Yes, you read that correctly- Miss Elaineous, hater of generic chain stores and shopping malls (and shopping in general- too many people, too much heat and too much noise) actually went shopping!!!!
But that's because the city of Brighton (which I've visited on many occasions) offers up MY kind of shopping. For the record, my kind of shopping is: individual boutiques selling offbeat/ quirky outfits, charity/ vintage clothing shops and markets selling everything from tat to second hand designer goods and antiques. In London, these lovelies are available at the likes of: Camden Market, Portobello Road Market, Spitalfields Market, Roman Road Market, and Greenwich in general, to name a few.
It was a very squally, grey day when we visited. Here are a couple of views from the seafront. This shows the skeletal remains of the old pier...
...and this depicts the new pier...
We went to the Brighton Pavilion, which I love, love love! Say what you want about George IV (and many historians have, and it's not flattering) but this bloke was certainly a man of taste. He knew just how far to take the opulence, without moving into the realms of vulgar.
Here's a sunny day PDF.
These are PDFs from inside the Pavilion. I had to use them as photography is not allowed inside.
The magnificent dining room...
The stupendous music room...
The sublime saloon- currently closed for restoration, but reopening this year. This is my favourite room, loved for its sky-like ceiling.
Here are some of my favourite shops in The Lanes. As it was such a grey day, my photos were looking decidedly dull, so I decided to use these PDFs.
At least one of these mentioned that using might result in copyright issues. Well, I fail to see why- once you put a photo out in the public domain, it becomes exactly that- public! That means that anyone can lift it. If companies/ individuals are so precious about their work, then they need to imprint the copyright symbol (or their own logo) over the image, as Alamy do with their stock images. And bear in mind, I'm giving you free advertising here.
How would I feel if the boot was on the other foot? After all, I bought the copyright to the images I used for the cover of my first novel, entitled "The Reject's Club."
Here it is in Kindle format...
And here it is as a book...
Here's the blurb...
Middlingham- or “Middle-of-nowhere” as Caroline nicknames it- is home to the teenager and her closest friends, Elizabeth and Hayley. All three girls find themselves rejected, to varying degrees, by the people who are supposed to love them the most- their parents. Caroline takes cynical pride in being the black sheep of the family. Elizabeth refuses to follow the choice of profession that’s been laid out for her and Hayley goes for the oldest story in the book. ‘We should call ourselves “The Reject’s Club.” Three unwanted darlings together,’ Caroline flutters her eyelashes theatrically and raises her glass. She named it and owned it. And so the girls' own little private coterie is born. The trio strive for happiness, but nothing can ever be straightforward. Romantic, maternal Hayley discovers that marriage can be a very unhappy state of being. Elizabeth is surprised to find the fashion industry she so desperately wanted to be part of a rather stupid place and sets about finding her own lodestar. And workaholic Caroline wants to thumb her nose at all the people who have ever put her down in her life by becoming successful, rich and famous. She achieves it through her writing career, but the route she takes is often the seediest way, as she desperately tries to shore up her destroyed sense of self-esteem. But the past has already happened, and one of the girls is shocked to discover a devastating family secret that links her with someone so close. And Caroline, after years of estrangement, must go back to confront her parents about why they treated her so disdainfully, before she can move forward with her life...
And here is the link- you didn't think I'd miss the chance to advertise, did you?!
I wouldn't moan if anyone copied my book cover and used it as part of whatever they were doing- like I said, it's free publicity. I might complain, however, if someone removed the text from the image and made a lot of money using the photos of the girl, via the medium of advertising. I do, after all, own the images and would want my cut of the revenue, thank you very much!
Here is Joy, a quirky clothing/ lifestyle store. They have branches in London, and I recently applied for the job of Fashion Copywriter with them. I didn't hear back. Bah!
Collectif is very rockerbilly orientated. Love it!
Pretty Eccentric does really glamourous stuff. It's quite olde-worlde. Think cocktail hour in an Agatha Christie script and you get the general idea. By the way, Clarke's art store next door is also very good.
Beretun is a bridalwear shop, but I would wear some of these lovely, jewelled dresses on a casual day. Most of my wardrobe consists of eveningwear. I like Glamour with a capital G. I don't understand why some companies have dress down Fridays- every day should be a dress up day!
We'll conclude this blog with a visit to Bert's Homeware, which sells some wacky stuff, especially for the kitchen.
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