A Nice Day Out......

Last Friday we booked a day trip to Whitby,  on the Yorkshire Coast.    Whitby's skyline is dominated by the ruins of St. Hilda's Abbey, high on Whitby's East Cliff.      Whitby is a maze of alleyways and narrow streets running down to the busy quayside and from the old town of Whitby 199 steps lead up to the parish church of St. Mary, whose churchyeard on Whitby's East Cliff gave Bram Stoker the inspiration to write the world famous book, Dracula.  

We didn't visit the Abbey as we've seen it before and the purpose of this visit wasn't to take in the sights it was to meet up with a fellow blogger the lovely Denise (Mrs. Nesbitt's Space). 

Denise and I have been trying to arrange a meet-up for quite and while, so when I saw that a local coach company were running a day trip to Whitby (Denise lives nearby) I couldn't resist asking if she could meet up for lunch.   We have been blog friends for a long time and friends on Facebook and have spoken on the phone a few times but never actually met.

The weather was miserable, drizzly and foggy but it was great to finally meet up with Denise.  MWM and I were hoping to meet John, Denise's hubby, but unfortunately he was working.    Denise took us to the best Fish & Chip restaurant in Whitby, where we sampled their best battered cod, chips and mushy peas, washed down with a lovely pot of tea.   Denise had brought me a gift

six freshly laid eggs from her gals and had even drawn on each one the name of the chicken that had laid them!


After lunch we went to the railway station, part of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which operates steam trains along an 18 mile line between the market town of Pickering and the village of Grosmont, through the heart of the North York Moors National Park, and also operate trains to Whitby on certain days of the year.

You know MWM loves steam trains and of course he had checked before we left home to find out if any steam trains were running to Whitby that day - they were.

Denise and I waited in the station cafe, with a warming cup of tea, whilst MWM took his photographs of the steam engines, then when he'd finished we ambled round the alleyways looking in the quaint shops and markets, catching up on what we'd been doing and where we had been.  

We decided to retire to a lovely little pub, where they sold real ale and had a real coal fire, for a couple of drinks before it was time to meet the coach for our journey home.

We had lots of laughs with Denise and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, but all too soon it was time to say our goodbyes.   We are hoping Denise and John will come over to see us soon so we can treat them to some Lancashire hospitality.

IOW Part Two......

After a hearty breakfast we walked along Sandown seafront, right in front of our hotel, to blow the cobwebs away

click on photos to bigify

before we got on the coach for our first excursion, which was to IOW Pearl, which houses the largest collection of pearl jewellery in the UK.  MWM didn't buy me any pearls as he said there wasn't a pearl in the world that could compare with me (Pearl being my name for those of you who didn't know).  LOL he's so cheesy. There were also various other little shops on the site, one of which sold crystals and fossils found on the IOW.   We noticed this gem whilst we were looking round that particular shop

we resisted the urge to buy it.


Boarding the coach again we made our way to Alum Bay, the location of the famous coloured sands, which are due to oxidised iron compounds formed under different conditions. The sands are used to create ornaments using the coloured sands layered in vials and jars, they were also used to make pictures, a popular craft in Victorian times known as marmotinto.

Guglielmo Marconi moved to Alum Bay in 1897 to experiment with radio. He installed a 40 metre radio antenna outside the Needles Hotel in Alum Bay. Initially establishing communication with ships offshore, by early 1898 he had successfully communicated with stations at Madeira House, Bournemouth and the Haven Hotel, Poole, 20 miles away.

The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the IOW near Alum Bay. The Needles lighthouse stands at the end of the formation. Built in 1859, it has been automated since 1994.  The formation takes its name from a fourth needle-shaped pillar called Lot's Wife that collapsed in a storm in 1764. The remaining rocks are not at all needle-like, but the name has stuck.   The Needles were featured on the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of Southern England. 

