Sunday 31 July 2011

Finding Victorian Grandeur in Blackpool!

Good evening to you,

Josh and I just returned from an overnight stay in Blackpool which was unexpectedly fantastic! I've never been before and it was a birthday treat from the hubby to stay for a night around the North pier area in a lovely little guesthouse. Josh has been once as a wee boy, probably ran around naked on the beach building sandcastles (that didn't happen this time). I like to think of Blackpool and picture it 50 years ago as a top holiday destination, but someone at work said that it's like Benidorm without the sun, so I went with some pre-conceptions...

We got the train up there, which we'll NEVER do again but was worth a try. It was honestly hell on a train, full of children screaming for no good reason and kicking seats, I gave my iPod to Josh to listen to some soothing bars of Mumford and Sons to make sure no ruckus was started. It's not the children I blame by the way...

The sun was shining when we arrived and kept it's hat on all weekend. For once, the British weather was in our favour and we soaked it up!

We found our guesthouse quickly and dumped our really heavy bag in to our room. I have no idea why our bag was so heavy, we were only staying for one night! We are so useless at packing! The trouble is when you live in this country, you never know what clothes to pack!

We explored the North Pier (Blackpool has three piers - North, Central and South) with the intention of trying all three piers out for size - Goldilocks style.

Well, I tell you, it's been a while since I walked on a pier and I forgot how much I missed it. That thrill of walking on wooden boards, over the sea, the seaside music, the smell of seasalt, then looking down to see the sea beneath your feet! Love it.




I fell head over heels with the North Pier, our first and only pier stop over the whole weekend, we kept coming back to North Pier, probably on my insistence.

The North Pier has a sun deck at the end of the pier and we whiled away a good few hours sitting in the sun on Saturday and Sunday. I'd love to say that I had a quaint oldey worldey drink to keep in style with the surroundings, but I really fancied a Strongbow. So I had one. Or two.

I could feel myself turning pink in the sun, and I was mad at myself for not bringing my hat with me, so we reluctantly moved along. This is the part where I almost fell out of love with B'Pool, we headed central bound, intent on finding lunch, and walked smack bang into horrible tackiness. Stags, hens, druggies, just plain weirdos and people just looking for trouble. Bleurgh GO AWAY. Made even worse by the hot sun, you could feel the tension.



We cut down to the beach to escape it,we walked in the sun which I love doing, and headed for the Pleasure Beach baby! Woo!

We paid £10 each to ride the biggest, scariest, fastest rollercoaster in Europe. We queued 1 hour for the biggest, scariest, fastest rollercoaster in Europe. We managed to get front row seats on the biggest, scariest, fastest rollercoaster in Europe and I felt the full force of 89 m/p/h wind in my mouth as we soared above Blackpool! Excellent. Live fast, die old.



We got the tram back to North Pier for another bevvy on the sun deck before heading back to the ranch to get ready for some nice dinner out. Had a beautiful 3 course meal in Bella Italia - you can't beat it. I was quite intimidated by Blackpool at night. If I thought it was awful by day, it's worse by night. We avoided the freaks and ducked in to Scruffy Murphy's - it's safe in Irish bars, and this one had a nice singer singing songs I likes very much! We got drunk!


Drunk walk back to hotel in scary Blackpool where I swore the whole way home as some sort of drunken shield.

Sunday was spent eating English Breakfasts, walking 5 miles along the North coast of Blackers as I like to shorten it to, along to Cleveley which is your quintessential English coast destination. A lotta tat in baskets outside shops full of market stall clothes! Love it! Got the bus back to the bright lights to...North Pier for fish and chips!

Purchased sticks of rock and a fridge magnet and headed for the station. Hope you like the photos, I tried to sum up what Blackpool might have been like 50 years ago, when folk came on the train to Blackpool and there was no other place like it. Now it's a place that was once grand, and now is unloved and slightly peeling at the tasselled edges everywhere...sad. But not North Pier... :)








Things I'm excited about:

  • The Parent tour 2011 - next weekend The Baxters are heading South to see both our parents and have some quality family time. We haven't seen them since our wedding!
  • Giving out sticks of rock
  • Putting my new Blackpool fridge magnet on the fridge
  • Potentially going to Jamie Oliver's restaurant this week!
  • Settling in at work - no one likes being the 'new girl' :)

Thursday 28 July 2011

Room 27

Hey dudes,

I'm checking in to room 27 for the next year. Room 26 was getting a little small for me and I'd outstayed my welcome there, room 28 is too big at the moment, so 27 it is!

26 served me well though; I got married, I moved out of Headingley, I got a new job, I lost over 2 stone, I discovered I don't hate mushrooms, I got a cat, I...well that's enough for now anyway!

