Comments on: A Walk From Shoeburyness to Chalkwell

By: Maurice Harvey

Maurice Harvey — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 23:56:06 +0000

I used to live in Westcliff , attended Southend College of Art, in the late 1940’s, commuted to London to work in art studio’s, moved to Canada in the late 1950’s. later to California to work
in the Motion Picture Industry. After all of that moving around, the walk from Shoburyness to
Chalkwell which I did many times, is still top of my list of memories, and you surely bought
that back to me in your charming writing. This piece was sent to me from my cousin in New Zealand, it does show where ever we go, we love so dearly these beautiful memories of our
true home.
Thank you

Maurice Harvey.

By: Graham Caleno

Graham Caleno — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 22:07:17 +0000

a few times each year I drive down to Southend and run one way between Shoeburyness Station (East Beach) & Leigh on Sea station (Belton Hills) 8 miles along the Nature reserve/Seafront/Strand/Prom. Always making use of a Tail Wind, I travel back from either end on the C2C train, then have a River Swim & Pool swim/shower at Belfairs pool.

By: Andrew Areoff

Andrew Areoff — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 11:02:00 +0000

I love to photograph this area – because it’s a short drive away from where I live now and on the doorstep of where I used to live it makes it easy to keep returning to capture the ever changing light – no two days are ever the same. http://andrewareoff.vsco.co/media/55c3cf23b76624270000001c

By: Slice of London Life

Slice of London Life — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 22:49:09 +0000

I grew up in Essex but Shoeburyness is not a seaside town I used to go to. After seeing your photos, I think I will have to go now.

I do like the traditional British seaside. It is comforting to know that it hasn’t changed much since my childhood.

By: Cherub

Cherub — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 18:27:15 +0000

There are few things I miss about the life I had in Essex, but the one thing I do miss is a trip down to Southend to “blow the cobwebs out” as my husband always used to say. We used to love a trip down there on Boxing Day, a bracing walk along the front did wonders for the getting rid of the excess from Christmas Day!

By: mark

mark — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 12:26:35 +0000

I live in Westcliff but my family originated in Spitalfields, which I why I follow your blog. I commute through Fenchurch Street and Aldgate every day so it’s interesting to read about your your ‘reverse’ journey 😉 – great stuff!

By: Min the Merciless

Min the Merciless — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 10:04:10 +0000

Lovely writing Gentle Author, thank you. Although ‘Shoeburyness’ was the name given by the poet Ogden Nash to the uncomfortable feeling of sitting in an (unusually) warm tube seat after someone else had just got up from it. Serves you right for leaping in their grave, so to speak.
He gave place names to all London situations. There was one for the smell of the sulphurous wave of warm air before the tube came up the tunnel.

I really enjoy your writing – I’ve linked it in to friends in Toronto, Karachi, Oz.

By: Donald Carlton Burns

Donald Carlton Burns — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 21:38:21 +0000

Lovely, sweetened prose spiced with the colour of carnival life, then drifting softly back again to home’s sweet reality.

By: SBW

SBW — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 11:16:03 +0000

Thank you; I’m so homesick.

By: Sal Shuel

Sal Shuel — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 09:10:08 +0000

Your daily pieces give me as much pleasure as anything else that I come upon. Turning on my laptop every morning and knowing there will be a treat waiting there makes it worth while getting up in the morning. You came here once – to look at drawings by James Boswell which were stored in the spare room wardrobe. They now have a room of their own and have expanded somewhat. You remarked in the piece that you wrote that you were surprised that they were in the wardrobe and it struck me at the time that he deserved better.

Thank you for giving me so much pleasure. I know there must be thousands of people who think the same.