The Needles Pleasure Park situated at the top of the cliff is a small amusement park with a selection of shops and rides. The most famous attraction at the pleasure park is the 'chairlift', which operates between the park and Alum Bay.  It was very windy that day so we didn't venture on it.

Our next stop on the excursion was Yarmouth, named for its location at the mouth of the small Western Yar river.  Yarmouth is a crossing point for the river, originally with a ferry, replaced with a road bridge in 1863. 

Yarmouth has been a settlement for over a thousand years, and is one of the very earliest on the Isle of Wight. The first record of a settlement here was in King Ethelred the Unready's record of the Danegeld tax of 991. It was originally called Eremue, meaning "muddy estuary". The Normans laid out the streets of Yarmouth on the grid system, a plan which can still be seen in the layout today.   Until the building of the castle, regular raids on the island by the French continued, and in 1544 the town of Yarmouth was reputed to have been burned down. Legend has it that the church bells were carried off to Cherbourg or Boulogne.

Yarmouth has it's own castle, built in 1547, it survives and is now in the care of English Heritage. It is effectively a gun platform built by Henry VIII to strengthen the Solent and protect the Isle of Wight, historically an important strategical foothold for any attempted invasion of England.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see the castle as we only had time to get some lunch and have a quick walk around the quaint streets.

It was quite a cold day and we were happy to get back on the coach to head back to the hotel to get warm and get ready for dinner.   I think I said in my first post that the food at the hotel was superb, see here for a sample dinner menu.

To clarify for anyone who doesn't get the joke Fox's Glacier Mints are sweets/candies.

I hope you'll join me for IOW Part3 and our visit to Godshill and Cowes.

IOW Part 1....

 I was away last week on another little jaunt to the Isle of Wight.   The Isle of Wight is the largest island of England, (approx 23 x 15 miles) located in the English Channel off the coast of Hampshire, separated from Great Britain (referred to by its inhabitants as "the mainland") by a strait called the Solent.  It has the distinction of being England's smallest county - but for only half of the time.  It has been calculated that during high tide Wight's area is slightly less than that of Rutland (England's smallest county), but not during low tide.   The island has many resorts which have been holiday destinations since Victorian times.  It's rich history includes a brief status as an independent kingdom in the 15th century.

Home to the poets Swinburne and Tennyson and to Queen Victoria, who built her much-loved summer residence and final home, Osborne House, at East Cowes, the island has a maritime and industrial tradition such as boat building, sail making, the manufature of flying boats, the worlds first hovercraft and the testing and development of Britain's space rockets.  The Isle hosts annual festivals including the Isle of Wight International Jazz Festival, Bestival and the recently revived Isle of Wight Festival, which, in 1970, was the largest rock music event ever held.   The island has well-conserved wildlife and some of the richest cliffs and quarries for dinosaur fossils in Europe.


The Isle of Wight was part of Hampshire until 1890 when it became an independent adminstrative county.  Until 1974 it continued to share the Lord Leiutenant of Hampshire when it was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan ceremonial county which gives its own Lord Leiutenant and recognised as a postal county.

We were picked up from home at 7a.m. to meet our coach at a nearby motorway services, with a comfort stop at Sandbach in Cheshire, where we picked up more passengers, before heading towards Banbury for lunch.

 Banbury Cross was designed by John Gibbs and built in 1859.  At one time Banbury had many crosses but these were destroyed by Puritans in 1600.  Banbury remained without a cross for more than 250 years until the current Banbury Cross was erected in 1859 at the centre of the town to commemorate the marriage of Victoria, Princess royal (eldest child of Queen Victoria to Prince Frederick of Prussia.  The current Banbury Cross is a stone, spire-shaped monument decorated in Gothic form. Statues of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V were added in 1914 to commemorate the coronation of George V.  The cross is 52' 6" high and topped with a gilt cross.

 The English nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross"

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes

may refer to one of the crosses destroyed by Puritans.  In April 2005, The Princess Royal unveiled a large bronze statue depicting the Fine Lady upon a White Horse of the nursery rhyme.

