Southend/East End of London
Blogged on July 12th, 2007 at 1:43pmYesterday I went to Southend, which is in Essex. I went there to meet a friend and just to have a good time really I guess, which I did. It’s sort of like Blackpool, but in the south. It’s pretty good from an architecture point of view and it’s nothing like I’ve seen before. It has a sort of eerie feel to it all, with the small scale theme park by the seafront and then the pier (which, apparently, is the world’s longest). Of course, it doesn’t have Blackpool tower or anything and it’s a little bit more urban, but you could categorize it in the same way as it sets itself apart from the rest of the settlements on the coast as it has a more “resort” style.
I’ll be honest and say I didn’t feel quite as safe as I would do walking around southwest London or Camden. When I got off the District Line at West Ham to be “greeted” by dozens of shady looking characters in tracksuits on the platform, it certainly struck a difference. You could see the Millenium Dome O2 Stadium(?) in the distance, as well as the Gherkin and City Hall. The whole place seemed to look like one of the scenes in the film Kidulthood.
In hindsight I really wish I would have brought my camera with me. Before I left I was wondering whether to or not, and since I didn’t have any batteries handy anyway, I didn’t.
I also watched Shrek the Third, which I think is the last in the Shrek triology. It didn’t disappoint me, unlike its predocessor Shrek 2. The jokes and gags in there were cheesy but good, and left the people in my row at least, quite happy.