Zahra Rose Alazaibi: POWDER PINK

BESIDE THE SEASIDE
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As many of you may (or may not) know, I was born and raised in East Sussex (hence the 'accent'), and more specifically the seaside coast of Hastings... well, not exactly Hastings but thats the nearest town.

My siblings and I were born here, we grew up here; in the part of England where the nearest shop is a short drive away and fields are in abundance. In a place where we were the only Muslims in the village- literally. My father was among the founders and maintainers of the Mosque here and we were the only 'brown people' in the WHOLE of our grade 1-6 primary school.

Growing up here meant we were always drawn in by the excitement and diversity of London; shops that stay open past 5pm were our idea of heaven as teenagers. It was rare for us to see muslims in Hastings and I still remember going into London when I was younger and saying "hello / Salaam" to every muslim I passed and pointing them out to my parents saying "Look there's a Muslim"... seeing one of our 'own' was a real novelty.

Like most 18 years olds, I moved out of our family home for university. I relocated to Surrey - which is equally as picturesque and wonderful as my little seaside town. I resided in Epsom, I'm not a huge city girl myself and rather prefer horse riding, visiting castles / historical landmarks and enjoying the outdoors for leisure. Luckily these were things that Epsom equipped me with (not that I had much time to spare juggling my degree and two jobs). The convenience of country living combined with a 20 minute train ride into London is by far the best of both worlds.

I then moved to London for sometime after graduating from university, its a love hate relationship. Paying extortionate amounts of rent, as well as excessive amounts spent on travelling around London, on top of unreasonable living expenses aren't exactly my ideas of 'living life' to its fullest. At the moment its tolerance at most.

Which brings me onto my main point... Having been away from home for SO long, I have promised myself that I will learn to appreciate and explore more of my hometown than I have previously... My time away from home has made me MISS HASTINGS.

So my first part of exploring Hastings begins at the newly rebuilt Hastings Pier. My parents went for the opening ceremony, however I'm ashamed to say that this is my first visit since its re-opening after being burnt down some years ago. They've done an amazing job with the refurb!