| The 21st century rumbles on into increasingly risible year numbers, and
I'm feeling more and more naggingly adrift in it. Jack's school had a traditional
nativity play whose narrator set the scene as "over two-thousand years ago".
I don't think I really expected to be here, somehow.
Symbolically, a section of Brighton's
magnificently derelict West Pier slumped
into the sea over Christmas (more photos,
via Joh). Apparently the restoration
is due to continue regardless, hopefully at the expense of the
"exciting new complementary retail/leisure development" on the adjacent
promenade. But I think I'd be happier if they just strengthened the pier
enough for it to collapse and degrade gradually and gracefully, over the
next few decades. Matching and controlled explosions along the Palace Pier would be entirely optional.
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