triumphgal

Woke up several times this morning but finally arose at 9:45 feeling a lot less jet lagged. Looked out the window and saw a bird which was big enough to be a duck but weird coloured. Tried to get a picture but it wandered off in a huff at my presence. Nigel says it was a pigeon!!

Got showered, had a bite and enjoyed the service of my coffee. Nigel filled me in on the story of his parents… straight out of Downton Abbey! His father was a butler and his mother a kitchen maid who became cook. The stories of that time before his Dad going off to serve (in the military) were delightful. And as I suspected many of the details of DA were fabricated. For example, there was not that much mixing of the stations.

Still having issues with the amusement park ride that is the left front seat of Nigel’s Audi. The car zips along at a good speed and he’s a great driver. I just keep catching all the traffic on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and it freaks me out on occasion.

Had a good laugh that they’d had enough and were dropping me at Gatwick.

So many things to overstimulate the senses as we pulled through Brighton while seeking a parking spot. I purposely trusted them to help me see the best things on my trip so didn’t look ahead thus I had no idea there was an amusement pier!

We crossed the tracks to walk on the lovely beach and allow me to put my toes in the English Channel. Now when I say beach.. it’s a lot like Newfoundland, Stoney, not sandy but beautiful rocks to find. I collected a piece of beach glass, a heart stained rock and a rock with a core like glass

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I couldn’t resist posing Wookiee with one that looked like a stormtrooper at first glance, and Sackboy found himself challenged by the wind trying to fling him out of the beach chairs

I may see a connection for the very fresh seafood

Next we hit the pier and had a blast strolling and playing and relaxing

that in the distance was a pier that burned downbumper carsread the sign… just how big do these three have to be to keep the car on the rails?

Sackboy found his Fridacat

Just zoom in on the banner, all the things I love in a horrible mash-up

We wandered up to The Royal Pavilion Estate which was built in a grander time when cultural appropriation wasn’t a thing. Sadly Brighton went through some challenging times economically and it is a bit run down all round.

Next we strolled up to The Lanes, an awesome maze of roads and shops and I finally made it to an authentic Dr Martens store but they didn’t have Baby Janes in my size which I took to be a sign to keep on Walking

We saw a sign on the sidewalk that said stamps cheaper than the post office and I wanted to send postcards home so we went into see how this was possible. The man who ran the store was extraordinarily generous and engaging and I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home. He even gave me special stamps to take home to my nerd family which I can’t show here or I’ll ruin the surprise. This is one of the fun ones though

So many interesting places it was hard to choose what to look at but we did finally choose an Excellent spot for fish and chips and my first Pimms.

I had the Ocean Fish & Chips and contributed to the RNLI https://rnli.org/ which I’d learned about and had seen videos while I was in Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary

Strolled our way back to the car…. spot the House of Correction, the cat burglar, the traveler encouragement, the shot taken at an amazing neon shop, an ocean art project, and a creepy clown on the beach

Once back in the car we enjoyed a top down (a treat this time of year) trip out to Beachy Head for the sunset

The saddest thing though is the reason for the Chaplain vehicle being there is straight up this:

Suicides at Beachy Head

• 297 people died by suicide at Beachy Head in the years 2004 to 2016.

• 66 (22%) of these were residents of East Sussex and 231 (78%) were not East Sussex

residents.

• There were 14 suicides at Beachy Head involving non-UK residents, 40 involving

London residents, 72 of residents of counties bordering East Sussex and 104 from other parts of the UK, highlighting the importance of Beachy Head as a public place for suicide.

• Overall 74% of those dying by suicide at Beachy Head were male. Of the residents 68% were male and 32% female; for non-residents 75% were male and 24% female; the non-residents tended to be younger.

• The number of suicides of non-East Sussex residents at Beachy Head has been higher in the years since 2010 than in the preceding years.

• A high proportion lived alone (44% of residents and 38% of non-residents).

• Around 40% had work-related issues noted and 28% of the non-resident suicides had

financial issues noted.

• 91% of East Sussex residents and 77% of non-residents had mental and/or physical

health issues noted by the Coroner, and depression was the health issue noted most frequently. Of the residents, 65% had one or more physical health issue and 76% one or more mental health issue noted; of the non-residents 36% had one or more physical health issues and 62% one or more mental health issues noted.

• Drug and alcohol issues were noted in 33% of suicides at Beachy Head. This proportion was higher for East Sussex residents (41%) than non-residents (31%).

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East Sussex Suicide Prevention Plan 2018/19

• 39% of those dying by suicide at Beachy Head had attempted suicide previously (2011-2016). This proportion was similar for both East Sussex residents and non- residents.

• Overall, the number of deaths by suicide at Beachy Head was highest in the spring and summer and lowest in the autumn. The number of deaths for residents was highest in the spring and for non-residents in the summer.

• The largest percentage of resident deaths occurred on Sundays and non-resident deaths on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.

• Almost half of the non-residents who died by suicide at Beachy Head had left a suicide note.

• 45% had had contact with secondary care mental health services, 19% in the month before they died.

• The method of death at Beachy Head was jumping or falling from a high place for 94% of East Sussex residents and 99% of non-residents.

I must say that having people patrolling and preventing all the time makes my heart happier. I know it’s not a happy vacation story but if it brings more attention to the fact that mental health issues are a global issue, maybe we can help each other better.

I still can’t adjust to lights coming at me on the wrong side in the dark. Thank goodness I don’t have to drive this trip!

back to the house to meet the daughter Claire whom I’ve heard so much about, share our day and make a plan for tomorrow. I really like her, we have similar interests for sure. Dealing with my Producer duties (Peter Colley’s I’ll Be Back Before Midnight), back in Cranbrook. It’s after midnight as the phone is ringing. Delicious irony. What a day!