend. He followed our fortunes here at the Avalon Brighton from the day we moved in.

The Amsterdam Bar on Brighton seafront continues to be our venue of choice because of its location and friendly bar staff. It also has a sauna and is a hotel with some stunning rooms! Try us first though! (Only kidding - there are enough to go round).

Don't always trust Trip Advisor when you go away though. I left a good review after staying at the Hotel St Brettonnerie dela Croix in Paris after a Christmas trip there in 2007. We went back in October 2008 and really found it an altogether less pleasant experience. I was bitten to pieces by mosquitoes and bugs (OK mosquitoes are free to roam but the bugs...mmm). Likewise at the Avalon Brighton we get good and bad (and terrible!) reviews and you need to read all to get a balance. And you need to read all the places that get good ones too - to get a balance there. If every review mentions the names of the owners, and how amazingly helpful they were, and how shocked they were to get tea and biscuits on arrival or a freshly cooked breakfast, then either the reviewers haven't been away before or the reviews are faked, probably the latter. Look out too for those which mention how many times they've stayed in Brighton or around the world, what experienced travellers they are etc. Then they leave a review for somewhere as it's the best they've ever stayed in - but have never reviewed anywhere else despite their vast experience. Very suspicious!

Credit Crunch tip - LIDL lentil soup with smoked sausage. 99p. Half a crusty baguette and you have lunch for two for less that £1.50.

Bought George (man we look after who has epilepsy and autism) a Nintendo DS for Christmas. They're nifty little things but I fail to see the point in some of the applications such as cookery. You can buy a book at the Works Outlet in Brighton Marina for £2.99. However he loves the Billiards, Darts, Balance and Bowls. I tried the Brain Training only to discover I have the brain of an 80 year old. At 47!

Yet I do all Sudokus and crosswords in the papers and on my online Mensa Test came out as a genius - and I passed the 11 plus with full marks (that's the online one now, not the original in 1973 - I scraped through that one on an interview even though I could not add together 2 x 37.5p for people who needed two dog licences. Perhaps if they'd asked me how much 2 x 7/6d was I'd have got 15/- and could have converted... We still refer to ten bob or a guinea in the Avalon!

The point is, and I read this elsewhere recently, brain training is a bit of a myth. Most of us exercise our brains enough anyway.

I'll be back sooner next time to comment on things in general.

The picture is of Kenneth Wynn beside his painting of Hornblower for the Penguin book (which is on the mantlepiece to the left of the picture). He's a lovely old boy (Wynn, not Hornblower) who comes to our traditional dinner parties. We met him through a close friend called Romany Van Bosch - you couldn't meet a nicer person: vivacious, fun, knowledgable, interesting, well travelled and still plays Jazz Piano in a South London pub on Monday nights at 76! She's more like 56 or younger. I really hope I'm like that when I get to her age. Ken's 10 years her senior but still very sprightly and joins in the spirit of the evenings. He gets a bit confused from tike to time but then so do I!