December 22nd 2025. Hastings.
I’ve given up on getting the blog up-to-date before year end, and you’ll be wanting my awards issue tomorrow, but I’m not rushing Hastings.
In fact, I think I’ve invented the birthday (22/12) equivalent of slow tourism, as we spent last Monday wandering aimlessly taking photos of crumbling Sussex-by-the-Sea.
Crumbling, but charming. Like me.
Freed from the constraints of planning A Big Day with activities and ticks, with no expectations about it being “wonderful”, I enjoyed a slow and aimless wander around St Leonards and Hastings as much as anywhere all year.
And there was real joy in the arty underpass at Carlisle Parade as we spotted the seal I’d been throwing pebbles at earlier.
“Look ! There’s the Carlisle !!“ as Paddy McAloon almost sang on “Hey Manhattan“
A night at “the place where Kennedy stayed” will cost $978 on a quiet Sunday in Winter. A fiver will buy you a pint and crisps in a Sussex seafront bikers pub. Go figure.
But I’m saving the Carlisle for Spring. On a whim, I said “Let’s do early lunch there“.
Yaaze, at the very foot of the A21, has a sign outside saying “Best rated restaurant in East Sussex” or similar, and rather like “Chef’s Special” or “Staff Tip” I find that utterly convincing.
An inspired choice; cosy, friendly and tasty.
And I get my Birthday squid, as well as a little pot of sun-dried tomato sauce that ought to be sold in jars in Aldi.
But the highlight came with coffee,
served with hipster “milk in mini measuring jug”,
and a baklava/Turkish delight combo without calories noted on the menu.
I always eat well on my birthday, but this was epic.
Right, let’s explore brutalist modern Hastings…
Or not.
retiredmartin 