My Dazzling Dayz of Brighton
Brighton has always been one of Britain's liberal places to enjoy. It also is the Gay and Lesbian place to be in England!
Luckily for me I lived not far from here when I was a student and had several friends living here, which was a good reason to come on a regular basis.
Brighton boasts the beach as one of her attractions. Unfortunately, this beach has never been on my list of places to hang out. The British weather and the water temperatures make the place deserted most of the time. There are so many beautiful beaches in the world to go to so I always saved my aspirations in travelling to beaches in those "other" places! I always remember Brighton beach and the pier to look like this photo: (but with less people on the pebbles!)
I had many friends from Oman and other Arab Gulf (Khaleej) nations who lived in Brighton. There was a house where many students from Oman lived together ( like a situation where I had lived in) that we nicknamed it "The Omani House", and it was a stones throw from the beach. They were a very close knit friendship that protected and looked after each other in that house. I remember their fun dinner parties together, sitting on the floor with a nice collection of different Arabic Gulf foods to eat, using your fingers of course. The house was always lively and 24 hour chatter.
I had another Arab friend who didn't follow the traditional Arabic lifestyle. He only wore Western dress and expensive colognes. Preferring to live in a peculiar little flat near a very cheeky and bohemian area called "The Lanes", That area fit him perfectly, and together we would, at times, go off and try one of the many gay bars and dance clubs like "Revenge" which was a place where gays and lesbians playfully danced and enjoyed being as eccentric as we were. This was also the first time I tried pot.
I remember the first time my parents came to Brighton with me and we wandered into a gay bar to see how embarrassed my parents were! Those days I still hadn't come out or even completely knew myself yet. Maybe I can credit my parents for showing me the first gay club!
The only time I ever ventured into "The Lanes" is when I would visit my friend and hang out with him, but I preferred another quite eccentric neighbourhood called North Laine. Here are fun shops and cafes and places to sit with a coffee and something fun to eat and people watch. Brighton has a very cosmopolitan population like London, so one would be able to see every colour and flavour parading past.
A fun thing is that if I were to stay too long in the city and miss the last train, I always had a few choices of staying on the floor at my Arab friends places to stay the night, or share the bed with my other Arab friend; depending on which mood I happened to be in that day.
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