By The Waves

The strong island – a place of urban beauty varying in details. The art’s all over town – from the weathered remnants of signs on historical buildings to curiously watching eyes and other pieces of street art by My Dog Sighs.

Trains make their way across town, shaking all the cups on the shelves of a station coffee shop before whizzing away. Influences mix, houses fill with students and furniture gets left on the street up for grabs (thanks for the sofa). 

Each morning, independent Southsea shops open and the fragments of daily lives intertwine in a community soundtracked by crashing waves.

Albert Road is a unique area that has the balance of fitting together very well and yet stays individual in its quirkiness.
In one of the longest-running businesses, Adelphi Books, the possibility of literally getting lost in books becomes very real as they pour from the bookshelves and stack high on every little bit of surface available. 


Local veggies and fruits to add that splash of colour to your plate in the murky midwinter, coffee and food from most corners of the world. Tattoo studios and lots of other stuff your heart might desire at some point. Dog grooming? You never know where life takes you, hey.

On the way from uni, in one of the underpasses, a little sound playground can be found, almost always abandoned.
It has orange tubes crawling all over, trees dressed in pieces of fabric and that slightly lonely air of lost potential. 

An obligatory peek into the windows of a shop on Elm Grove – full of dolls with easily misinterpreted facial expressions that never fail to catch attention, even if you’ve seen it a hundred times. 
Portsmouth doesn’t exactly have the sharpest edge of all, but it’s got some nice curves that lead unexpected places and a surprising abundance of foxes. 

Pebbles on the beach crush under your feet and the roaring sea blurs out the sounds of traffic. The water helps you refocus whether you’re just aimlessly staring at it or getting in for a dip. 

One thing is for sure – something, a fortunate combination of elements perhaps, makes people stay. I still don’t know what to answer when someone asks why I didn’t go study in Brighton instead (and I’ve been asked that enough times to come up with a good reason). All I know is that it simply feels like home here. It also helps that sun (almost) always shines in Southsea.