 There are lots of beautiful buildings in Banbury, including The Parish Church of St. Mary The Virgin. With 13th Century origins the Church stands as part of the Broughton Castle estate, home to the Fiennes family. Features include a 13th Century Norman font, 14th Century rood screen and 15th Century gateway tower.

The Church House, originally the main hall for St Paul's Church which is just across the road, the Church House was later transformed into a theatre, but future plans for the theatre were shelved and it stood empty for a number of years until about 1997 when it was fully renovated and turned into a pub / brassiere.

 and Whately Hall, a 17th Century Coaching house now a hotel,  to name a few.

We would have liked more time in Banbury to explore, but only had 90 minutes to get some lunch and have a quick look round before boarding the coach again to get to Portsmouth, to catch the 4.30 p.m. ferry across the Solent to Fishbourne, IOW, and then continue our journey to the south coast of IOW to our hotel in Sandown.

If you ever find yourself  in the IOW I can thoroughly recommend The Ocean Hotel,  family run since 1958 it offers 96 bedrooms and is conveniently situated between the High Street and the Esplanade overlooking Sandown Bay, with its six mile stretch of glorious well groomed sand.    The hotel boasts a huge lounge with real fires.

A beautiful dining room overlooking the well kept gardens.

We arrived with just enough time to find our sea view room

freshen up and go down to dinner.   The breakfast and dinner menus were vast and we were spoilt for choice at meal times and the food was delicious!  After dinner we repaired to the lounge to enjoy a couple of drinks and that evening's entertainment, a guitar playing singer.

Join me next time for our day trip to see The Needles and Yarmouth.

A day in The Tin Bath.....

"OMG she doesn't have a proper bathroom if she has to use a tin bath!" I hear you saying.   Actually The Tin Bath is the what the Railway Touring Company called the train which was steam hauled from Manchester on Sunday.

Here's one of the steam engines that pulled the train.

 and the other one

 The red line on the map below shows The Tin Bath Route.

Along with our friends we boarded the First Class Carriage of the train at 10.30 am for the 10.45 departure from Victoria Station, Manchester, the train had started it's journey in Preston.    

Leaving Victoria Station behind we travelled through various districts of Manchester into Yorkshire, enjoying tea/coffee and Danish Pastries during the journey to our stop in Sheffield, where we had an hour to grab a drink in a local pub before rejoining the train.

The next leg of the journey would last five and a half hours, travelling through Barnsley, Penistone, Huddersfield, Burnley, Blackburn, Bolton and  back to Manchester Victoria.   We enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine (beer for the boys), which we had taken on the train and the train stewards served up a selection of finger sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, and tea and coffee during the second part of the journey whilst we enjoyed the scenery.

Arriving back in Manchester we left the train and called in a city centre pub for a drink before going to Red Hot World Buffet, an all you can eat place that caters for every taste imaginable - sushi, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, USA, Japanese,  Thai, Mongolian, English and more desserts than you can imagine!  We were invited to the opening of the Manchester branch last year, by friends whose son designs the restaurant chain, and we received a passport entitling us to a 20% discount on our total bill as many times as we like until the year 2022, so it was a great opportunity to use it.

After gorging ourselves we went for a little walk around to work off the food and called in a pub where they were celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  We stayed long enough to have a couple of drinks then phoned for a taxi to take us home as we were really tired.    It had been a very long but enjoyable day and we are hoping to take a trip with the Railway Touring Company in January/February on the Settle to Carlisle line.

I won't be around next week as MWM and I are off too the Isle of Wight on Monday until Friday.  Of course I will be taking photos and will tell you all about it when I get back.

17 months on......

You may remember I lost my beloved Dad in October 2011, and how we couldn't have a funeral because he had left his body to Manchester University's Anatomy Department for medical research, see here.

