Moving house. Again.

Above - my room.

Above - my room - note the back to front clock.

Above - my room.

Above - the view as you step out of my room - stairs up to attic and bathroom straight ahead.

Above - coming down the stairs.

Above - the hallway and cat Chino.

Above - the kitchen.

Above - from the kitchen into the hallway.

Above - the lounge.

Above - the lounge and cat Chino again. Look at the tree!

Above - the bathroom - by far the largest room in the house. Excuse the toilet lid, very anti Feng Shui.

Above - a bit more bathroom.

Above - even more bathroom. I said it was big.

Shoreham-by-Sea

Above - Shoreham-by-Sea.

Above - The beach is pretty much the same in Shoreham as it is in Brighton - pebbles!

Above - Shoreham-by-Sea.

Above - Shoreham's Old Fort built in 1857.

Above - The Marlipins (Museum) - a 12th century building on the High Street.

I went to Shoreham-by-Sea on Tuesday. It's about 6 miles west along the coast from Brighton. What can I say? It's small, very small. There are a few shops on the High Street, there's a church and there's the sea and well, that's Shoreham!

Pooch

Above - William outside the back door.

Above - William was looking past the camera, at a tennis ball - ooh the bribery!

Above - William.

A beautiful sunset

Needless to say this is not a Brightonian sunset. No where in the city can you see such an expanse of sky without a building creeping in. This is a Salopian sunset. And a very beautiful one at that.

Another Accommodation

Above - My new view - not quite up to previous standards.

Above - The bathroom.

Above - My room.

Above - The kitchen.

Above - The other side of the kitchen.

Above - From the outside.

Above - The lounge.

Above - My room.

Here is my new accommodation. Although the view isn't quite what I'm used to and I do seem to have traded my sea view in for one of a carpark the house itself is actually quite nice. There is a kitchen, lounge, dining area, bathroom and second toilet and four bedrooms. So I share with three other people - Silvia, Marylena and Dan. Silvia is Italian - she came to England to study at university and decided to stay. She's 28 and currently working for Kimberley Clarke. Marylena is here studying English as a foreign language, I'd say she was lower intermediate. Dan is 24 and works for American Express, he's doing a degree in Social Science part time through the Open University.

I quite like it here. It's clean. It's organised - we have made a cleaning rota and have a kitty for toilet paper and washing up liquid. All is good so far.

Giving this post a title however has posed the question: Is 'accommodation' a count or non count noun? There seems to be no clear cut answer. I guess it depends on the individual - do you find the title of this post awkward? And, interestingly, when I was coming to Brighton by train today I heard the security announcement warning against leaving items of luggage unattented "in the train or on the station". I question the use of prepositions here - although it's logical to say 'in the train' would we actually say 'I'm in the train at the moment'? and 'I'm on the station at the moment'? Surely they've got this the wrong way round?!!

Busy Brighton

The hottest day of the year so far saw swarms of people take to Brighton's Beach. I don't think I've ever seen it so busy.

The last day

Above - Outside the Tile Museum.

Above - Tiles.

Above - The youth hostel from outside. It's the second floor - above the green door.

Above - Inside the youth hostel - the lounge.

Above - Inside the youth hostel - the lounge.

Saturday was my last day in Lisbon. And in Portugal for that matter. But my flight home wasn't until the evening which gave me most of the day to explore. I started off at the Museum of Fado. I then went to the tile museum - I mean, I couldn't miss it could I not after having been surrounded everywhere by tiles for the past week!

I made my way to the airport and arrived before check in had opened but already there was a queue of people and only one lady to check us all in! The next time I fly with Easyjet I will pay for priority boarding - I stood in a queue for the best part of two hours! I arrived back in the UK quite late - around 22h30, and then caught the train back to Brighton. Exhausted.

I like Portugal. I'd like to go again. I didn't have time to do everything I wanted to do. I'd also like to go to Porto in the north. Maybe I'll return when I've learnt a bit of Portuguese...

More Lisbon.

Above - The tower of Belém.

Above - The Monastery.

Above - The April 25th Bridge - the second longest in Europe at 17km long.

Above - Another bridge over the River Tejo (Tegus).

Above - The Monument of Portuguese Discoverers - my favourite monument.

On my penultimate day in Portugal I took tram 15 (from Cais de Sodre as instucted by the girl on reception at the hostel) to Belém - the west part of Lisbon. It took about 20 minutes to get there and when I arrived I headed for the monument of discoverers. I watched a 25 minute video on the history of Lisbon and then climbed to the top of the monument to see the view over Belém and the river. Afterwards I headed slightly down the river bank to the Tower of Belém. I also visited the monastery but, unfortunately my Portuguese wasn't up to realising that 'coches' meant coaches and I therefore missed out on the Musuem of Coaches, something I'd have liked to have seen as I saw a beautiful coach at the Musuem of Portuguese Decorative Art, never mind. I had to be back in the centre of Lisbon for the afternoon as I had plans. I was going to go on a river cruise of the River Tejo (Tegus).

At 15h, after lunch, I got on a boat for a two hour river cruise. I sat at the top in the sun, but there was a slight breeze that was a bit chilly. I still got sunburnt though :) We saw the whole city from the river complete with commentary and I really enjoyed it. The lady next to me didn't seem to though as she fell asleep behind her sunglasses!

After the river cruise I went to find the Museum of Fado - Portuguese music. But there wasn't time to go around, I planned to return the next morning.

Lisbon

Above - Pastel de Nata - custard tart.

Above - Praça do Comérico.

Above - Cobble mad. It appeared to be a national obsession, not one just limited to the Algarve.

Above - Whole houses tiled. One way to support the local economy I suppose...

Above - The Museum of Decorative Portuguese Art and a Lisbon tram.

Above - Me in the tourist tram.

Above - The tourist tram.

Above - The view from Castelo de Sao Jorge (St George's Castle)

Above - One of the many statues in the middle of one of the many squares.

Above - A sign in a restaurant window that made me chuckle - a meal for William perhaps?

Above - The cable car.

Above - The Cathedral.

Above - The Castle

On Thursday morning, my first in Lisbon, or Lisboa as the Portuguese call it, I left the hostel and went walking, heading for the Praça do Comércio where the tourist information centre was. I decided to purchase a Lisbon Card which allowed me to use all the public transport free of charge, have discounts on various tourist attractions and get into museums for free. I'd calculated it would save me money. As soon as I'd purchased my card I took advantage of it by going on a tram tour of Lisbon. There was just me and an Italian lady on the 10h departure. We had the tram to ourselves and our very own guide - the tram driver. The tour last about two hours and there was an English commentary to tell me what was what as we were going around. After the tram tour I felt a little better about which direction I should head in to see certain things and how far apart things were. I headed for the Cathedral and then on to the Castle where there was a view over Lisbon. I went around the Musuem of Portugeuse Decorative Art and ate lunch there - rice salad, quiche, strawberries and a glass of orange juice. I also went in the museum of Portuguese History which mentioned that the national obsession of tiles began long ago in the 15th century for asthetic purposes. Later on in the afternoon I stopped for coffee and a pastel de nata (custard tart) at a coffee shop before going on a walk around. I stumbled across the cable car which I went on (downwards rather that upwards - bad planning on my half - I'd already walked up the steep hill!!). I then carried on walking around and came across a couple of square - both with statues in the middle, before talking the metro and going back to the youth hostel.