I'll be in Chile in a week, so I'd better finish this…
It was on our second day in Brighton that we encountered a chav family, what we in America would call trailer trash. We were outdoors at a pub in the Lanes and I had gone inside to obtain pints and order food. I came outside to find Husband sharing a table with several children who had pounced on the empty seat while I was gone. One of the youths squinted at me and muttered, "You want you chair back, eh?" He was only 10 or so, but scary enough that I nearly let him keep it. Soon the kids were joined by their parents, sharing a pint and speaking something very different from the Queen's English. The mother looked as tired as you would expect from having 4 children before the age of 30 (a guess), but it didn't stop her from wearing short denim shorts, unfortunately for us. Despite a few open tables outside, the family preferred to sit on the curb, resting their drinks on our table. The family shared a few packets of crisps and yelled at each other, until they were out of drink and then left unceremoniously, leaving any empties on our table that they had not smashed on the street. As you can imagine, it was AWESOME. When I was later back in New York, I read a lot about chav and have thought about applying to do a Fullbright there and study them, but Husband thinks I'll get knived, and he's probably right.
We stayed in Kempton that night and got a bit smashed with a few guys we met in a pub who were visiting from a nearby town for the weekend. I told them of how I admired their country's crisps, so they bought me a few packets to experiment. While the exotic flavors of Thai Chile and Lamb and Mint are fun, nothing beats good old Salt & Vinegar.
I'm not sure I've really captured the wonders of Brighton, but it's really a fabulous place and if I ever go to grad school, I will certainly apply at University of East Sussex, home of my idol, John Maynard Smith.
The Notorious M.E.G. blogs 