A Holiday of Two Halves #2 (Blackpool)

The second part of our holiday was a week in Blackpool - even though it wasn't very warm and we were there out of season, it was probably the most fun we've had on holiday in a long time.

 

As well as all the charity shops, we did the Tower and Pleasure Beach (for free as they were both paid for with Tesco Clubcard vouchers), South, Central and North piers and also spent a day riding the new-fangled trams from Starr Gate all the way to Fleetwood Ferry (a journey of just over an hour). Luckily we arrived in the Tower Ballroom for the main man, Phil Kelsall's Wurlitzer organ recital as well!

 

 

The new Comedy Carpet on the promenade outside the Tower is also a joy to behold covered with quotes from thousands of comedians, films and tv shows.

 

 

Anyone who thinks Blackpool isn't a good holiday destination, just take it all with a pinch of salt, the town's not trying to be anywhere else, it is what it is and that's what makes it fabulous...

  

  

 

Back to University

My University years were spent in the Lancashire town of Preston - just a town when I started studying and England's newest city by the time I'd graduated.

 

On our way between Wales and Blackpool, we stopped off to explore my old student stomping ground. The University has dramatically altered with a new student union and several new departments and buildings but the city centre itself doesn't seem to have changed much.

 

Preston's Grade II listed market was completed in 1875 and is probably one of the most impressive market structures in the UK, albeit in need of a bit of TLC!

 

 



I lost count of the amount of hours I waited at both Preston Train Station and Preston Bus Station whilst travelling between Uni and back home. The bus station is very much a modernist 1960's building (built in the late 60's) and is definately a 'marmite' building - people either love it or hate it.

At the moment the Council want to demolish it but there is a band of volunteers campaigning to get it listed (see Preston Bus Station for the latest). I don't think it should be knocked down but I will admit it's not the nicest of places to arrive back to at 10pm on a Sunday evening!

 

What do you think? Love it or hate it?

  

Over the Sea to the Emerald Isle

During our Welsh week we ventured across the waves for a day trip to the bright lights of Dublin.

It's a journey we've done many times before with both Irish Ferries and Stena Line (depending on which company has the best offer at the time) hopping over on a fast ferry and travelling back leisurely on the slow boat to Holyhead.

We were up bright and early with a clear blue sky and sunshine for a steady crossing. Halfway across the Irish Sea however, we realised that neither of us actually had any Euros - we'd somehow convieniently forgotten that Ireland has a different currency to our own...

I think the horizon actually looks slightly curved in this picture - what do you think?

We docked in Dún Laoghaire where we found bustling charity shops, hot chips and a 101 year old Carnegie Library!

We found this restored cast iron foundation just outside the port buildings. It was erected in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland. Although it was cold, we couldn't really believe there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but I think (at least for a minute or so) this picture proves it :-)

Dún Laoghaire library, built in 1912, is one of Andrew Carnegie's 2800 free public libraries and is still in use today.

 

 

 

We then made the short journey on the DART Rail into the city centre for more food, more shops and more exploring...

 

Unfortunately we couldn't find the Leprechaun Museum - perhaps we were looking too high?

 

 

Apparently the padlocks are a symbol of everlasting love - there were lots of them over Ha'penny Bridge, some of them inscribed.

 

 

Of course, we couldn't leave Dublin without a picture of Ireland's most famous lady, 'Sweet (or not so sweet) Molly Malone'.

 

  

 

And to finish our day, for dinner, 'Supermac's' fitted the bill!

 

 



A Holiday of Two Halves #1 (Anglesey)

 

So perhaps launching a blog the week before a fortnight's holiday (with only occasional web access) wasn't the best idea I've ever had... hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it?

 

But hey ho, I now have two weeks' worth of photos, ideas and inspiration to get started with.

 

 

Our Easter this year was spent in two places - first with family in windswept Anglesey then a week in glitzy Blackpool, just the two of us.

 

Anglesey was my favourite holiday destination as a child, every year was sunny without fail and this year didn't disappoint. The sea and sky were blue, the sand and gorse were yellow, games were played, places were explored and good food was cooked and eaten by all.

 

If you're ever in Anglesey, my top 5 recommendations would be:
- Mona Car Boot Sale, every Sunday at Anglesey Showground. Hundreds of stalls, both inside and out, with far too many dangerous things to buy! 

- Bee Bee's Rhosneigr, a fabulous little tea and ice cream parlour serving all sorts of tasty morsels. We tucked into Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with some ham rolls on the side, and then followed it up with a double ice cream out on the beach.
- The A Team Charity Shop in Boston Street, Holyhead. Clothes literally piled high to the rafters, with lots of things hanging from the ceiling and shelf upon shelf of bric a brac to browse through. Be warned though, you'll probably end up spending a long time in there...

- Take the B4419 road towards Anglesey Sea Zoo and then drive on about 100 yards or so. You'll come to a viewpoint where you can see across to Caernarfon with an amazing view of Snowdonia. Take a flask and a picnic and sit back and enjoy the view.

- Possibly one for the men, but if you're into planes then there's several places near RAF Valley where you can watch the pilots of the future training on fast jet Hawks. One parking area near Llanfair-yn-newbwll has them looming overhead to land what seems like only a few hundred yards away.

 

We also stopped at Llandudno on the way to our next destination and spent a lovely afternoon browsing round charity shops and enjoying a delicious meal at Tiffany's Cafe Bar.

 

At the risk of becoming a cliche with my holiday snaps, here's a few pictures which hopefully sum up our Welsh week...

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you've not been too bored!

 

 

Easter Reworked

A long time ago when Andrew was a little boy, his grandmother presented him with an eggbox filled with a mixture of painted eggs and chocolate eggs.

30-odd years later, Andrew still remembers it as one of his favourite Easter presents. This year, with both sets of parents getting older (and claiming they don't want much chocolate) we filled four egg boxes with different chocolate goodies, added a few fluffy chicks, packaged them up with tissue paper in a pretty gift bag and topped them off with a chocolate buttons duck.

 

They seemed to go down well with all parents!

Hope everyone had a lovely easter!

 

Easter Tweetings

My fabulous friend M sent me this lovely card for Easter arriving by good old fashioned snail mail. The fluffy yellow chicks are exactly the colour of the sunshine we should be having this time of year - I know we live in a changeable climate but Easter should be filled with sunlight and definitely not snow!

 

My childhood memories of Easter holidays are all sunshine-tinted; we've visited the same North Wales village since 1987 and I'm sure it's always been lovely weather.

As a child my cousins and grandparents would join us to jump the surf, build massive sandcastles and search out fishy creatures in secret rock pools.

Growing older, I explored further afield making the short hop across the Irish sea for a day out sightseeing and shopping in Dublin.

Since meeting Andrew nine years ago, he's joined our family each year and it's been a delight to rediscover the beaches, rock pools, villages and cities I so enjoyed as a little girl.

 

 

Why duck? Why a dress?



So what's in a name? Why duck in a dress?

 

Well, I have a penchant for all things feathered and flippered and I've been likened to Jemima Puddleduck on more than one occassion (something to do with making tea and baking cakes...).  Andrew also claims I have a tendency to 'stick my beak into things' - more tactfully described as 'naturally inquisitive'. 

Image courtesy of Peter Rabbit.com

And dresses? Well, that's fairly simple, I like buying pretty dresses and I like wearing pretty dresses - even more so if they're decorated with birds, polka dots, flowers or stars.

So when Andrew pointed at me one day and uttered the words "duck in a dress!" a little part of my brain squirreled the phrase away for a time in an alternative future when I might actually be the sort of girl who has her own blog.

So here we are...