Having absconded to Amsterdam for the first weekend of the Brighton Festival, I can report back that the queues for the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum are daunting; the Stedelijk Museum is being renovated, so only a limited selection of its modern works is available at a former postal sorting office somewhere in the docklands; and the Sex Museum is as sordid as anybody with half a brain could imagine, thereby saving themselves three euros.

But the weather was glorious, and on that account alone I must thank Ellen and Sam who got soaked and endured suspicious looks as they took to the trails to fill this space so capably last week. So, feet hardened by the pavements of Amsterdam and guided by a map supplied by The Management of this very website, I set off on Cup Final day, up and down the hills of the Hanover Trail and the Kemptown Trail.

Of course, part of the pleasure of the Trails is the opportunity to peer into others’ homes. Some of the houses on the Hanover Trail are tiny, and perhaps one of the smallest is 46 Hanover Terrace. Here I got not just a peek at the house, but also a glimpse of its history as I met Vera Gill, taking advantage of the Open House weekend to visit the home where she was born in 1929. She recognises a wall cupboard as unchanged since her childhood, and remembers a brewery wagon overturning on the steep local streets, the drayman distressed to watch the beer trickling away. Her daughter photographs her in front of a couple of pictures, her dress blending with the pinks and blues. The house is now home to Zhang Dawei who shows oil portraits in which strong, parallel brush strokes emphasise the planes of the face – a distinctive style which contrasts with his swirling pen and wash drawings.
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