Brighton...and ZOMBIES?! What?

All I can say is that contrary to my prior post about pumpkin carving and my doubts of the British pride in Halloween celebrations...Ummm...They like Halloween over here.

Shall I start from the beginning? (Use Somebody - Kings of Leon) Yesterday Kemper and I decided that we wanted to go to Brighton...so this morning we hopped on a train and made our way over. :)

But guess what? I actually got up this morning and went running. Let's think about this. Saturday morning. I got up at eight and was out by eight thirty running the quiet Saturday morning streets of London. It was thrilling and I felt like the city was all my own. I reveled in the sight of St. Paul's Cathedral and Big Ben next to Parliament. Seriously. I felt like someone had put all the buildings up according to my very specific running route. It was absolutely LOVELY.

After that I took a shower and went to Kemper's so we could trek to Victoria Station for a Brighton send-off. On the way over I read that Buddha of Suburbia book that I have to read by Tuesday. We both read like studious ladies on our way over there. When we finally alighted off the train we were delighted to note that the skies were mostly clear and blue with a nice massage of the October sunshine down our backs.

We found ourselves in the midst of an overgrown (and more rustic) Little Rock's Farmer's Market. (Imagine - John Lennon) There were booths and stalls filled with antiques (junk) silver and pewter, old fashioned suitcases, random shoes, and oversized sweaters surrounding stalls filled with fresh bread, tea, coffee, meat, and jam. I bought a loaf of bread. What can I say - apparently this is a tradition that I have when I go to Brighton? Haha. It's Garlic, Herbs, and Cheese, and it smells heavenly. :)

Anyway - let me stay focused here. We got to Brighton around noon-ish (possibly a little later) and so we decided it was time for lunch. On our way to the various cafes and eateries, we beheld the random market. We walked through very slowly and looked in every direction to take it all in. (Keeper - Yellowcard.)

We ended up at this Mexican restaurant mostly because I wanted quesadillas. :) I ordered some of those and some tacos and I will just say that they are a little confused when it comes to Mexican food over here...They seemed to want to mix Chinese food in with the Mexican ideal. The tacos were like egg rolls in form and there was rice - but it was quite like Chinese steamed rice. BUT - the quesadillas were lovely and the beans were nice as well. (Too bad this isn't a restaurant review blog, or a 'how-to' cook blog because all I do is talk about food.)

Anywho. We ate and then we made our way to the lovely rocky beach. I don't know what it is, exactly, but there is something totally magical about the beach at Brighton (and no, I don't think it's just because The Who mentions it in a song...) (Don't Panic - Coldplay)

We went to the pier first, however, to get milkshakes from Moo Moos. Mom and Dad will remember the glory of the marshmello-y Wimbledon Womble...and so we had to go for round two. I got a personalized milkshake with oreos, nutella, and whipped cream, while Kemper tried the Womble. Armed with our shakes we headed to the beach.

We got to the rocks to be hit by winds that forced me to adorn my sweatshirt. Kemper was immediately off to touch the water and the shoreline. I plopped down atop of a hill of rocks and continued reading my book for class. Kemper's enthusiasm for the ocean water reminds me of Jess. I swear, Jess would swim in anything and Kemper had her shoes off and bare feet in the water today. While it wasn't necessarily that cold, it was windy and definitely not the Florida temperature that I am used to...

Anwyho. I read for a long time whilst Kemper frolicked among the rocks. She came to join me atop my rocky hill at one point and we both just chilled. It was a great view, the thrashing waves of the sea, the busy pier, the sun peaking through the dusty clouds...all accompanied with the cry of the gulls and the faint music from the pier. :) It was heaven. It was literally a breath of fresh air compared to the stifling qualities of London...

(I Need You - Lynrd Skynrd) After most of our afternoon was swallowed in beach time (and I started to get a bit more chilly than is comfortable) we decided to go on a walk along the boardwalk. We could still see the swells and smell the tinge of salt in the air...

This is when the Halloween fun/scare began. We were minding our own business, walking in the direction of what looked like a marina, when we noticed a gaggle of teenagers dressed like Zombies. No big deal, right? Tomorrow is literally Halloween, and seeing that most people do not have four day weekends like I do, the logical thing would be to celebrate on a Saturday evening/night. Well...the problem was that as we finally decided to turn around...we noticed that...

EVERYONE WAS A ZOMBIE. Quite literally. There was a snow white zombie, a zombie bride, punk zombies, guerilla war far zombies, zombie doctors, children zombies, baby zombies, princess zombies...The list goes on indefinitely. I seriously had adrenaline in my stomach because I couldn't figure out if we were about to become the protagonists of a low budgeted Halloween film or not. Some of the zombie patrons even walked strangely as they moaned down the streets and boardwalk. We experienced these Zombies for the rest of our evening in Brighton and on the way to the train station.

The strangest thing was that we didn't know what was going on at all. I felt like someone had decided to hold a political election without telling me and everyone was campaigning for issues that I knew nothing about. I felt like my professor had asked me to answer a question when I had been dosing off in class. I just felt disconnected and left out of fake blood and baby powdered faces...

Well. We managed to get on a train and get a nice comfortable set of seats in which we both read some more. The zombies seemed to leave our calmed minds and become something of the relative past. (If Work Permits - The Format) Kemper was sharing a lovely bag of candy with me. On the way through the windy streets of Brighton we discovered a lovely sweets shop. It was a pretty good price to mix and max all the crazy flavors of jellies and chocolates - so we went a little crazy since we're too old to trick or treat...

We shared some candy and read and we were at Victoria station before we knew it. Well...the tube was a storm of pushy Londoners. Kemper needed to top-up so we figured out an alternative route to Russell Sqaure, because the Victoria line was experiencing delays...

We finally got on a District line train to South Kensington. From there we switched to the Piccadilly line...only to be so close to other people that I seriously developed a very lethal case of claustrophobia. I have never been so hot, so squished, and so uncomfortable in my entire life.

(Marching On - OneRepublic) AND to make matters worse there were four zombie beings behind me. They were shouting at each other to have a conversation over the rattling of the train. I got really upset when one of them said, "I think I'm going to be sick..." That one was really close to my left arm, which was extended holding on to the bright blue railing for dear life.

We finally alighted off of the train and managed to take to our streets. The streets we know and recognize. I convinced Kemper to go grocery shopping with me and I picked up a nice week's worth of groceries. :)

After that I made some pasta in her flat for dinner and then we watched some episodes of tv programs that she brought with her from home. We then just chilled for a bit before we both admitted an intense tiredness that we had. I could barely keep my eyes open - I mean - I went running this morning early! I'm exhausted! Anywho...

That's the story of what adventures I faced today. I miss you guys and hope you're having an amazing weekend.

Cheers!