Yesterday MWM, myself, my youngest brother and my youngest son attended a Service of Thanksgiving at the University for those who had donated their body for Medical and Scientific Teaching and Research in the previous year.  The service was attended by The Lord Leiutenant of Greater Manchester, The Lord Mayor of Manchester, local councillors, staff and students of the university and many relatives and friends of the donors.

We each received an Order of Service the preface read:

Each year, approximately 850 students commence studies in Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Speech and Language Therapy, Audiology, Optometry, Anatomical Sciences or Biomedical Sciences at The University of Manchester.

An important component of their training involves the study of human anatomy.

Each year, a large number of generous and public-spirited individuals donate their bodies to The University so that it can continue to provide high quality teaching of human anatomy to its students.

This Service of Thanksgiving is dedicated to all those who donated their bodies during the past year and who have thus contributed, even after death, to the benefit of future generations.

The names of those whom we commemorate are recorded at the end of this order of service. 

The service included addresses by multidenominational faiths and University teaching staff,  readings by students, hymns and prayers for the departed, the students and for us all.  Halfway through the service,whilst the New Manchester Voices were singing an anthem, eight students lit four candles each, one in memory of each donor. There were 32 names recorded, my Dad included.


It could be another 1 - 2 years before my Dad's remains will be released for committal to a local undertaker.  The University will pay for the cremation and we will be able to attend the service and claim his ashes.

I am so proud my Dad is still contributing to the future, and that he inspired myself and MWM to do the same, we have both donated our bodies to the University when our time comes.

I know it may seem an odd thing to say......

but my friend Bernadette's funeral was lovely!

This was Bernadette when she was approx 19/20 years old.  I didn't know her then but she was always an attractive woman, even in these latter years when ravaged by illness.  She was 75 in January, just gone.

Being an Irish Catholic, and of the old school, her family arranged for Bernadette to spend the night before her funeral in her own home.  Bernadette was taken to church by a horse-drawn carriage, which is something she had expressed a wish to have for her funeral.   The photograph below is the actual carriage as it arrived to convey Bernadette to the church for the Requiem Mass,

followed by three limosines.  The floral tributes from family and friends were magnificent.    The service at the church was followed by a commital for cremation at the local crematorium, then a buffet at a local restaurant for family and friends to celebrate her life.  Her family gave her a wonderful send-off, I know that Bernadette would have been watching and enjoying going out in style and to top it all the weather was absolutely beautiful for her last trip.

God bless you Bernadette, you will never be forgotten.

Sad......

In my last post I told you how I had just discovered a Christmas gift from my lovely neighbour and friend, Bernadette.    She telephoned me last Saturday to ask if I could pop over (her house is right opposite mine) for a few minutes, which I did, only to find her half in and half out of bed and unable to get herself into bed properly because of her health issues.    I helped her back into bed and made sure she had everything she needed and showed her my newly manicured nails, thanking her once again for the gift voucher.

The following day we went out and didn't get back until 7 ish,  We had only been home about an hour when Bernadette's daughter called to tell us her Mum had been taken into hospital, as she really wasn't very well, and asked if we would take care of her house (close the blinds at night and open them in the morning) whilst she was in hospital.   Imagine our shock the following morning when I found a note pushed through our letterbox saying Bernadette had passed away in the early hours.

Bernadette was a very strong woman who had been living on borrowed time for the last five years.  In fact 5 years ago, after a three week stay in hospital, she was sent home and given two weeks to live, that will give you some indication of just how strong she was.

Tuesday will find us paying our last respects to Bernadette at her funeral,

We will miss you Bernadette. RIP. xxxx

Belated Christmas pressie......

Visiting my friend and neighbour on a Thursday morning, as usual, a couple of weeks ago, I was a bit confused during the conversation when she asked "Did you have your manicure?"    Not quite understanding where the conversation was going I said "I did my nails myself".    "Oh yes I know you do them yourself but haven't you used the gift voucher I bought you for Christmas?"

