The Joy of Essex . . . by Pete May

December 13, 2012

Here are a few extracts from the chapter with Phill jupitus as he shows Pete around his beloved Leigh-on-Sea:

"Phill Jupitus meets me at Leigh-on-Sea station and escorts me to his Cherokee Land Rover in the car park. He’s with his dog Chester, a black Staffie, and clad in off-duty jeans and green parka and scarf. We take the short drive over the bridge to the car park on Two Tree Island. Phill laughs approvingly when I say it sounds like a track from a Joshua Tree-era U2 album.

“If the tide’s in and its the right sort of day it’s achingly lovely here,” says the Never Mind the Buzzcocks and QI star and former Radio 6 breakfast show DJ. “And you don’t see many people, though when the wildlife trust has an open day there’s hundreds.”

Two Tree Island was built on reclaimed land in the 18^th century. It was once a sewage works and then a landfill site, but is now a rather striking place, covered in grass and reeds. . . "

"We’ve walked out on to the island proper. It’s windswept here and my DMs start to squelch on muddy ground. “People think Essex is flat but this ridge is where the ice age stopped,” he continues, pointing out the long ridge along the coast on which Leigh-on-Sea and Hadleigh Castle are situated.

He clearly loves life in Leigh, enthusing about the local shops, the coffee shops and the art scene. “I also like the conceit of the ‘on-sea’ when it’s an estuary. On sea is when it’s a flat horizon, not Canvey and Kent in the distance!” . . .

"Jupitus observes birdlife with the enthusiasm of an Essex Attenborough as birds glide over the water. “That’s oyster catchers. No one comes this far down normally. I’ve been here and seen hundreds of thousands of geese, it’s all you can hear. Five thousand flew out round the other side of island. It’s weird to be walking the dog and move a tonne of wildlife.” . . ."

"We discuss how quickly the tide is going out. It’s gone from lapping at the esplanade to a huge grey sweep of mud, sand and beached boats. “I can say, hand on heart that I’ve looked at the Grand Canyon and thought this is not for me. Here the beauty is so subtle. There’s physical changes, millions of tonnes of water where it wasn’t an hour ago,” reflects Phill, a man who’s toured Route 66 for TV, but is utterly happy in Leigh."