This is the fourth edition of Street Source, a regular feature showcasing photos taken around Brighton over the course of a month by one of our photographers. The idea is to share spontaneous moments around town – be it incidental street scenes, snapshots of people’s lives or images of the city as a landscape. Each month we’ll have images from a different photographer. This month Jon Southcoasting took his camera out around town.
June 2016 truly has been an extraordinary month. In any usual summer, we could have just talked about the weather and it’s certainly been wet and windy. Apparently the rain has been heavily localised and on average it’s just been average. Who’d have thought?
Brighton has a certain historic grandeur. Unfortunately the seafront has been taking a bit of a beating and is smothered in scaffolding whilst the Council works out how it’s going to get the money to pay for its repair. Meanwhile, we can wallow in past glories with a beautiful piece of Quadrophenia street art.
We do good graffiti here, and it helps to brighten up some otherwise dull spaces. As we run out of money to maintain the really beautiful parts of the city, perhaps we should just get the spray cans out?
There’s one new kid in town though, and whilst the i360 isn’t open yet we’ve been graced with some test runs. The donut viewing pad has at least given the stick some class, although whether it will make back the investment remains to be seen.
One of the biggest events this month has been the European football championship. At the beginning of the month we were full of hope and pride. Not any more. By the end of the month England had been kicked out by tiny Iceland and as a nation we hung our collective head in shame. No matter, we’re all Welsh now.
But enough about the football. There were more important matters to decide in Europe. Brighton & Hove was proud that more than two thirds of its electorate voted to Remain in the European Union, but unfortunately the country didn’t follow suit. Now with the Brexit lies coming home to roost, many people feel cheated.
Referendum fever even took over the Naked Bike Ride which took place earlier in the month. Vote to Remain Naked anyone? It’s a shame the country wasn’t paying more attention.
We do have some excellent street entertainment around town, and even ex-Brightonian Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg) came back to perform an impromptu outdoor gig in New Road this month. But you can find entertainment on any corner, and these amateur trapeze artists just set up between a couple of trees on the Level.
Bark in the Park also provided some entertainment in Queen’s Park this month for the dog-loving community. There were prizes for the better-trained pooch of course but a lot of fun for all shapes and ages (of dog, and humans too).
With the economy heading for a post-Brexit crash, some people are taking precautions and making sure they are well-prepared by growing their own. This market-gardener must have a pretty hard head to carry all that back to the allotment. Or maybe they were just trying to protect themselves from the rain?
Photos and words by Jon Southcoasting
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