So P and I went off to Brighton on Friday night – all entirely last minute and without a great deal of planning or thought. If we’d thought about it at length we wouldn’t have gone – R is only four weeks from his Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis and we’re all feeling raw. The boys stayed with my parents – my dad is Type 2 (old age onset diabetes) and my mother knows exactly how to deal with the boys. This involves going to the amusement arcades in Margate….
Anyway, we set off alone to Brighton. We managed to get a last minute room at the incredibly funky and fun Snooze in Kemptown. We were in Room 1 which is beautifully seductive with red leather armchairs, velvet curtains and walls covered with old metal advertisement signs. The breakfast room was even funkier – each piece of china reminded us both of our childhood homes. P is a vegetarian so often staying somewhere can be difficult for breakfasts, but not here – great veggie sausages that matched my excellent full English breakfast. 
Anyway, enough of the B&B review – although the place was great! We went off into the Lanes on Saturday for some light retail therapy and were rewarded by some great independent boutiques. After a couple of hours wandering around in the bright April sunlight (yes, the best weekend of the year so far) we stopped for a coffee at the Komedia bar in Gardner Street. Excellent coffee and even better mini passion fruit cheesecake! We sat and watched the world go by (pavement cafe culture really does work in the UK). It seemed as if everyone walking past had taken a great deal of time and effort dressing that morning – streets like this earn Brighton its name of Nottinghill-on-Sea (or is that Whitstable?).
And then I saw them…..
An impeccably dressed woman wandered out of a boutique – Jell-o - opposite our table. She wore a pair of slightly oversized jeans (I think they were Levis) turned up a couple of times to show off her ankles and the most beautiful pair of red Mary Jane shoes I have ever seen. The shoes matched her brilliant scarlet lipstick and complemented her stripey matelot with a twist t-shirt. The outfit as a whole was spot on trend but it was the shoes….the shoes just made the outfit.
I had to have them!
We went in and I discovered the shop sold these wonderful shoes – designed by Vivienne Westwood. They had other designs and no prices on them. Always a bad sign – if it has no price it generally means I can’t afford them.
The only ones I could see that were the same design were these gorgeous green glittery ones. Yes, they were expensive (but not three figures!).
And even better yes, P bought them for me – an early birthday present. I even wore them out of the shop.
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