I had a great birthday! I nearly got a cup of tea in bed,, but I overslept so no tea for me. Josh got me a WIFE card which thrilled me, plus 2 awesome CD's. Work was fine, apart from having my birthday cakes stolen! I got some lovely presents from Rachel and Dawn, some lovely cards and Nayani bought me a carvery dinner! Yumtowns!

I got home to MORE CARDS, and my Dad sent me a great present, the heel from my wedding shoe that got stuck in the drain outside the church :) a guy from the church pulled it out of the drain and held on to it for Dad and he posted it to meeeeeee.

Then a bunch of us coolkids headed to Tariq's in Headingley for a trip down memory lane and a lamb saag. I love lamb in my curries. The plan after dinner was to head to a karaoke booth, but it was BROKEN!!! So instead we played on a quiz machine for like half an hour and gambled all my taxi fare.

Cat lollipop...birthday me...birthday gamble...best bag ever from Rachel...





Things I'm excited about:
  • Dad is taking part in an all day badminton match for his church charity this Saturday - Go Dad! 
  • Josh and I are going to Blackpool for the weekend! Pleasure beach, trams, fish and chips
  • Tomorrow is Friday - what's not to be excited about?
  • Wearing my new welly boot necklace from Rachel :)
  • Going on the Big Dipper for the first time!

Sunday 24 July 2011

It's nearly my birthday!

I love having a birthday! I feel like it's a day where nothing bad should happen, I feel invincible and everyone HAS to be nice to me - that doesn't always happen when you are working on your birthday and have customers to face, it's almost like they don't care that it's your birthday when you interrupt their complaint to inform them of this...tut tut with the RUDENESS.

 
~ Must mention one birthday I was working in Superdrug pharmacy and I told one lady it was my birthday whilst she was waiting for her prescription (not that my massive badge and helium balloon tied around my wrist was hiding anything) and she came back in to give me some flowers! How nice is that? There are still nice people in the world :)

 
I wonder two things about this scenario looking back though, I did kind of PRESUME the flowers were for me, I THINK she offered me the flowers but it would be just like me to shriek THANK YOU THEY'RE AMAZING and they might not actually have been for me...also, never really liked flowers, like chocolates. Not ungrateful, but would have preferred chocolates by mystery lady... ~

 
This year on my birthday I'll be in a new job which I'm starting tomorrow and doesn't have any customer facing side to it, so hopefully should escape the unpredictability of customers calling in with potential narkiness...

 
Things I'm excited about:

  • Getting the husband back from a stag do in York - I get scared of stag do's...
  • Starting a new job tomorrow in marketing! EEEEP
  • Getting cupcakes delivered to work on wednesday - forgot when I ordered them that it was my birthday on the delivery date! :)
  • Seeing a friend on Tuesday that I haven't seen since 2009! Catch up a rama!
  • Posting wedding thank you cards :)
  • Buying kit for trip to Africa in September - zip off trousers ahoy!

    Monday 11 July 2011

    Vegetarianism, yomping and yays at being published - yay!

    I'm baaaaaaccccck! I'm not updating my lovely little blog as much as I thought I would, I have no idea how people blog daily...must learn and follow directions...

    These last few days I've:

    Been to see bridesmaids film, again, so that's twice now! Great film :) Took the hubby this time and 5 friends, great evening until...

    We went to a vegetarian curry house that also does not sell alcohol or allow alcohol on the premises...I didn't even know these places existed...Josh and Rachel were not amused...we needed a meat and beer fix pronto!

    Saturday we went to Guiseley to do all kinds of domesti-katie things, buying Catty things, cashing in wedding vouchers, blah blah blah, and in typical joshnkatie style, got bored halfway through and went to watch the planes land at Leeds Bradford Airport :) there's a road that has a car park just at the end of the runway and we had a Waynes World moment sat on the bonnet of the car with the planes going over our heads, lovely. Nothing like the fear of a plane overshooting the runway straight over your car for an adrenaline rush! Then, found a great pub called the Royalty with a Russel Brand lookeylikey bar man, plus a great view of the airport - we like planes. Will bring my Dad up there one day, he'll like that.

    Sunday - went yomping in the Yorkshire Dales! Got the train the Dent station - the highest mainline station in England dontcha know!Walked to Ribblehead, or that was the plan until we got hopelessly LOST - and no LOST characters in sight, not even Hurley. No phone, no map, a race against time and nearly got stuck in the mud...Anyway, made it back to the train station just in time for a cider and a clementine :)

    Watched Marley and Me - my God that's a brilliant film! I want a dog now!


    Station from train photo - check the skills!












    Matching walking boots = married couple :)










    Things I'm excited about:
    • Going for a night out in Bradford on Thursday to the Russian Restaurant! Never had Russian food before...
    • Wearing a new frock out to said Russian restaurant!