Brighton Seafront
Although he never lived in Brighton itself, Powys was always fascinated by the attractions and distractions of the town and its exciting atmosphere. He says he was drawn towards it over the Downs like a magician's puppet come to life, and describes the sights on the seafront on a summer's afternoon.
' I came to know each spot along its colossal front, where between beach and parade, the sweet-sellers, the cockles-mussels-and winkles-sellers, the minstrels with blackened faces, the Punch-and-Judy shows, the comic-singers... |
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...the preachers, the toy-vendors, the fish-dealers, the photographers, the fruits-and-nuts pedlars, the toy-balloon men... |
...the "captains" of the yachts Skylark, the fishermen, the pleasure-boat men, were all wont to be found.' |
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He also evokes the accompanying smells 'of seaweed and fish and tar and sweat and sandwiches and rope and paint and cheap perfumes and foam-drenched petticoats and bilge-water and beer '.
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