Southend seafront, from the west end of the Golden Mile, heading toward Leigh, Hadleigh and, er, Basildon. Behind me and thus out of shot are those parades of quaint summer cafes, full of character (and old people, usually): depressing place to be in midwinter, though. From here you get a good view of Peter Pan's Playground (or Adventure Island, or whatever it's called these days). It might look far away, but actually it's just that the big wheel is really small. To the right of that is the pier (though it's actually behind it). You can also see the fancy hotels on Pier Hill, but unfortunately most of the nice greenery on the sloping hills around the Cliffs Pavilion (also behind me) is out of shot to my left. As you can see, they haven't really bothered with importing sand and pretending Southend has a beach this far down the Golden Mile.