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So you know that palaver every Eid where you don't know what day it will be and you feel like a right tit explaining to your boss why you might have to take Monday off but then again you might not? Well this Eid that worked out well for me.

Eid may have been on Sunday or Monday so I booked the Monday off work anyway. It ended up being Eid on Sunday so we drove down to Brighton that night and spent all of Monday cycling around the most bike friendly place I've been to. (By "we" I mean me and husband, Sol. By the way, have you met Sol? Say hi everyone.) I'm not sure how many miles we ended up cycling but according to my bum, it was quite a lot. This was also our first time cycling on roads, with other much scarier vehicles so hooray for us. Plus, just days before Sol had surprised me with a basket for my bike and this was great for carting around my camera.

I've been to Brighton many times before (see Flickr sets from 2005 and 2006) but each time I visit I enjoy it as much as the last, if not more.

Lowlights: There weren't many. Only that the hotel we stayed at on Sunday night stank like a pet store. Take note Travelodge Brighton Seafront. Also, I guess I could count seeing an old man's junk as a lowlight but it served us right for sitting on the border of a nudist beach.

Highlights: The Lanes are a great place to explore but of course navigating a bike around the tight corners isn't really ideal. We chained ours up and explored the area, stopping off for lunch at Henny's in Brighton Square and then buying some amazing cupcakes from Angel Food Bakery. They were the best cupcakes I've ever had (even if they were a bit squished by the time we ate them) and I've recently been to Magnolia in New York so that's saying something.

In the olden days (2005) we would have at some stage popped into a random fish restaurant for dinner and then moaned about the sub-standard service and food. But this is 2009! So we Googled the best fish restaurant on the BlackBerry and then cycled over to Bankers for fish and chips with mushy peas and tartare sauce. It was well worth the Googling I tell ya. We also happened upon Octopus stores, the same chain as Pylones that I had seen in New York except this one was much cheaper than the one over there. I ended up buying these bad boys.

By the time the sun set, we had purposefully made our way to the old burnt out pier as I thought it would set the scene perfectly for some good pictures. I wasn't disappointed and took a bagillion photos as the sun set rather rapidly. We grabbed some fresh hot doughnuts and then made our way home. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Late 'n' Live is exactly what it says on the tin; it's three live comedy acts, one music act and it starts at 1am. You have to be pretty well regarded to get a slot at this event so we knew the comedy would be of high quality and it was. Okay, so the compere, John Bishop (shortlised for if.comedy Edinburgh Comedy Award) made a joke about Muslims and then asked if there were any "Mussys" in the audience. But I raised my hand so whatever.

Jamie Kilstein - Loved the letter to the US Army

Kevin Bridges - Hilarious and naturally funny. This guy could say anything and it would be funny. Shortlisted for Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer.

Axes of Awesome - Their four chord song is one of the best things ever.

The whole evening was even more hilarious because some couple kept rowing and the woman would storm out followed by the man. That's just pure comedy fodder.

Guess what? We were late to this show too! And Lewis said to us as we walked in, "I'm warning you! I'm a pro-American Jew boy!" The whole crowd laughed and it pissed me off a little, I must admit. It didn't detract from the rest of the show though, really very funny. It was a free show too so can't complain.

We did run into Lewis later on that evening. Twice. We ended up chatting to him for quite some time and I told him his comment earlier on had annoyed me. He explained though that he makes fun of EVERYONE, no matter who they are and that it's all done in jest. There's a big debate about racism in comedy at the moment (I will be writing more about that when I talk about the Richard Herring show) but I'm of the opinion that it's not comedians using it as an excuse to be offensive, more to make us think. Also, Lewis said I was "too pretty to go see the Chippendales" so I guess I'll have to forgive him. I'm so easily won over.

Anyway, do go and see Lewis Schaffer in Edinburgh this week if you can or when he's back in London.

Today we planned a trip to Southend-on-Sea but then this happened:

We made the most of the FOUR hour wait by taking in the sunshine and scenery (there was a horse) and shouting back at the arsehole drivers who felt the need to jeer at us as they drove by. There was also some singing involved (Bohemian Rhapsody). We didn't make it to the seaside but sometimes you don't need to get to the seaside.

The first show we saw at the Ed Fringe this year was Isma Almas. We were late and she said "The Asians are late, typical!" And that was the high point of the whole act. She has some good ideas talking about growing up in Britain with Asian parents but I just didn't think it was that funny. Early days yet, I'm hoping that she'll improve with experience. **