Back From Hastings

[poliphilo]

It may be 25 miles away but- as Ailz and I were saying to one another in the car this afternoon- we've come to think of Hastings as our home town. It's where we go when we've time on our hands and nothing better to do- and the likelihood is it's where we'll end up when we make our penultimate move.

One of the things that draws up back is the Jerwood Gallery on the Stade- where Hastings keeps its fishing fleet- which is currently hosting Marcus Harvey's biggest ever one-man show- Inselaffe- a rollicking, seaside essay on Englishness- with paintings and sculptures built up of model sailing ships and heads of Churchill and casts of footballs and exotic fruits. Inselaffe translates as island monkeys and is what the Germans shout back at us when we call them krauts.

Harvey is best known for his portrait of Myra Hindley made out of childrens handprints- at once an indelible image and a millstone round its creator's neck. Inselaffe shows him to be much more than the naughty little shocker one might have thought he was. It's monumental, nose-thumbingly childish and- if you're any kind of English patriot- really rather moving.

Here's a picture of one of Hastings' iconic net houses.



And here's the main reason to keep on going back- the sea, the sea...

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

It is a lovely town.

[sovay]

And here's the main reason to keep on going back- the sea, the sea...

It looks like wonderful sea. You have some beautiful late summer sky there, too.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It has so much to offer- including some very cheap antique shops...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We're enjoying a spell of glorious weather.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I would live by the sea if I could but with mountains as a backdrop like on our Malaga and Granada coasts. Hastings looks lovely.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There are places in Britain where you have sea AND mountains- Llandudno for instance- but that's up north, on the coast of the Irish Sea- and I think Hastings has the better climate.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

True, that!

Mind you Wellington has some amazing bargains among the market stalls too!

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I love the old town end of it.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I really ought to go prowling around Hastings someday. While I was living in the area, I mostly kept to the locality and Brighton, with the occasional excursion to Lewes (and, of course, Middle Farm, who I wish would set up a mail order arm) - only really saw the town a couple times in total.

The first shot is particularly appealing. ^_^

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Now you've gone and made me nostalgic for Hercule Poirot.