page created 09-03-2025, visit on 08-03-2025 (dd/mm/yyyy)
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i'm kind of like jimmy in the way that as soon as i watched quadrophenia i was totally set on moving to brighton. i think that as a person i'm far too ambitious for my own good and that almost makes up for the lack of practice and skill i have in most of the areas i want to pursue. lucky for me, i have complete confidence that when i start whatever it is, whether it's sewing, making music or making movies, i'm going to be the country's greatest talent. like the battle of brighton beach and jimmy, quadrophenia sort of stuck with me in the way that it represented that i wanted to be a part of. even though modernist culture doesn't exactly exist in the same way anymore, i've still got hope for something similar.
i ended up visiting brighton yesterday with my family. i wasn't expecting it to feel so surreal, but on the drive there i think we must have gone the same way as they did in quadrophenia, because the road we drove down looked familiar. i can't say it for certain, but it felt a lot like the one in the film when i looked out the back window.
places like those make me think it would be good to have a motor-bike/-scooter. i feel like the experience would be so different to just driving past it in a car. i love country roads so much more than the other ones.
we had a look round the marina, but there honestly wasn't much to see. my skates broke there too which i think was an evil sign. we took a walk down to the beach, which i was really excited for. not only was the battle at brighton beach in quadrophenia, it was a proper thing that happened, and i just thought it was so cool to be there. it's not a beach i would've gone to otherwise, to be honest, because i'm not into rocky ones much.
i didn't like how commercial the seafront was, though. i don't play golf. a bit off from the beach were a load of shops. places to eat and ice cream shops and tourist bits. there were also a bunch of mod scooters there, including one that looked a bit like ace face's which i was so jealous of. it's exciting to see that there are still mods around, but they're all kind of old men who didn't let go in the eighties (something i would definitely do). i was kind of hoping to see younger mods too but.... whatever. they had great scooters so i don't care. i didn't know when i was there, but i had another look at quadrophenia and that's where they all park their scooters as soon as they arrive there. what i did notice was a spray-paint mural of the two-tone man!!!!!! on the closed off brighton station entrance. i love the two-tone man.
maybe if i end up moving to brighton i'll become a mod. i've kind of always wanted to have a motorbike but having a motor scooter with a million mirrors would be a dream. at the beach i also spotted the pier, and we were going to have a look around but for some reason it's 2 quid entry per person which is just ridiculous. i also spotted the cliffs where jimmy killed himself and i really wanted to stop by but we didn't get to. if i ever kill myself i hope i do it there. even though there are railings there now. i could do a cool flip.
i want to take a look at the other less commercial parts of brighton to see if there was anywhere worth living. i'd love to live in any of the houses we drove past on the way, to be honest. if i lived there i'd have a place joined to a shop like im bernard black or vince noir or something. the town bits we went to seemed nice, too. i've always wanted to live at a seaside town. if it's not here, i'll probably move to one of those places where there are a ton of surfers and become one of those instead. wondering if i can have a scooter and a surfboard.
