h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It seems that Brighton's carelessness with its piers is catching

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4325430.stm

It's sad to say, but I'm quite upset about this. Southend is one of the places from my childhood that I still spend a lot of time - although not so much since I started working full time. I spend a hell of a lot of time there when I was pregnant, just walking the dog along the beach by the pier.

Poor old thing. I assume they'll rebuild as it's a record breaker.

That's how many fires on Southend Pier now? And being sliced in two by a boat too? Somebody must have put a curse on the thing First place I ever went bowling, and I think it might be the first place I ever heard the blues sung live. I was there with my parents one year during the lights, and as we walked past what I imagine must have been some sort of concert hall or venue, I heard this sound coming out of an open window which my memory (which could well be fuzzy after the 40 years since this happened) tells me was either blues or gospel. It might have been jazz. Whatever it was it sounded incredibly powerful and I wanted more of it. It means now that whenever I hear gospel I don't think of southern black churches, or Aretha Franklin, or Mahalia Jackson... I think of Southend