Starter for 10.
'Starter for 10' is a book by David Nicholls.
It was made into a film starring the utterly wonderful James McAcoy last year.
I actually hadn't got round to reading it, and probably would still have not have done had it not been £3 in a bookstore near me that is closing down.
I am so glad I did.
Page 2:
'At 2,360 yards, or 2.158 kilometres, Southend Pier is officially the longest pier in the world. This is probably a little bit too long to be honest, especially when you are carrying a lot of lager. We've got 12 large cans of Skol, sweet and sour pork balls, special fried rice and chips with curry sauce - food from around the world - but by the time we reach the end of the pier, the lagers are warm and the takeaway's cold.
As this is a special celebration, Tony has also had to lug his ghetto blaster, which is the size of a small wardrobe and, it's fair to say, will never Blast a Ghetto unless you count Shroeburyness. At the moment it's playing Tone's home made compilation 'The Best of The Zep*' as we settle down on a bench and watch the sun set majestically over the petrol refinery'
Now, with a few minor differences (different lager, different compilation tape and 6 years later), I have been there, done that.
Being too young to drink in pubs and deciding that taking some tinnies and food to the end of the pier used to be a rite of passage for any self respecting Essex Boy...
(One minor detail he got wrong). When you sit on the end of Southend Pier and watch the sun set, it's actually the Shell OIL refinery you can see. No one ever calls it the 'petrol' refinery.
I know this, cos my Grandad worked there for 30 odd years and you can actually see it in the distance from the Cemetary he is buried at.
*and, talking about 'The Zep' being about Tolkien 'Tone loves that stuff, books with maps in the front and cover illustrations of big, scarey women in chain mail underwear and holding broadswords. The kind of women that, in an ideal world, he would marry, Which, in Southend, is a lot more feasible than you would think'
