Wind still, making it harder to remember that it’s summer. Still I regretted forgetting my hat as we walked west briefly and once again encountered something burning in Brighton. It was hot enough for me to want to cover my bald bits.
The West Pier burnt down twenty years ago because of arson and its skeleton still stands stark. This time the fire was closer to the east pier, at The Royal Albion Hotel. No casualties, but lots of people evacuated and a big chunk of town cordoned off as the fire service pumped water into it.
Last time The Royal Albion burnt down was in 1998. Was it arson for insurance? Who knows. They needed a refurb and got one with the payout. 160 people were evacuated that time. I have a feeling that there wouldn’t have been so many people turfed out this time. Hotels are struggling versus all the apartments etc that are taking up space in Airbnb and stopping us from being able to buy property.
They had to extend the exclusion zone and demolish a section of the building today. Just too much weight of water and too much fire damage. Sad to lose a wing of a lovely regency hotel like that. I wonder what will come up in its place. Apartments? Hmm.
Lou and I turned round and headed back east. Lazy Sunday was very much the vibe, not rubbernecking. Enjoying being here and having nothing much to do. I finally managed to recycle all those papers. Lou cooked a tasty stew and I filled mine with sriracha. Thoughts and responsibilities mostly switched off despite way too many questions on eBay. I’ll sort all that out tomorrow from London. All the madness of dayjobbery is finally gonna ease. It’ll be happy trails and flat sorting out from now on. Oh joy.
Well done the fire crews for somehow managing to battle a huge blaze pretty near us without us hearing sirens all night. The wind was blowing the smoke away from us too. It still is. Lucky all round.
One more night with the relative peace here. Wind and gulls, an early morning cat… The worst noise is the one I make myself when I’m sleeping and I’m the only one who doesn’t have to put up with that. I might roll over and see how quickly I can start it off…
AlBarclay 