Cream tea and a big ass turtle

A busy day with Sprinkles. And in Brighton the weather did its best to put on a good English show, running the gamut from grey to rain. However I took Sarah off to The Royal Pavilion and revelled in its orientalist splendour. Sarah quite liking this. We took the telephone guide handsets and drifted about looking at the sumptuous Chinoiserie of the interior. Built by the Prince Regent, later George the IV. The place is crawling with dragons. The bad luck experienced by the Music room are even attributed to too many dragons. It was attacked by an arsonist in the mid 70s, and then just as the repairs were finished in 1987 the famous hurricane dislodged a huge stone globe from the roofing which then came crashing through the newly restored roof, so they had to start again.

Then off to the Mock Turtle for a cheeky cream tea. Sarah liked this immensely, and we enjoyed tucking into their still-warm, freshly-baked scones.

After his refreshment we wandered down to the Sealife centre, apparently the oldest functional Aquarium in the world. This quite fun, although Sprinkles was asking certain fishes if they would like to be stuffed with garlic and onions and so on. There was definitely a sinister food based agenda. But we enjoyed the seahorses, pretty sharks and the turtle. Sarah observed that it was a "big ass" turtle and in the Philippines it would be called lunch. I also enjoyed the underwater tunnel. On the way out there was a booming room showing a slightly sad film of a submarine dive complete with vibrating chairs to give you the illusion of being aboard. Both laughing at this. Having been on two submarines dives I can say it was nothing like that.

Then Sarah's second foray into a boozer. Today I chose at random the Druid's Head, mainly for the name. Very quiet in there, Sprinkles managing another half of Harvey's bitter. It was there we conceived a yearning for Mexican meal. After getting a taxi which broke down en route we found Los Amigos, turned out to be a hybrid Italian/Mexican restaurant, but the food was fine and satisfied our cravings.

Then home after a busy and enjoyable day. Felt slightly preoccupied though as my uber boss at work is going to phone me at some point, and he didn't call. Spoke also to Sophie too, and will see her soon.

Walking back from the sealife centre we strayed onto the pebbles of the beach where I discovered this strange little shell with a figure inked on a chip of shell I found in it. Made me think instantly of Moses, in an uncharacteristically biblical moment.

Below aquarium scenes. And the strange Moses shell I found today.