Monday 15 August 2011

Worthing Birdman 2011


This annual event took place over the weekend. Both serious kite-surfers and those in novelty costumes and contraptions jumping off end of pier and trying to achieve long distance and time in air before landing in sea. Saturday was disappointing. Only two managed a jump before the strong winds made it necessary to call it off until yesterday, which was better.


14 comments:

  1. That looks like a very enjoyable day out - make that two days out! Worthing looks lovely in the sunshine.

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  2. What fun. I am especially fascinated by the woman with a dog where her head is supposed to be.

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  3. I've always wanted to give it a go one year, but swimming and I are not the best of friends. Plus I'd rather have a coffee and watch than get wet and foolish.

    I also like the doggy scarf!

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  4. Craig & Mitch - we are grateful for ANY events in this relatively boring town, outdone by nearby Brighton in just about all respects. But yes, it was an enjoyable enough reason to be out in the fresh sea-side air. (Do I sound TOO miserable? Don't mean to.)

    Jason - if you give it a go one year then I'll think about getting a bike. (Notice I just say "think about".)
    Yes, the dog is cute, isn't it? - and it remained perched on her shoulders while she moved off.

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  5. It kind of looks cold there. Like everyone was shivering. In the sunshine. In August. How was it really?

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  6. Cubby, no, it wasn't at all cold, just ideally temperate. Like about 2/3 of the men I was in shorts. Our Summer hasn't been too bad this year, on the whole, but we've not had a single day like the blistering temps a lot of you Americans have been experiencing.

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  7. Raybeard! What happened to your movie comments!?!?

    http://thestateofthenationuk.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-movie-update.html

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  8. Stephen, you have NO idea how much you've flattered me by that question. Although I knew you read them I didn't really think they meant that much to you. Maybe I was hopelessly in error - or so I'd like to think.
    I might have missed your entry for July as you might have posted it while I was away. I'll go back and check that out.
    But out of this month's selection I've actually only seen four of them - an all-time low score, I think, since I started my comments on your blog. But, that notwithstanding, I shall do the honours shortly - and I mean in the next day or two.
    Now I'm going to bask a while in the flattery you've gifted me by asking!

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  9. anything below 40 degrees is cold by our standards !

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  10. Yes, I know Dr Spo - but in saying this do you mean degrees F or, referring to your recent (and still current?) unrelenting tropical spell, Celsius? Everyone has an ideal temp but in my case it would be about 70F, or 19/20C - warm enough to feel comfy and also not oppressive enough to roam around in - and that is what we've been experiencing recently.

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  11. One of the Good Things about Worthing must be that you can visit all our gay friends in Brighton without having to pay the premium cost for everything by actually living there!

    Another Good Thing about Worthing is that people don't appear to pose quite as much as they do in Brighton - or Bournemouth, come to that.

    Bet you can think of more Good Things about Worthing too.

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  12. I'm trying hard, Micky, but nothing is coming to mind.
    If you mean by 'friends' in Brighton, gay individuals, I'm afraid I don't know even one.
    If you meant gay 'establishments' I haven't been in a bar for about 12 years, except for one occasion about 4 years ago when I met up with someone I'd contacted on a gay dating site. Nothing came of that meeting - and even the bar we met in had been turned, since I was there the last time, into a lesbian bar!
    As for posing, I think Worthing people have rather less to pose about.
    I will say something for Worthing, though. It isn't as dangerous as Brighton, though it does have it's problems and I still don't like to be out after dark.

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  13. I have to say, I've been more scared in Worthing after dark than I have in Brighton!

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  14. That's interesting, Jason. I wonder why. As far as I know, Worthing, if it has a drug culture at all, it's nowhere near the level of Brighton's which, I think, has the highest proportion of drug-dependent inhabitants in the entire country - or if not, it's very near the top.
    During my eight Brighton years I came close to being involved in an 'incident' with desperate people demanding money of me maybe half-a-dozen times (plus one very near queer-bashing, where I was the intended victim, of course). In my 10+ years in Worthing there have been no such incidents, though, as I said I'm hardly ever out after dark. Having said all that I'd still rather be living back in B'ton.

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