saturday is trip day: southend! mr. h. took us internationals on our last trip. we first stopped at old leigh (a very small seaside town at the thames gateway), where we took a stroll around. there was a little incident with a bird and ellen's and my jacket, see below... i wasn't happy! then mr. h. bought some seafood we were 'forced' to try; it was just salty. then we headed off to southend-on-sea. from all the seaside resorts i've seen so far, it was the one i liked the least; i actually don't even know why, maybe the weather had an influence. it was cloudy all day long. the main attraction in southend is the pier, which is the longest in europe with 2.16 kilometres. to get to the front, we took the pier train, that was quite practical. sitting at the front of the pier, we spotted a rescue helicopter! we then went back ashore and walked down the high street. even though i wouldn't go to southend again, we had a good day!