Well now

I had thought of starting my blog today with an apology, a public apology because I realised that I had publicly slated somebody.  That heinous crime (why is heinous always associated with crime but never sin?) was committed publicly on this very blog so, even though the gentleman in question (I have never met him but I will give him the benefit of the doubt and describe him as a gentleman) is most unlikely ever to stumble across my unkind words, it seems only right and proper that my apology should be made here as well.  But hey!  I have looked up what I said and I did not slate him after all.  OK, so I didn't exactly crown him with laurels either, but my words do not call for an apology.  But it has made me think and I have decided that I really must be conscious of the fact that I am not talking quietly to a few friends over a pint but I am in fact SHOUTING TO THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD when I commit my thoughts to the depths - or heights - of the world wide web.

That was brought home to me some weeks back when two different people made contact with me as a result of them stumbling across this blog.  One was a man I have never met but I had mentioned his father (and grandparents) on the blog; the other realised that I had probably attended the same school as him back in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

So, fellow bloggers, heed the gypsy's warning.

~~~~~

Back in 1928, the boundary of Brighton was moved north and on the new boundary, two stone pillars were erected to act as a sort of gateway to Brighton, the main road from London passing between them.  When that road - the A23 - was widened, it had been planned to demolish at least the western pylon (as they are known) but there was a huge public outcry so the northbound carriageway now runs outside the old gateway.  Travellers from the north, however, still enter Brighton through the gate.

The western pylon bears the words:

'Hail guest, we ask not what thou art.
If friend we greet thee hand and heart.
If stranger, no longer be.
If foe, our love shall conquer thee.'

I couldn't get both pylons in the picture without getting run over.