Spring Weekends

After the fourteen months of winter that we have seemingly endured, the last two weekends have been blue skies and sunny.  Perfect for a walk along the seafront?  Not so easy in Brighton unfortunately.

Last week was the Brighton Marathon, with much of the action taking place along the full length of the sea front.  I was there watching out for a friend of a friend running her first marathon.

Photo courtesy of Carina Badger

This week there was a somewhat less altruistic event going on, the English Defence League were marching / protesting on one part of the seafront and various anti-fascist and anarchist groups protesting against them on another part of the seafront - with the police attempting to keep them apart.

I of course had forgotten that all this was planned when I arranged to meet a friend for coffee at Red Roaster at the bottom of St James Street, pretty much in the centre of the action!  As I arrived I had to push my way through the anti-fascists and their neatly stacked placards as they coordinated their soy latte and vegan snack orders.  I wondered if in a parallel café elsewhere in Brighton the EDL supporters were having a similar pit stop to buy English Breakfast tea and crumpets...?

Half an hour later the sirens and chanting started and a running battle between the police and youths in hoodies and face masks commenced on the street - the anarchists maybe?

It all seemed relatively good natured from our vantage point inside the café, though the customers sat outside grabbed their drinks and ran inside, so maybe not so much fun up close.

Photo courtesy of Urban75

Hopefully these were not our only sunny weekends of the summer....