I must have looked suitably confused because she then asked me what she had given me for Christmas.  I thought back and described what was in the gift bag I had opened on Christmas Day.  "Yes but there should have been an envelope in there with a gift voucher for a manicure as well" she insisted.   I said I hadn't seen one.   As she is virtually housebound and can't really do her own shopping her daughter does it for her so she said she would check with her daughter that she had indeed purchased the gift voucher.   I felt terrible but there wasn't much I could do other than thank her for the thought and apologise for not being more observant.  

A couple of days later she told me she had checked with her daughter who had confirmed there was definitely a voucher with the gift but she would check with the salon (one she goes to weekly) if they could issue another voucher.   I thanked her but begged her not to go to any trouble as it is the thought that counts and it was my own fault I'd missed that part of the gift.  Later that day I decided to look through my collection of gift bags, I don't usually discard gift bags as one can usually use them again, to see if I could find the one my neighbour had used for my Christmas present and, lo and behold, there was the plain white envelope containing the gift voucher!  Luckily it was valid for six months so I still had plenty of time to use it.   I telephoned my neighbour to tell her the good news and she was delighted.

Anyway, the point of all this is to say I used my belated Christmas gift yesterday.   MWM and I had a day to ourselves so we caught the bus into the next town, did a little shopping and then went for lunch at a favourite haunt,The Trackside, which happens to be just around the corner from the salon that issued the gift voucher. MWM read his Kindle whilst enjoying a pint of real ale whilst I went for my manicure, then when I returned we had another drink before catching the bus home.

Christmas in February - very nice!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 215 Valentine....

February 14th means nothing to us

No flowers, no card, no chocolates will we see.

No gifts for us, no spending spree.

We don't celebrate Valentines Day you see.

We don't need a special day, organised by industry, to say

"I love you",

We say it every day,

True valentines us, we are in love.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

It's been six years.......

since I started this blog!

I started it to keep a record of my progress after I had a knee replacement, little did I know then that six years later I would still be writing. 

My writing has slowed down a lot over the years, I mainly just write about our holidays and trips now with the occasional Flash Fiction thrown in.  I have no idea how much longer I will be writing on this blog but do not have any plans to stop in the near future.

So, help yourself to a piece of cake and a glass of bubbly to help me celebrate my 6th Blogversary.

An Irish Ghost Story....

This story happened a while ago in Dublin , and even though it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's true. 

 

John Bradford, a Dublin University student, was on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night and in the midst of a big storm. The night was rolling on and no car went by.

 

The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly, he saw a car slowly coming towards him and stopped. John, desperate for shelter and without thinking about it, got into the car and closed the door.... only to realize there was nobody behind the wheel and the engine wasn't on. 

 

The car started moving slowly. John looked at the road ahead and saw a curve approaching. Scared, he started to pray, begging for his life. Then, just before the car hit the curve, a hand appeared out of nowhere through the window, and turned the wheel. John, paralyzed with terror, watched as the hand came through the window, but never touched or harmed him. 

 

Shortly thereafter, John saw the lights of a pub appear down the road, so, gathering strength; he jumped out of the car and ran to it. Wet and out of breath, he rushed inside and started telling everybody about the horrible experience he had just had. A silence enveloped the pub when everybody realized he was crying... And wasn't drunk. 

 

Suddenly, the door opened, and two other people walked in from the dark and stormy night. They, like John, were also soaked and out of breath. Looking around, and seeing John Bradford sobbing at the bar, one said to the other....

Look Paddy....there's that idiot that got in the car while we were pushing it.'

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 214 The end.......

1st February - the day destined for my demise.

Thirteen years service to my country, now it's the end.

I've never been popular, too small everyone complained.

They will be sorry, the price of everything will go up when they get rid of me.

The halfpenny coin ceased to be legal tender on this day 1984.

The last line is so true, all prices were rounded up not down!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.