The west pier

In Brighton there is a working pier you can walk on and is packed with restaurants, fair ground rides, shops, and an arcade.

Then a little further down the beach there is the remnants of an older abandoned pier just collecting rust.

It’s a skeleton of a pier with no walk way out to it. Just a collection of metal in the shape of, you imagine a once upon a time working, pier.

Some talented photographer has captured a beautiful sunset behind the ruin and it’s made for a great framed photo in the hotel I’m staying in.

But I think metaphorically it’s a great reminder of failure, imperfection, and the decay of time.

In today’s seemingly perfect world it’s far too easy to delete the records that show you failed. Or touch up an image or only show the highlights to appear perfect.

And you would think that some authority would clear that wreck of a pier away and portray to tourists a perfect beach, free of failures.

But there it remains, arguably the most interesting part of the beach.