As
young children in the 1950’s, the highlight of our year was our
one-week annual holiday spent in a cheap hotel Brighton or Bournemouth.
The coach or car journey and our arrival at the boarding house –
we always went back to the same one each year – were just the prelude
to a week of fun and excitement. Bathing in the sea, building sand castles,
donkey rides, Punch and Judy twice a day and evening coach excursions
filled every moment and the week passed much too quickly. It seemed then
that the pleasures of the seaside had been part of the way of life since
time immemorial but, in fact, people had been enjoying the sea for little
more than 200 years and the working class for just the last 100 years.
Until
the end of the 17th century, the sea was regarded as unfathomable and
threatening ø a malign, even alien, force. Sea journeys were often a terrifying
experience at the mercy of the elements. Kings on their way to war were
delayed and diverted by storms at sea and more than one royal ÔintendedÕ
was left kicking their heels while waiting for the favourable wind that
would carry them to nuptial bliss. It was unthinkable, therefore, that
the sea and the shore could provide a pleasure ground.
As
young children in the 1950’s, the highlight of our year was our
one-week annual holiday spent in a cheap hotel Brighton or Bournemouth.
The coach or car journey and our arrival at the boarding house –
we always went back to the same one each year – were just the prelude
to a week of fun and excitement. Bathing in the sea, building sand castles,
donkey rides, Punch and Judy twice a day and evening coach excursions
filled every moment and the week passed much too quickly. It seemed then
that the pleasures of the seaside had been part of the way of life since
time immemorial but, in fact, people had been enjoying the sea for little
more than 200 years and the working class for just the last 100 years.
Until
the end of the 17th century, the sea was regarded as unfathomable and
threatening ø a malign, even alien, force. Sea journeys were often a terrifying
experience at the mercy of the elements. Kings on their way to war were
delayed and diverted by storms at sea and more than one royal ÔintendedÕ
was left kicking their heels while waiting for the favourable wind that
would carry them to nuptial bliss. It was unthinkable, therefore, that
the sea and the shore could provide a pleasure ground.