New Year's Eve at Brighton, West Sussex

Inexplicably, my visits to Brighton tend to coincide with a cold windswept landscape. On New Year's Eve, the motorways M25 and M23 were almost devoid of traffic, so it was a relatively quick run to this seaside resort, a place once popular with retired widows and now the gay community.

The North Laine at Brighton was an eclectic collection of alternativism. The shops sell everything that you never thought you needed, from pointless knick-knacks to weird sculptures. What spoilt the fun was the cold and the driving rain, which made it difficult to take pictures, however odd or funny an object might be.

The irregular shoe shop

A dazzling collection of pointless objects

Probably one of the most creative objects -
a beautifully hand made cake

Legs Up!