We’re continuing with our exploration of the Isle of Wight now with a visit to Sandown.
It’s a quintessentially English seaside resort with a long sandy beach and a huge pier lined with arcades and fairground rides.
It’s a mixture of garish colour and slow decay. With some prime beach front properties boarded up and neglected.
The pier beckons with it’s eye popping, high pitched noisy machines.
The psychedelic toys and rides have me pinning for Japan again! We could almost be back in Osaka
Then we emerge, blinking into the light on the blustery open end of the pier with all it’s traditional seaside delights including teeth rotting treats…
I like the garish, over bright colours that typically advertise traditional treats such as icecream.
I have a guilty pleasure for these alcoholic sticks of rock with sambuca and prosecco on offer!
The fairground offers some incredibly trippy rides including these eye popping, rainbow bright cars.
Then we stumble on some typical old style saucy postcards that used to be found everywhere at the seaside!
The man looks particularly cute in his little outfit, I think he should dress like this all the time!
The fairground out of season always has a forlorn, almost post apocalyptic feel to me.
The garish colours contrast with the milky grey sky and the absence of children’s noise makes it feel even more desolate.
Mind you, the addition of people does not always make it less terrifying . . .
Another thing that I love in British seaside resorts is the plethora of neon plastic items.
Whether buckets and spades, whirlygigs or body boards, any colour combo goes as long as it’s eye watering!
Some more exciting colour combinations can be found on this giddy sandwich board.
Then we stumble across some incredible street art that draws its inspiration from the seas.
It also reflects on the fact that the Isle of Wight apparently is the undisputed dinosaur capital of Great Britain and features in the top six best locations in the world for dinosaur remains.
Next up a completely different side to the island with some lovely thatched cottages.