Another winter beach visit

Huts along the shore in Southend
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I went to visit my friend Caroline in Southend for the weekend.  The girls that I am working with were really raging on Essex and Southend, but I had a really good time.  I took the train up on Saturday morning and then Caroline and I came back to London late Sunday afternoon.

Southend-on-Sea, as the name might give away, is on the shore and is a really nice place to visit.  We walked down the beach and it reminded me of a Dirty Dancing era type family holiday location.  On one side is the shore, which in the summer would be packed with people and then across the street are all kinds of arcades, fish and chip shops, bowling alleys and the like.  Main street is adorned with strings of lights that animate movement.  The whole place is very kitchy.  The only bad thing is that way out in the Sea you see an industrial area, which pumps clouds of gross looking smoke into the air.

a Dirty Dancing era type family holiday location

Caroline
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Patrick couldn't make this trip because he was working so we are definitely going to go back in the summer when we can actually enjoy the beach.  However, Caroline told me that the water isn't particularly clean, not that the industrial activity would have led me to believe otherwise, so we may not go in the Sea.

Sunday, on our way back to London, Caroline and I stopped in Leigh-on-Sea.  Leigh is even smaller than Southend, but I actually liked it more.  We went into Old Leigh which is really just an industrial fish area.  There were all kinds of little fresh fish vendors set up along the route.  We again played on the beach for a little while, and then went into Leigh proper and found some really great shops.  Shopping in these small towns is way cheaper than shopping in London.  I did buy a few things, but all at a bargain that couldn't be missed.