Oh I do like to be beside the seaside…

On Saturday, my lovely friend Madam A and I went on a daytrip to the seaside for some fresh air and adolescent fun.

You may not know this, but Southend-On-Sea is home to the world’s longest leisure pier. Now, as I’m sure you have gathered, novelties like this very much amuse me, so I insisted that we walk to the end and back.

Now I don’t mind paying £3.10 to walk along a pier, but what I do object to is calling  it a ‘leisure’ pier, when there is not much leisure to be had. Just a lone cafe, chock-a-block full of the elderly enjoying a cup of tea, and a small gift shop, that did not have any postcards (what sort of gift shop is that??).

Apparently, the majority of amusements burnt down in 2005, 1994 and 1950something – but still in the height of the season, surely it wouldn’t be too hard to whack an ice-cream van at the end? Or even a sign that says “You have reached the end of the world’s longest leisure pier”.

Despite my 2.66 mile walk out to sea and back in blustery conditions, I very much enjoyed the tourist cheese of Southend, from the Electric Avenue amusement parlour, to the novelty hot dogs at Adventure Island – despite the chavs and lack of sunshine.