Monday, June 07, 2004
Tuesday - Ricky Gervais
We heard that Ricky Gervais (David Brent in "The Office") was doing a theatre show that was about to end. We bought his earlier show, "Animals", on DVD for Rachel and Steve and found it very funny. He performed in The Palace which is aptly named. The theatre is very ornate with lots of green and gold sculptures on the walls and ceiling. It was also quite large and almost full. Luckily we managed to get good seats.
Ricky is just as good live as on TV. Very animated with great comic timing, he can be crass but not so much to really offend. He covered a range of political topics from Gandhi to the NHS, Sweatshops in Asia to the morality of nursery rhymes but his main focus was gays and the disabled. You learnt about his schooling and Philosophy studies at University. Most comedians go from stand-up to TV but Gervais shows you can go the other way too.
The weekend - Brighton
I decided to take Jo (my old boss at Islington Council) up on his offer put us up for the weekend in Brighton. Brighton is a classic English seaside town on the southern coast. It is 1 hour (on the fast train) from Victoria station. Many people living there (like Jo) commute to work in London. Jo lives about 10 minutes from the station in the centre of town. We took the train down on Friday night.
On Saturday we visited The Pavilion, a hunting lodge converted into a grand Palace by George IVs architect, John Nash. From the outside it looks like an Indian Place with many iron domes and minarets all painted cream. Inside the theme is oriental with silver dragons, sketches of Chinese scenes and vibrant Chinese material. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside. It has to great rooms, the dinning and music rooms with enormous chandeliers, domed ceilings and draperies.
In the afternoon we went shopping. Central Brighton is full of small record, second hand, designer and jewelry stores. Those in Wellington think of Cuba Street spread through many winding lanes. I will never go back to Oxford St. again.
That night, after dinner, we strolled down to the Pier. It is very well maintained, clean, freshly painted with all the amusements and food stalls you would expect. We played a game called Dolphin race were you roll balls into holes to advance your Dolphin towards the finish line. To my embarrassment Lou won the soft toy and gave it to me! The shame.
Sunday morning was beautifully bright and we strolled along the promenade past the different shades of English from pasty white to lobster red on their striped deck chairs. There was the oldest electric railway and sailboats out in the sea. It was just like you see in "The darling buds of May" (well the second part when they go on holiday) and Roald Dahl’s "The Witches" they have their convention in a seaside hotel.
We arrived home on Sunday exhausted but determined to visit the lovely seaside town again.
We heard that Ricky Gervais (David Brent in "The Office") was doing a theatre show that was about to end. We bought his earlier show, "Animals", on DVD for Rachel and Steve and found it very funny. He performed in The Palace which is aptly named. The theatre is very ornate with lots of green and gold sculptures on the walls and ceiling. It was also quite large and almost full. Luckily we managed to get good seats.
Ricky is just as good live as on TV. Very animated with great comic timing, he can be crass but not so much to really offend. He covered a range of political topics from Gandhi to the NHS, Sweatshops in Asia to the morality of nursery rhymes but his main focus was gays and the disabled. You learnt about his schooling and Philosophy studies at University. Most comedians go from stand-up to TV but Gervais shows you can go the other way too.
The weekend - Brighton
I decided to take Jo (my old boss at Islington Council) up on his offer put us up for the weekend in Brighton. Brighton is a classic English seaside town on the southern coast. It is 1 hour (on the fast train) from Victoria station. Many people living there (like Jo) commute to work in London. Jo lives about 10 minutes from the station in the centre of town. We took the train down on Friday night.
On Saturday we visited The Pavilion, a hunting lodge converted into a grand Palace by George IVs architect, John Nash. From the outside it looks like an Indian Place with many iron domes and minarets all painted cream. Inside the theme is oriental with silver dragons, sketches of Chinese scenes and vibrant Chinese material. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside. It has to great rooms, the dinning and music rooms with enormous chandeliers, domed ceilings and draperies.
In the afternoon we went shopping. Central Brighton is full of small record, second hand, designer and jewelry stores. Those in Wellington think of Cuba Street spread through many winding lanes. I will never go back to Oxford St. again.
That night, after dinner, we strolled down to the Pier. It is very well maintained, clean, freshly painted with all the amusements and food stalls you would expect. We played a game called Dolphin race were you roll balls into holes to advance your Dolphin towards the finish line. To my embarrassment Lou won the soft toy and gave it to me! The shame.
Sunday morning was beautifully bright and we strolled along the promenade past the different shades of English from pasty white to lobster red on their striped deck chairs. There was the oldest electric railway and sailboats out in the sea. It was just like you see in "The darling buds of May" (well the second part when they go on holiday) and Roald Dahl’s "The Witches" they have their convention in a seaside hotel.
We arrived home on Sunday exhausted but determined to visit the lovely seaside town again.
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