I like the idea that you need to form an orderly queue on one side of a sign to get something as ridiculous as candy floss. It feels like a peculiar obsession of the English to need to queue and to queue in a certain way. There is a nice juxtaposition between the bright colours on the sign and the clear concise way that it is telling you exactly what you should do. Candy Floss is only available on this side. It highlights perfectly that strange up tightness of the English that never fully disappears even when on holiday and relaxing. Something that I exhibit myself, never fully comfortable wherever I am. This photo was taken in Weston Super Mare, a coastal holiday town famous for its mud and rain as much as anything else, although it is always busy on a Bank Holiday Weekend, which is when this photo was taken.

It reminds me of all of the holidays that I’ve ever taken in Britain. Surrounded by lobster-skinned people eating their ice creams and rubbing sun cream lotion into each other’s shoulders before sending the kids off into the sea. There was always a long walk down the beach clutching a handful of coins to the outdoor ice cream/chip shops. Once there the queues went on for miles and it took an hour to get served. When you made it to the front of the prefabricated kiosk you then had to guess what everyone would want because what they had ordered had already sold out. Small dogs ran riot around the place getting a sugar rush from the small particles of ice cream debris while babies and small children cried for no good reason. They were never really the greatest of holidays but now they feel more memorable than lounging by a pool near the Mediterranean.

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