As a child I used to be taken to the zoo, where there was a 'monkey temple' - a flight of wide shallow steps where the monkeys would sit in small family groups, having a scratch, looking at the view and the other monkeys, while the little ones chased each other up and down the steps and annoyed the grown-ups.

Some years later I was in Brighton at the sea front. There was a flight of wide shallow steps where the people sat in small family groups, having a scratch, loking at the view and the other people, while the little ones chased each other up and down the steps and annoyed the grown-ups . . .