Leigh on Sea News - ray-morgan

Just keep swimming!

My first blog that I ever wrote for this website was about sea swimming and how much I love taking a dip in the estuary in summertime - it's years later and I still adore it.

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Steeped in tradition - Leigh Folk

For more than 10 years, my partner and I have always run a stage at Leigh Folk Festival, but this year we decided to have a break.

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A holiday in a day

Blue skies, white sand, lush dunes blowing in the breeze. The photos made it look like we were in the desert the tide was so far out - it was like a film set.

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On being sensible

I'm hurting today. I'm jealous of everybody who went to All Points East and saw Patti Smith, Nick Cave, and Courtney Barnett yesterday. It was AMAZING, I'm sure. I mean, if you went - I'm happy for you. Genuinely...

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A little time out

I've been listening to the new Courtney Barnett album (which is very good by the way) and there's a song on it that was stuck in my head the whole weekend......

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All hands on deck(ing)

Someone had asked me how I was spending my Saturday - football or wedding? Neither - I had over 300 screws to tackle.

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Writing evenings in Leigh-on-Sea

Picture the scene: I'm at my laptop in a café, tapping away while a sudden April shower sheets down outside. There's jazzy music playing in the background, set off by the coffee machine steam and the shake of a cocktail being made.

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Let's go outside!

It's happened. I'm becoming a gardening bore. No baby, no puppy, no love for early morning seafront running - my timelines are brimming with plant photos instead. Reader, I'm obsessed. 

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The sound of seagulls

When it feels like the world is on holiday, sometimes I like to step back and have a bit of a break in our lovely coastal town; even if it's just for a couple of hours at a time

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High Tide - a party this Good Friday

On Good Friday, Saks Underground in Southend will be turned into a new club night that promises upbeat, camp tunes and an inclusive ethos of "everyone invited".

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Small town life

"You know everyone!" my friend said to me as we walked through the Broadway on Saturday lunchtime. We'd just been for lunch at the Cake Bar in the Book Inn bookshop - omg have you been

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Back to life.....

Back to reality. The great thaw has happened. Our timelines are no longer a scrolling live-feed of snowmen, Waitrose shopping bags being pulled home on sledges (I see you), and frosty estuary scenes. 

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I Smell Snow

"Have you seen the forecast?" people are frantically saying

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Ready for Spring

I've never had a February in my flat before. We're coming up to our one year anniversary in our little ground floor gaff, our first purchase, but for now, Februarys are new here

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Pop-up Essex Writers House

For the whole of March, Chalkwell Hall in our dear Chalkwell Park is being turned into a pop-up Essex Writers House thanks to Metal Culture and a partnership with Essex Book Festival.  

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Sounds Familiar Music Quiz

A well-established quiz night in London, Manchester and Brighton, and they came to little old Southend on Sea last weekend.

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Review: Ghost Music at South Records

Do you remember when Fives was where the Co-op's chilled and frozen section is now?

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An unscheduled meander

Last Sunday, the weather felt specifically January-ish: crisp, chilly, hat-gloves-and-scarf weather, but with an electric blue sky, and cold white sun.

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Plant power

I've seen loads of posts over the past week about people doing "Veganuary"...

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A new page

Happy New Year, dear readers. Well: we're through it! My Christmas tree is back in its box, and my living room looks bigger and tidy again. 

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