Vacancy: Position of Trust......February

Just where did february go? It is a short month as it is and I have been so busy the days have just flown by.
I have not only been doing my Stand up this month but I have been filming a new comedy feature film too and being a girl on the go, I always try to look my best.
I can count the amount of people I can trust on one hand .....But I have had a 'position of trust' vacancy lately and this vacancy was for the position of someone I could not only trust but who’s hands could make me feel a million dollars .... A hairdresser.
I have been to so many Hairdressers and most ask what I want doing to my hair,then do something totally different to my instructions, I have learnt that a hairdressers “ Half an Inch off the ends” is actually two inches! and when I have asked for ‘light layering” in the past, I have come out with a bad looking mullet!
It is so hard to find one that actually makes you feel like a million dollars when you leave the salon......and no, it doesn’t matter how much you pay, it just seems the more you pay, the fancier biscuits you get with your coffee!
So just before I went off to film on location I decided to put my hair in the hands of the Gary Forde salon on 88 St James Street in Kemptown.
I had never been before but I had heard good things on the Kemptown grapevine.
A half head of high lights is what I needed... Bad roots only looked good on Debbie Harry!I sat in the chair rather nervously but the staff are all so friendly I was soon feeling more at ease.
The coffee was great and I watched as the hair on my head was slowly but surely covered in silver foil and left to cook for about half an hour..... In that time I got chatting with a couple of lovely ladies who were regulars at Gary forde's Saloon and looked fabulous by the time they left ....I just hoped that under the silver foil my hair was beginning to look fabulous too!
Once it was washed and dried I was starting to see results and then I had my hair curled and then tussled out........ I have to say it looked great, What a relief. I was so pleased. The Kemptown grapevine had been correct and Gary Forde's salon is a great palace to go if you want a hairdresser you can trust.... I bounced down St James street when I left the salon shaking my hair like I was in a 70’s hairspray commercial (Oops Showing my age!)
It was such a shame that when I got on the film set I had to have my hair up ! However no roots in sight!
As with all local stores here in Kemptown, use them or lose them!
The 'position of trust' vacancy has been now filled

ED. Charmaine wouldn't tell us any more about the film role.....sworn to secrecy: ' I could tell you Ed, but then I'd have to kill yer!'

These are a few of my favorite things By Charmaine Davies

I seem to have eve dropped on a lot of conversations lately ( Naughty I know) and I have heard a lot of people say something along these lines.. “ Well I moved away but I came back to Brighton,I love Brighton and being by the sea”

And quite honestly thats what happened to me, I wasn’t born in Brighton but moved here in the mid nineties, I left in the early noughtie’s for a life as an actress/ Comedian in America and after a fairly successful 5 years there I decided to return to good ol’ Blighty and there was no other place I wanted to go, except back to Brighton. Well Kemptown in fact.
Kemptown is a wonderful village and has a very friendly community and it was where I lived for a few years before I crossed the pond. But these are not the only reasons I returned to Kemptown. You see, I have several addictions and 2 of these are catered to in this part of Brighton.

My first major addiction afflicts many and this is my addiction for Coffee and thankfully Kemptown has many trendy coffee houses, My second addiction is shopping (mainly window shopping these days) for Antiques and some of the Antique shops in Kemptown even have cafes in them. So you can imagine my Joy.

I am regularly seen buzzing along St George’s road in Kemptown on a coffee high after popping into the Kemptown Trading post and having a large cappuccino or two in their coffee shop then having a look around all the wonderful stalls of Antiques, collectables and unique items, and its always full of locals catching up with the local gossip. Visitors to the area find it quite an Aladdin’s cave. As is jolly gorgeous Art Gallery on Bristol Road. Rumour has it that 12 Bristol Road, now jolly gorgeous, was the Betting Shop that so inspired Graham Greenes' Brighton Rock. It is portrayed in the classic film of the same name featuring Richard Attenborough.

Metro Deco is another guilty pleasure of mine which is mainly a coffee shop but sells lovely antiques too. If you go there you must try the Chocolate and beetroot cake (this has become another addiction since my return to Kemptown). When I was first offered it I turned my nose up, I hate beetroot at the best of times. But once I tried it I could not get enough, I have to blinker my eyes sometimes when I walk by, as I would be the size of a small country if I ate it every time I passed, But sometimes the temptation is too great and the thought of a large slice of cake and a coffee is to much to bare and an invisible force drags in me.... Oh okay, I admit I have no will power..and I want my chocolate and beet root cake and want to eat it

Coffee,Antiques (and Chocolate,beet root cake) these are just a few of my favorite things ( I am sorry for sounding all Julie Andrews) and Kemptown has them all. So if you should bump into me when you are in Kemptown come and say ‘Hi’ and lets grab a coffee, I know a good place or two.